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(Redirected from Postcolonial)
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'Postcolonialism' (also known as 'postcolonial theory', or spelled with a hyphen) is a set of theories in philosophy, film and literature that grapple with the legacy of colonial rule. As a literary theory or critical approach, it deals with literature produced in countries that were once colonies of other countries, especially the major European colonial powers Britain, France and Spain; in some contexts, it may include also countries still under colonial arrangements. It may also deal with literature written in or by citizens of colonizing countries that takes colonies or their peoples as its subject matter. People from colonized countries, especially the British Empire, came to universities in Britain; their access to education that was then still unavailable in the colonies opened a new criticism, mostly in literature, especially in novels. Postcolonial theory became part of the critical toolbox in the 1970s, and many practitioners take Edward Said's book ''Orientalism'' to be the theory's founding work.
Postcolonialism deals with many issues for societies that have undergone colonialism: the dilemmas of developing national identity in the wake of colonial rule; the ways in which writers from colonized countries attempt to articulate and even celebrate their cultural identities, in some cases reclaiming them from the colonizers, but in many cases seek to maintain a strong linkage with the culture of the ex-colonizer; the ways knowledge of colonized people have served the interests of colonizers, and how knowledge of subordinate people is produced and used; and the ways in which the literature of the colonial powers is used to justify colonialism through the perpetuation of images of the colonized as inferior.
The creation of binary oppositions structure the way we view others. In the case of colonialism, distinctions were made between the oriental and the westerner (for instance: the Orient being emotional and decadent, the Occident being principled and progessive). This opposition was often used to justify the 'white man's burden', a perceived "destiny to rule" of the colonizer over naturally subordinate peoples.
According to Helen Gilbert and Joanne Tompkins, "the term postcolonialism--according to a too rigid etymology--is frequently misunderstood as a temporal concept meaning the time after colonialism has ceased, or the time following the politically determined Independence Day on which a country breaks away from its governance by another state, Not a naive teleological sequence which supersedes colonialism, postcolonialism is, rather, an engagement with and contestation (sic) of colonialism's discourses, power structures, and social hierarchies... A theory of postcolonialism must, then, respond to more than the merely chronological construction of post-independence, and to more than just the discursive experience of imperialism."[1]
Colonized peoples respond to the colonial legacy by ''writing back to the center.'' This came about as indigenous peoples begin to write their own histories, their own legacy, using the colonizers' language (usually English, but sometimes French, Dutch, and other Western European languages) for their own purposes.[2]. As postcolonialist theory has impacted communities of indigenous peoples, it has produced a process called "indigenous decolonization". The literature of this kind is postcolonial literature.
Attempts at coming up with a single definition of postcolonial theory have proved controversial, and some writers have strongly critiqued the concept, which is embedded in identity politics. Authors such as Ann Laura Stoler in ''Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power'', have complicated the simplistic binary of colonizer/colonized and argued instead that these pair of social categories need to be viewed as fluid and shifting. Postcolonial work emphasizes the need to re-analyze categories that are assumed to be natural. As a metaphysical, ethical and political theory, it addresses issues such as identity, gender, race and ethnicity: the challenge of developing a national identity in the wake of colonial rule, the ways knowledge of colonized people has served the interests of colonizers, and how knowledge about the world is produced under specific power relations, repetitively circulated, and finally legitimated, to serve certain interests. However, postcolonial theory also encourages one to think about creative forms of resistance colonized peoples across the world have deployed, and how this has complicated and textured the colonial projects of European imperial powers. Postcolonial authors strongly object to the depiction of the colonized as hollow "mimics" of Europeans or passive recipients of power. Following from a Foucauldian argument, postcolonial scholars, such as those in the Subaltern Studies collective, argue that resistance accompanies all deployments of power.
Within the last decade, Middle Eastern studies and research have produced several works that focus on the effects of the colonial past on the internal and external political, social, cultural and economic situation of contemporary Middle Eastern countries. See, for example, Raphael Israeli'',"Is Jordan Palestine?"'' in Efraim Karsh and P R Kumaraswamy (eds.), Israel, Hashemites and the Palestinians: The Fateful Triangle (London: Frank Cass, 2003), pp.49-66 and Nazih Ayubi, ''"Overstating the Arab State"'' (Bodmin: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2001) particularly pp 86-123
A particular focus of attention has been the issue of western discourses on the Middle East and identity formation, or lack thereof: [3]
As highlighted by the above quote, independence and the end of colonialism has not meant the end of social fragmentations and conflicts within the Middle East.
