Post-Colonialism

Post-ColonialismColonialismAn Age of EmpiresWhat puts the post in Postcolonialism? Considering post is a prefix meaning after, we need to first discuss the history behind colonialism. What is colonialism? An extension of a nations rule over territory beyond its borders A population that is subjected to the political domination of another population

This is the world at what is considered the height of colonialism. What do you notice?

How long did it last and why did it end? 15th Century to 20th century (arguably, it is still going on). WWII Right to sovereigntyLack of resourcesIndependence movements

At its peak, the British Empire ruled roughly one-quarter of the earths land and population.Economically and culturally, British power fed off of British conquestYet, until the last few decades, the study of British history and literature ignored the implications of thisWesterners had a stake, however unconscious, in not owning up to colonialism and not thinking about it criticallyAs Americans, how often do we think about what we did to the Indians?Erasure Do we even acknowledge a peoples history before we got there?

Two kinds of ColoniesSettler ColoniesAustralia, New Zealand, Canada and the United StatesSettlers move in permanently, their descendents usually grow up more numerous than the people theyve colonizedOccupation Colonies Exploitation colonies or colonies of conquestColonial India and NigeriaColonist remain a small proportion of the population.Just want the locals labor or stuffJustification?

Social Darwinism Eurocentrism Universalism Colonialism is nature

White Mans Burden What was thought to be an obligation to civilize non-European peoples Great White FatherAt one point it was even the title of Peter Pan

What is going on here?

Following the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the wave of newly independent nations inspired excitement and hope across south Asia, southeast Asia, Africa and the middle east.Some colonies fought for independenceSome got it peacefullySome set up successful democraciesSome shift back and forth between elected and imposed governments

mubarakgaddafi

gbagboneocolonialismIn many countries local oligarchs and dictators betrayed the promise of independence by exploiting the divisions and disarray left by colonialismIncluding the concentration of capital and resources in a few privileged handswe call this neocolonialismPost-ColonialismWhenDeveloped out of two earlier branches of studyCommonwealth literatureCommonwealth - an association of self-governing autonomous states more or less loosely associated in a common allegiance (as to the British crown) Third world studiesBecame a major theoretical force in the 1990sSpivaks In Other Worlds (1987)Ashcrofts The Empire Writes Back (1989)Bhabas Nation and Narration (1990)

That post-colonialism and multiculturalism emerged at the same time is probably not a coincidenceYour English lit textbooks (1994) are so multicultural they barely have any English lit in them. Must have been the cultural ZeitgeistOk, so what is POSTcolonialism? Postcolonial theory attempts to focus on the oppression of those who were ruled under colonization. Factors include Political oppressionEconomic oppressionSocial/ cultural oppressionPsychological oppression

Who are the oppressed?Those who were formerly colonized. In postcolonial theory, the word colonized can mean many things. Literal colonizationIndia, Australia More abstract colonization African-Americans How were the colonized oppressed?Postcolonial theorists believe that the colonizers (generally Europeans): Imposed their own values onto those colonized so that they were internalized Examples Social/ Cultural - Spanish language/ Catholic religion in the Caribbean Political Drew the boundaries of Africa based on European politics rather than tribal interests

FocusAnalyze the global effects of European colonialismpostcolonial criticism defines formerly colonized peoples as any population that has been subjected to the political domination of another populationAfrican Americans Aboriginal Australiansthe formerly colonized population of IndiaThe United StatesNineteenth century American lit was marked by an attempt to build a cannon that was not dominated by British LiteratureChildren?All cultures affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present dayA field of theory concerning itself with the fallout of colonialism and the relationship between colonizers and colonized.How colonized people maintain or fail to maintain their cultural identity while under colonial ruleHow a people reestablish or create their national after the colonizers leavepost colonialism fills the need to seek and understand the operations politically, socially, culturally, and psychologically of colonialist and anti-colonialist ideologies.The forces that pressed the colonized to internalized the colonizers valuesResistance, to understand the antagonism between colonizer and colonizedTo understand the cultural colonization that remains long after the colonizers are goneDenigration of the native culture, morals, appearanceColonialism erases pre-colonialist history, history starts with usAmerica was here for thousands of years before the pilgrims got here, what was going on?ExactlyPostcolonial nations need to rediscover their identityVocabPost-ColonialistThe Others and OrientalismOther looking at the colonized subject as essentially different from the colonizerAlmost the same but not quiteAlmost the same but not whiteThe colonized other is never seen as equal to the colonizerColonizer and Colonized, white and other, is the core binary dissected by Post colonialismOthering The process of creating that artificial difference.

Colonial conquests resulted in an attempt to know and administer colonial subjects which inaugurated an othering generating the pervasive images of effeminate Indians (from India), savage Africans, and inscrutably sinister Orientals that are common in the literature of the British empire.Frankenstein has a diabolical turk.

Others ContinuedColonizers assumed their own superiority and the inferiority of nativesThat they (the colonizers) are the embodiment of civilizationThe white mans burdenTechnology helps to naturalize the illusion of superiorityNatives are considered other, less humanDivides world between us and them, establishing a binary white and not quitesavage typically evilsometimes assumes a primitive beauty or nobility (the exotic other or noble savage)Indians in TEWWG

OrientalismPrecursor to the otherA concept introduced by Edward Said (1978) Attempted to explain how the European/ Western colonizers looked upon the Orient What is the Orient? A mystical place that was stereotyped due to lack of knowledge and imagination Sensual, lazy, exotic, irrational, cruel, promiscuous, seductive, dishonest, mystical, superstitious, primitive, ruled by emotion, despoticAll people think alike, and their actions are determined by the national or racial category that they belong toA lumping together of Asian cultures Examples?

binaryThe notion of otherness has helped to build the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, world hierarchy, worldingHomi Bhabha later deconstructs this binary with his notion of hybridity which focuses on the mutual influence the cultures of the colonized and colonizers had on each other.

The colonialist ideology was a part of established colony schools, locals were indoctrinated into the culture, made to feel almost equal but forever inferiorhegemonyThe practice of othering has the unfortunate effect of making a reality of the often contrived (fake) differences it depends on

The modern face of orientalism and othering

hybridityDeconstructing the binary between colonizer/colonizedColonized people and colonizers have taken on many of each others ways of living and thinkingColonized peoples move to the lands of their colonizers

MimicryMimicry, the attempt of the colonized to become the colonizer. This only reinforces notions of natural superiorly and the imposters realize they will never quite be those that they impersonate.Desire and shameBhabha initially defines this as almost the same but not white and later problematizes this with almost the same but not quite When the powerful mimic the weak, it reinforces ideas of superiority, consider black face in early 20th century AmericaWhen the weak mimic the strong, it may demonstrate ambivalence, reinforce the colonizers assumption of their superiority, or even challenge it if the mimicry demonstrates complete enough mastery of the factors that initially provided the colonizers with their illusion of superiority

VocabDouble Consciousness Perceiving the world both in terms of the colonizers and the indigenous population. Leads to unstable identity.Diaspora multigenerational exilePre nation of Israel JewsPost nation of Israel PalestiniansThe former Cuban Bourgeoisie after CastroAfricansOvercharging emphasizing the constructedness of ethnic identity

PostcolonialistsExamining colonizer/colonized relationships in literature Is the work pro/ anti colonialist? Why? Does the text reinforce or resist colonialist ideology? Tries to introduce/ expose otherized works Works by the colonized Resisting/ Revising the canon

PostcolonialistsExplore the dynamics of colonization through literary works How did it come about?How did it end?How does the text explain this?

Looking at the otherized characters Example?Frankensteins monster