introduction to post colonial
TRANSCRIPT
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POSTCOLONIALISM THEORY
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What puts the postin Postcolonialism?
Considering postis a prefix meaningafter, we need to first discuss the historybehind colonialism.
What is colonialism?An extension of a nations rule over
territory beyond its borders
a population that is subjected to thepolitical domination of another population
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Two sides of colonialism
The militaristic side ( the physical conquest
and occupation of territories)
The civilizational side (the conquest and
occupation of minds, selves and cultures)
-- Colonialism does not end with the end of
colonial occupation
-- Resistance begins before the end of colonial
occupation
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the historical whereby the Westattemptssystematically to cancel or negate the
cultural difference and value of the non-
West(Leela Gandhi,1998)
*colonial critiquedeals with imperialisticviews
*post-colonial criticism examines theeffects of imperialistic views in postcolonialsocieties
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Post colonial Criticism?
A set of theoretical and critical strategies used toexamine the culture, literature, politics, history, of
former coloniesPost-colonial theory deals with the reading and
writing of literature written in previously or currentlycolonized countries, or literature written in
colonizing countries which deals with colonization orcolonized peoples
- it embraces no single method or school
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Postcolonialism
Questions the effect of empire
Raises issues such as racism and exploitation
Assesses the position of the colonial or post-colonial subject
Offers a counter-narrative to the long tradition
of European imperial narratives
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Why were people colonized?
Social Darwinism
* Eurocentrism
* Universalism* Colonialism is nature
White Mans Burden
* What was thought to be an obligation tocivilizenon-European people
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Postcolonialism
Postcolonial theory attempts to focuson the oppression of those who wereruled under colonization.
Factors include:
*Political oppression
* Economic
* Social/cultural oppression
* Psychological oppression
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Who are the oppressed?
Those who were formerly colonized
In postcolonial theory, the word colonized can
mean many things:
* Literal colonization
* More abstract colonization
African-AmericanNative Americans in the United States
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How was the colonized oppressed?
Post colonial theorist believe that the colonizers(generally Europeans):
Imposed their own values onto those colonized
so that they were internalized.Social/ Cultural- Spanish language/Catholic
Religion in the Carribean
Political- Drew the boundaries of Africa basedon European politics rather than tribalinterests.
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How did the oppressed escape?
Post colonial theorist also analyzed the
processes by which those who were colonized
resisted the colonizers
Examples:
Haiti
South Africa
India
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When exactly does the postcolonial begin?
When third world intellectualshave arrived in the first world
academe(Arif Dirlik)
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Postcolonial Theorist
Edward Said* moved colonial discourse into the first world
academy and into literary and cultural theory
Was also very influential in third worlduniversities (esp. in India)
Coined the term
Orientalism
describing the binary between the Orient and theOccident
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Edward Said
Power and knowledge areinseparable(following Foucalts belief)
Orientalism is the 1978 book that has beenhighly influential in postcolonial studies.
Attempted to explain how European/Westerncolonizers looked upon the Orient
What is the Orient? A mystical plane that was stereotyped due to
lack of knowledge and imagination Alumpingtogether of Asia
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Example of Orientalism
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Homi K.Bhabha
Homi K. Bhabha(born 1949) is an Indianpostcolonialtheorist.
Feels the post colonial world should valorize spaces
of mixing; spaces where truth and authenticity moveaside for ambiguity.
This space of hybridity,he argues, offers the mostprofound challenge to colonialism.
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Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon(July 20, 1925December 6,1961) was a psychiatrist, philosopher,revolutionary, and author from Martinique. He
was influential in the field of post-colonialstudiesand was perhaps the pre-eminentthinker of the 20th century on the issue ofdecolonizationand the psychopathologyof
colonization. His works have inspired anti-colonialliberation movementsfor more thanfour decades.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychiatristhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionaryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martiniquehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-colonial_studieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-colonial_studieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decolonizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-colonialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-colonialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_liberation_movementshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_liberation_movementshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-colonialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-colonialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-colonialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decolonizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-colonial_studieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-colonial_studieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-colonial_studieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-colonial_studieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martiniquehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionaryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychiatrist -
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Frantz Fanon's relatively short life yielded two
potent and influential statements of anti-
colonial revolutionary thought, Black Skin,
White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of theEarth (1961), works which have made Fanon a
prominent contributor to postcolonial studies.
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The aftermath
What happens after colonization?
* What language do you speak?
* what culture do you follow?
Hybridization and Double Consciousness
Two terms to describe the results of colonization on
those colonized
Awareness of culture before colonized and duringcolonization and what emerged as a result.
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Unhomeliness/Exile
What is home to you?
- a state of limbo, without a certain or definite
identity.
Being caught between cultures.
Being literally moved as a result of colonialism
( On Exile- Edward Said)
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Postcolonialism: The Critical Lens
Examining colonizers/colonized relationship inliterature
Is the work pro/anti colonialist? Why?
Does the text reinforce or resist colonialistideology?
Explore the dynamics of colonization throughliterary works
How did it come about?How did it end?
How does the text explain this?
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Type of Questions:
How does the literary text, explicitly or allegorically, representvarious aspects of colonial oppression?
What does the text reveal about the problematics of post-colonial identity, including the relationship between personal
and cultural identity and such issues as double consciousnessand hybridity?
What person(s) or groups does the work identify as "other" orstranger? How are such persons/groups described andtreated?
What does the text reveal about the politics and/orpsychology of anti-colonialist resistance?
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What does the text reveal about the operations ofcultural difference - the ways in which race, religion,class, gender, sexual orientation, cultural beliefs, andcustoms combine to form individual identity - in
shaping our perceptions of ourselves, others, and theworld in which we live?
How does the text respond to or comment upon thecharacters, themes, or assumptions of a canonized(colonialist) work?
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Are there meaningful similarities among theliteratures of different post-colonialpopulations?
How does a literary text in the Western canonreinforce or undermine colonialist ideologythrough its representation of colonializationand/or its inappropriate silence aboutcolonized peoples? (Tyson 378-379)
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THE END