As Larbi Sadiki understood and noted in the book ''The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses'' (2004); because borders have been drawn up by European powers, that did not take into account people, old tribal boundaries and history, the Middle East’s present-day “identity problem” can be traced back to imperialism and colonialism. Indeed, ‘in places like Iraq and Jordan, leaders of the new state were brought in from the outside, tailored to suit colonial interests and commitments. Likewise, most states in the Persian Gulf were handed over to those who could protect and safeguard imperial interests in the post-withdrawal phase,’ [4]
Thus in the Middle East, there have been difficulties in defining national identity – at least partly because state boundaries have been defined by colonial boundaries. Except ‘with notable exceptions like Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, most [countries]...had to [re-]invent, their historical roots’ after colonialism. Therefore,‘like its colonial predecessor, postcolonial identity owes its existence to force’. [6]
Some scholars criticise and/or question the recent post-colonial focus on identity. Bin 'Abd al-'Ali, a Moroccan scholar argues that what is seen in contemporary Middle Eastern studies is 'a pathological obsession with...identity'[7]Nevertheless, scholars such as Kumaraswamy and Sadiki argues that the problem of the lack of identity formation in the Middle East is widespread and that identity is an important aspect of understanding the politics of the contemporary Middle East. Whether the countries are Islamic regimes like Iran, republican regimes like Egypt, Syria, and Algeria, quasi-liberal monarchies like Jordan and Bahrain, democracies as Israel and Turkey, or evolving democracies like Iraq and Palestinian areas, ‘the Middle Eastern region suffers from the inability to recognize, integrate, and reflect its ethno-cultural diversity.’ [4]
Ayubi (2001) questions whether what Bin 'Abd al-'Ali described as an obsession with identity may be explained by 'the absence of a championing social class?'[9]
★ Aimé Césaire: ''Discourse on Colonialism'' (1953)
★ Frantz Fanon: ''The Wretched of the Earth'' (1961)
★ Albert Memmi: ''The Colonizer and the Colonized'' (1965)
★ Frantz Fanon: ''Black Skin, White Masks'' (1967)
★ Kwame Nkrumah: ''Consciencism'' (1970)
★ Edward Said: ''Orientalism'' (1978)
★ Ashis Nandy. ''. (1983)
★ Ashis Nandy. '' (1987).
★ Benita Parry: ''Delusions and Discoveries'' (1983)
★ Gayatri Spivak, "Can the Subaltern Speak?" (1988)
★ Derek Walcott: ''Omeros'' (1990)
★ Hamid Dabashi, "" (2007)
★ Homi Bhabha: ''The Location of Culture'' (1994)
★ Edward W. Said, ''Culture and Imperialism'' (1993)
★ Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, (1986) "Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature"
★ Bill Ashcroft The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literature (1990)
★ Robert J.C. Young ''Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction'' (2001)
★ Trinh T. Minh-ha, "Infinite Layers/Third World?" (1989)
★ Chandra Talpade Mohanty, "Under Western Eyes" (1986)
★ Uma Narayan, ''Dislocating Cultures'' (1997), and ''Contesting Cultures''"(1997)
★ Leela Gandhi ''Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction''. Columbia University Press:1998 ISBN 0-231-11273-4.
