introduction to post colonial

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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.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcolonialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcolonialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949
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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