Postcolonialism An Historical Introduction Pdf 11
Tanesha Prately
"In pursuing the historical past of postcolonial discourse, Robert Young makes a truly insightful and inventive contribution to the development of the field. His intricate and exhaustive study finds its inspiration in the exhilarating events and ideals of anti-colonialist struggle. Inspired by the imaginative spirit of emancipation, Young argues that the great anti-colonial movements were also transformative and hybrid moments that reshaped both power and knowledge. The fine achievement of this provocative account lies in reviving and revising the remarkable dawning of the Third World as we emerge into the global conceits of the third millennium." Homi K. Bhabha, Harvard University
"Robert Young points postcolonial studies in new directions, paradoxically by offering a timely reminder of the field's historical beginnings in anticolonial struggles. This book combines scholarship and polemic admirably in its project of situating and redirecting postcolonial studies today. It is a major work, marking a turning-point in thinking and research in the field." Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, Nehru Memorial Library, New Delhi
Young, a professor of English and critical theory at Wadham College, Oxford, does not confine his analysis to literary studies, as other similar introductions often do (Moore-Gilbert, McLeod, for example). Nor is postcolonialism portrayed primarily as an academic dispute between traditionalists and an avant-garde or between Marxists and poststructuralists. This book firmly places the development of postcolonial theory within the history of colonialism, imperialism and most importantly, the anti-colonial movements in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Since the complex phenomenon of Apostcolonialism @is rooted in the history of imperialism, it is worth briefly looking at this history. The word imperialism derives from the Latin imperium which has numerous meanings including power, authority, command, dominion, realm and empire . Though imperialism is usually understood as a strategy whereby a state aims to extend its control forcibly beyond its own borders over other states and peoples, it should be remembered that such control is usually not just military but economic and cultural. A ruling state will often impose not only its own terms of trade, but its own political ideals, its own cultural values, and often its own language, upon a subject state.
I have noticed that I am always at a loss when someone asks me: What do you mean by postcolonialism? The answer, invariably always, involves a convoluted explanation of Postcolonialism as a field of study. After I tell someone, especially anyone outside the academia, that I teach postcolonial literature, I always anticipate follow-up questions:
In other words, postcolonialism is a field of study that might focus on the experience of colonization, but is not necessarily;y a catalogue of victimhood. It rather challenges the assumptions formed and circulated by the colonizers and offers native responses and native resistance to past and current colonial imperatives. It, however, is also a field of study which is not afraid of borrowing western knowledge and to bend it to its own use. It also focuses on hybrid knowledges and distrusts all postures of cultural or racial purity. Thus, while blind following of the Western order is neither encouraged nor proposed, blatant nativism is also not acceptable.
By far postcolonialism is never really read as a temporal marker: the post in postcolonialism does not imply that all forms of colonialism and imperialism have ended. Postcolonialism, therefore, is an imperfect designation for a complex field of study. In fact, Robert Young had proposed a more useful term, tricontinentalism, that included Africa, Asia, and the Latin Americas, but it never caught on. It is, however, safe to assume that studying world literature with an eye on how the native authors represent their cultures, mostly in colonial languages, and how do they challenge the pre-established prejudices and cultural biases against their cultures is an important concern of postcolonial literature.
These are some of the ways in which I think of postcolonialism, but I am sure there are many other ways to imagine and practice it! Either way, the best postcolonial literature should have any or all of the features discussed above and let us not forget that we do live in the postcolonial era and postcolonial criticism and a theory is relevant in so many different fields of human knowledge.
Thanks a lot sir for this insightful views. I regularly watch your videos on postcolonialism and the definition by Robert Young you quoted here is an apt definition of postcolonialism as it comprises all the major issues the post colonial studies deal with
In my view this is most compact introduction of a highly complicated and such a diverse field of studies. Thank you for making it so accessible, without sounding simplistic. Would love to share it with colleagues and friends. It wish the author had included few lines on the critique of postcolonial studies as an intellectual enterprise, especially from Marxist scholors/activists.