★ Anne McClintock, "The angel of progress: pitfalls of the term 'postcolonialism'" ''Colonial Discourse/Postcolonial Theory'', edited by M. Baker, P. Hulme and M. Iverson (1994)
★ Bartholomew Dean and Jerome Levi eds., ''At the Risk of Being Heard: Indigenous Rights, Identity, and Postcolonial States'' (2003) University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-06736-2 [1][2]
★ Achille Mbembe, "On the postcolony", edited by The Regents of the University of California (2000)
★ Declan Kiberd, "Inventing Ireland" (1995)
★ Ernesto "Che" Guevara: ''Colonialism is Doomed''
★ Prem Poddar and David Johnson, ''A Historical Companion of Postcolonial Thought'' (2005)
1. Helen Gilbert, Joanne Tompkins, Post-Colonial Drama: theory, practice, politics, Routledge 1996, ISBN 0415090237
2. Bill Ashcroft, ''The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literature'' (1990)
3. Sadiki, L (2004) ''The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses'' India: C. Hurst & Co. Ltd
4. Kumaraswamy, P, R (March 2006) “Who am I?: The Identity Crisis in the Middle East” The Middle East Review of International Affairs Volume 10, No. 1, Article 5, p 1
5. Kumaraswamy, P, R (March 2006) “Who am I?: The Identity Crisis in the Middle East” The Middle East Review of International Affairs Volume 10, No. 1, Article 5, p 1
6. Sadiki, L (2004) ''The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses'' India: C. Hurst & Co. Ltd p 122
7. Bin 'Abd al-'Ali quoted in Nazih Ayubi, ''"Overstating the Arab State"'' (Bodmin: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2001)p 148
8. Kumaraswamy, P, R (March 2006) “Who am I?: The Identity Crisis in the Middle East” The Middle East Review of International Affairs Volume 10, No. 1, Article 5, p 1
9. Nazih Ayubi, ''"Overstating the Arab State"'' (Bodmin: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2001)p 148
★ Postcolonial literature
★ Inversion in postcolonial theory
★ Colonialism
★ Cultural Alienation
★ Cultural cringe
★ Imperialism
★ Ethnology
★ Post-Communism
★ Nation-building
★ Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
★ Ranajit Guha ''Subaltern Studies''
★ Alamgir Hashmi ''Commonwealth Literature: An Essay Towards the Re-definition of a Popular/Counter Culture''
★ Chinua Achebe's
★ Postcolonial & Transnational Theories
★ Communitarian Agonism ''Project for a postcolonial Nietzsche''
★ Postcolonial Islam
★ Contemporary Postcolonial and Postimperial Literature
★ A special issue of the journal ''Labyrinthe'', 2006 (in French) : "Faut-il être postcolonial ?"
★ Paper about Post-Colonialism: Definition, Development and Examples from India
★ Bill Ashcroft (ed.) et al. ''The Post-Colonial Studies Reader''
★ Alamgir Hashmi ''The Commonwealth, Comparative Literature and the World''
'This article is in need of attention from an on the subject'.
Please help recruit one, or [ improve this page yourself] if you can.
'Postcolonialism' (also known as 'postcolonial theory', or spelled with a hyphen) is a set of theories in philosophy, film and literature that grapple with the legacy of colonial rule. As a literary theory or critical approach, it deals with literature produced in countries that were once colonies of other countries, especially the major European colonial powers Britain, France and Spain; in some contexts, it may include also countries still under colonial arrangements. It may also deal with literature written in or by citizens of colonizing countries that takes colonies or their peoples as its subject matter. People from colonized countries, especially the British Empire, came to universities in Britain; their access to education that was then still unavailable in the colonies opened a new criticism, mostly in literature, especially in novels. Postcolonial theory became part of the critical toolbox in the 1970s, and many practitioners take Edward Said's book ''Orientalism'' to be the theory's founding work.
| Contents |
| Issues |
| Middle East, postcolonialism and identity |
| Criticism of the focus on identity |
| Founding works on postcolonialism |
| Other important works |
| References |
| See also |
| External links |
| References |
Issues
Postcolonialism deals with many issues for societies that have undergone colonialism: the dilemmas of developing national identity in the wake of colonial rule; the ways in which writers from colonized countries attempt to articulate and even celebrate their cultural identities, in some cases reclaiming them from the colonizers, but in many cases seek to maintain a strong linkage with the culture of the ex-colonizer; the ways knowledge of colonized people have served the interests of colonizers, and how knowledge of subordinate people is produced and used; and the ways in which the literature of the colonial powers is used to justify colonialism through the perpetuation of images of the colonized as inferior.
The creation of binary oppositions structure the way we view others. In the case of colonialism, distinctions were made between the oriental and the westerner (for instance: the Orient being emotional and decadent, the Occident being principled and progessive). This opposition was often used to justify the 'white man's burden', a perceived "destiny to rule" of the colonizer over naturally subordinate peoples.
According to Helen Gilbert and Joanne Tompkins, "the term postcolonialism--according to a too rigid etymology--is frequently misunderstood as a temporal concept meaning the time after colonialism has ceased, or the time following the politically determined Independence Day on which a country breaks away from its governance by another state, Not a naive teleological sequence which supersedes colonialism, postcolonialism is, rather, an engagement with and contestation (sic) of colonialism's discourses, power structures, and social hierarchies... A theory of postcolonialism must, then, respond to more than the merely chronological construction of post-independence, and to more than just the discursive experience of imperialism."[1]
Colonized peoples respond to the colonial legacy by ''writing back to the center.'' This came about as indigenous peoples begin to write their own histories, their own legacy, using the colonizers' language (usually English, but sometimes French, Dutch, and other Western European languages) for their own purposes.[2]. As postcolonialist theory has impacted communities of indigenous peoples, it has produced a process called "indigenous decolonization". The literature of this kind is postcolonial literature.
