Post-Colonial Flashcards
Colonialism refers to the specific historical period of the
seventeenth through twentieth centuries during which European countries colonized much of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific.
Generally references the phenomenon of white peoples colonizing lands of peoples of
colour, not people of colour colonizing others (this is also considered a limitation of the lens)
Colonization is not just a political or historical state of affairs, but an entire
system of thought that accompanied other social developments such as the expansion of science, discovery of new sources of wealth and employment, and exploration.
Critics are concerned with literature produced by
colonial powers and works produced by those who were/are colonized.
Post-colonial theory looks at issues of power,
economics, politics, religion, and culture and how these elements work in relation to colonial hegemony (Western colonizers controlling the colonized).
Post-colonial criticism also takes the form of literature
composed by authors that critique Eurocentric hegemony.
Post-colonial criticism also questions the role of the Western literary canon and Western history as dominant forms of
knowledge-making. The terms “First World,” “Second World,” “Third World” and “Fourth World” nations are critiqued by post-colonial critics because they reinforce the dominant positions of Western cultures populating First World status.
Postcolonialism refers to the decline of colonization through the freeing
of lands from Euro-American nations often by means of bloody revolutions or peaceful transfers of sovereignty
Views English as both a tool and a symptom of
colonialism in its elevation as a ‘global language’ (ex. it is almost exclusively the language of the internet)
Looks less at ‘blaming’ those who descend from white,
colonizing nations and more to economic realities that continue to subordinate the post-colonial and emerging nations of the world
Aims to assert the power and influence of nonwhite cultures,
challenging the centuries of dehumanization and genocide some of such cultures have faced
Postcolonialism Literary Theory has…
3 Broad Stages:
An initial awareness of the social, psychological and cultural inferiority enforced by being in a colonized state
The struggle for ethnic, political and cultural autonomy
A growing awareness of cultural overlap and hybridity
A fusion of traits that belong to a group (values, beliefs, norms, behaviours, experience, and memories)
deeply related to personal identity
ETHNICITY = INSIDE
Race
The division and classification of people by physical characteristics
is socially constructed by society and is used to maintain power
RACE = OUTSIDE
Hegemony
The dominance of one group (race) or class in society.
Achieved through force and/or moral and intellectual institutes ex. religion, education
Subaltern
Those subordinated by the hegemonic group either through physical force and/or moral and intellectual institutes
Occidental
A person of European ancestry;
often associated with being in a position of power
Oriental
A person of Asian ancestry; often associated with being in a position of submission
Eurocentrism
Practice of viewing the world from a European perspective and an implied belief that European culture is the ‘standard’ by which we critique others
Orientalism
Depicting colonized cultures as objects; the belief that Native culture has an inherentbeauty and their depiction in art and literature becomes a cluster of stereotypes
The Exotic
Using native customs and traditions for commercial and aesthetic motives
Noble Savage
The idealized portrayal of natives/Indigenous people as simple, innocent, to be pitied, ignorant etc.
Demonic Othering
The belief that those who are different from oneself are inferior, backward, demonic and savages
Ex. Masque of Blackness (c. 1690)
White Man as Saviour
The portrayal of European (male) characters as superior, high-minded, paternalistic, and knowing best
Diaspora
The voluntary or forcible movement of peoples from their homelands into new regions
Mimicry
Effects by the colonialist to impose their own culture and codes on to the native culture
Assimilation
Individuals from different ethnic groups are absorbed into the
dominant culture of society; commonly referred to as ‘the melting pot’
Hybridity
Occurs when a society becomes ethnically
mixed in a way that represents a synthesis rather than absorption of cultures
Creolization
]
The combining of identities and language from both sides (the imperialist and colonized) that lead to new forms
Ambivalence
The ambiguous way in which the colonizer and colonized
view one another. The colonizer views the colonized as inferior and exotic, while the colonized views the colonizer as enviable and corrupt.
Double Consciousness
Feeling as though your identity is divided into several parts, making it difficult or impossible to have a unified identity
Unhomeliness
Feeling estranged in a situation that should be familiar