As an epistemology (i.e., a study of knowledge, its nature, and verifiability), ethics (moral philosophy), and as a political science (i.e., in its concern with affairs of the citizenry), the field of postcolonialism addresses the matters that constitute the postcolonial identity of a decolonized people, which derives from:[1]
At times, the term postcolonial studies may be preferred to postcolonialism, as the ambiguous term colonialism could refer either to a system of government, or to an ideology or world view underlying that system. However, postcolonialism (i.e., postcolonial studies) generally represents an ideological response to colonialist thought, rather than simply describing a system that comes after colonialism, as the prefix post- may suggest. As such, postcolonialism may be thought of as a reaction to or departure from colonialism in the same way postmodernism is a reaction to modernism; the term postcolonialism itself is modeled on postmodernism, with which it shares certain concepts and methods.[4]
One of the ongoing struggles is balancing the cultural heritage of the indigenous people with the colonial norms and values that were imposed. This can cause identity fracture and a sense of displacement in people as well as communities. In addition, the hierarchical social structures that were created during colonial control have continued to support inequalities in power and injustice, which contributed to identity conflicts based on gender, class, and ethnicity. These problems are not just historical artifacts rather, they are fundamental components of society and are expressed in current discussions about government, language, education, and cultural representation. In order to address these persistent identity problems, it is necessary to thoroughly reconsider historical narratives, acknowledge a variety of viewpoints, and work to create inclusive and equitable societies that enable people to affirm and reclaim their distinct cultural identities in the post-colonial era.
As a term in contemporary history, postcolonialism occasionally is applied, temporally, to denote the immediate time after the period during which imperial powers retreated from their colonial territories. Such is believed to be a problematic application of the term, as the immediate, historical, political time is not included in the categories of critical identity-discourse, which deals with over-inclusive terms of cultural representation, which are abrogated and replaced by postcolonial criticism. As such, the terms postcolonial and postcolonialism denote aspects of the subject matter that indicate that the decolonized world is an intellectual space "of contradictions, of half-finished processes, of confusions, of hybridity, and of liminalities."[9] As in most critical theory-based research, the lack of clarity in the definition of the subject matter coupled with an open claim to normativity makes criticism of postcolonial discourse problematic, reasserting its dogmatic or ideological status.[10]
Santiniketan artists did not believe that to be indigenous one has to be historicist either in theme or in style, and similarly to be modern one has to adopt a particular trans-national formal language or technique. Modernism was to them neither a style nor a form of internationalism. It was critical re-engagement with the foundational aspects of art necessitated by changes in one's unique historical position.[31]
The incorporation of ancient concepts and racial and cultural assumptions into modern imperial ideology bolstered colonial claims to supremacy and right to colonize non-Europeans. Because of these numerous ramifications between ancient representations and modern colonial rhetoric, 19th century's colonialist discourse acquires a "multi-layered" or "palimpsestic" structure.[36] It forms a "historical, ideological and narcissistic continuum," in which modern theories of domination feed upon and blend with "ancient myths of supremacy and grandeur."[36]
As a literary theory, postcolonialism deals with the literatures produced by the peoples who once were colonized by the European imperial powers (e.g. Britain, France, and Spain) and the literatures of the decolonized countries engaged in contemporary, postcolonial arrangements (e.g. Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and the Commonwealth of Nations) with their former mother countries.[41][42]
Moreover, "with notable exceptions like Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, most [countries]...[have] had to [re]invent, their historical roots" after decolonization, and, "like its colonial predecessor, postcolonial identity owes its existence to force."[48]
Trinh T. Minh-ha has been developing her innovative theories about postcolonialism in various means of expression, literature, films, and teaching. She is best known for her documentary film Reassemblage (1982), in which she attempts to deconstruct anthropology as a "western male hegemonic ideology." In 1989, she wrote Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism, in which she focuses on the acknowledgement of oral tradition.
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