Attempts at coming up with a single definition of postcolonial theory have proved controversial, and some writers have strongly critiqued the concept, which is embedded in identity politics. Authors such as Ann Laura Stoler in ''Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power'', have complicated the simplistic binary of colonizer/colonized and argued instead that these pair of social categories need to be viewed as fluid and shifting. Postcolonial work emphasizes the need to re-analyze categories that are assumed to be natural. As a metaphysical, ethical and political theory, it addresses issues such as identity, gender, race and ethnicity: the challenge of developing a national identity in the wake of colonial rule, the ways knowledge of colonized people has served the interests of colonizers, and how knowledge about the world is produced under specific power relations, repetitively circulated, and finally legitimated, to serve certain interests. However, postcolonial theory also encourages one to think about creative forms of resistance colonized peoples across the world have deployed, and how this has complicated and textured the colonial projects of European imperial powers. Postcolonial authors strongly object to the depiction of the colonized as hollow "mimics" of Europeans or passive recipients of power. Following from a Foucauldian argument, postcolonial scholars, such as those in the Subaltern Studies collective, argue that resistance accompanies all deployments of power.
Middle East, postcolonialism and identity
Within the last decade, Middle Eastern studies and research have produced several works that focus on the effects of the colonial past on the internal and external political, social, cultural and economic situation of contemporary Middle Eastern countries. See, for example, Raphael Israeli'',"Is Jordan Palestine?"'' in Efraim Karsh and P R Kumaraswamy (eds.), Israel, Hashemites and the Palestinians: The Fateful Triangle (London: Frank Cass, 2003), pp.49-66 and Nazih Ayubi, ''"Overstating the Arab State"'' (Bodmin: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2001) particularly pp 86-123
A particular focus of attention has been the issue of western discourses on the Middle East and identity formation, or lack thereof: [3]
“... most countries of the Middle East, suffered from the fundamental problems over their national identity. More than three-quarters of a century after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire from which most of them emerged, these states have been unable to define, project, and maintain a national identity that is both inclusive and representative.” [4]
As highlighted by the above quote, independence and the end of colonialism has not meant the end of social fragmentations and conflicts within the Middle East.
As Larbi Sadiki understood and noted in the book ''The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses'' (2004); because borders have been drawn up by European powers, that did not take into account people, old tribal boundaries and history, the Middle East’s present-day “identity problem” can be traced back to imperialism and colonialism. Indeed, ‘in places like Iraq and Jordan, leaders of the new state were brought in from the outside, tailored to suit colonial interests and commitments. Likewise, most states in the Persian Gulf were handed over to those who could protect and safeguard imperial interests in the post-withdrawal phase,’ [4]
Thus in the Middle East, there have been difficulties in defining national identity – at least partly because state boundaries have been defined by colonial boundaries. Except ‘with notable exceptions like Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, most [countries]...had to [re-]invent, their historical roots’ after colonialism. Therefore,‘like its colonial predecessor, postcolonial identity owes its existence to force’. [6]
Criticism of the focus on identity
Some scholars criticise and/or question the recent post-colonial focus on identity. Bin 'Abd al-'Ali, a Moroccan scholar argues that what is seen in contemporary Middle Eastern studies is 'a pathological obsession with...identity'[7]Nevertheless, scholars such as Kumaraswamy and Sadiki argues that the problem of the lack of identity formation in the Middle East is widespread and that identity is an important aspect of understanding the politics of the contemporary Middle East. Whether the countries are Islamic regimes like Iran, republican regimes like Egypt, Syria, and Algeria, quasi-liberal monarchies like Jordan and Bahrain, democracies as Israel and Turkey, or evolving democracies like Iraq and Palestinian areas, ‘the Middle Eastern region suffers from the inability to recognize, integrate, and reflect its ethno-cultural diversity.’ [4]
Ayubi (2001) questions whether what Bin 'Abd al-'Ali described as an obsession with identity may be explained by 'the absence of a championing social class?'[9]
Founding works on postcolonialism
★ Aimé Césaire: ''Discourse on Colonialism'' (1953)
★ Frantz Fanon: ''The Wretched of the Earth'' (1961)
★ Albert Memmi: ''The Colonizer and the Colonized'' (1965)
★ Frantz Fanon: ''Black Skin, White Masks'' (1967)
★ Kwame Nkrumah: ''Consciencism'' (1970)
★ Edward Said: ''Orientalism'' (1978)
Other important works
★ Ashis Nandy. ''. (1983)
★ Ashis Nandy. '' (1987).
★ Benita Parry: ''Delusions and Discoveries'' (1983)
★ Gayatri Spivak, "Can the Subaltern Speak?" (1988)
★ Derek Walcott: ''Omeros'' (1990)
★ Hamid Dabashi, "" (2007)
★ Homi Bhabha: ''The Location of Culture'' (1994)
★ Edward W. Said, ''Culture and Imperialism'' (1993)
★ Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, (1986) "Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature"
★ Bill Ashcroft The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literature (1990)
★ Robert J.C. Young ''Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction'' (2001)
★ Trinh T. Minh-ha, "Infinite Layers/Third World?" (1989)
★ Chandra Talpade Mohanty, "Under Western Eyes" (1986)
★ Uma Narayan, ''Dislocating Cultures'' (1997), and ''Contesting Cultures''"(1997)
★ Leela Gandhi ''Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction''. Columbia University Press:1998 ISBN 0-231-11273-4.
★ Anne McClintock, "The angel of progress: pitfalls of the term 'postcolonialism'" ''Colonial Discourse/Postcolonial Theory'', edited by M. Baker, P. Hulme and M. Iverson (1994)
★ Bartholomew Dean and Jerome Levi eds., ''At the Risk of Being Heard: Indigenous Rights, Identity, and Postcolonial States'' (2003) University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-06736-2 [1][2]
★ Achille Mbembe, "On the postcolony", edited by The Regents of the University of California (2000)
★ Declan Kiberd, "Inventing Ireland" (1995)
★ Ernesto "Che" Guevara: ''Colonialism is Doomed''
★ Prem Poddar and David Johnson, ''A Historical Companion of Postcolonial Thought'' (2005)
References
1. Helen Gilbert, Joanne Tompkins, Post-Colonial Drama: theory, practice, politics, Routledge 1996, ISBN 0415090237
2. Bill Ashcroft, ''The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literature'' (1990)
3. Sadiki, L (2004) ''The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses'' India: C. Hurst & Co. Ltd
4. Kumaraswamy, P, R (March 2006) “Who am I?: The Identity Crisis in the Middle East” The Middle East Review of International Affairs Volume 10, No. 1, Article 5, p 1
5. Kumaraswamy, P, R (March 2006) “Who am I?: The Identity Crisis in the Middle East” The Middle East Review of International Affairs Volume 10, No. 1, Article 5, p 1
6. Sadiki, L (2004) ''The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses'' India: C. Hurst & Co. Ltd p 122
7. Bin 'Abd al-'Ali quoted in Nazih Ayubi, ''"Overstating the Arab State"'' (Bodmin: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2001)p 148
8. Kumaraswamy, P, R (March 2006) “Who am I?: The Identity Crisis in the Middle East” The Middle East Review of International Affairs Volume 10, No. 1, Article 5, p 1
9. Nazih Ayubi, ''"Overstating the Arab State"'' (Bodmin: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2001)p 148
See also
★ Postcolonial literature
★ Inversion in postcolonial theory
★ Colonialism
★ Cultural Alienation
★ Cultural cringe
★ Imperialism
★ Ethnology
★ Post-Communism
★ Nation-building
★ Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
★ Ranajit Guha ''Subaltern Studies''
★ Alamgir Hashmi ''Commonwealth Literature: An Essay Towards the Re-definition of a Popular/Counter Culture''
★ Chinua Achebe's
External links
★ Postcolonial & Transnational Theories
★ Communitarian Agonism ''Project for a postcolonial Nietzsche''
★ Postcolonial Islam
★ Contemporary Postcolonial and Postimperial Literature
★ A special issue of the journal ''Labyrinthe'', 2006 (in French) : "Faut-il être postcolonial ?"
★ Paper about Post-Colonialism: Definition, Development and Examples from India
References
★ Bill Ashcroft (ed.) et al. ''The Post-Colonial Studies Reader''
★ Alamgir Hashmi ''The Commonwealth, Comparative Literature and the World''
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