Post-Colonial

Question 1

Colonialism refers to the specific historical period of the

Answer 1

seventeenth through twentieth centuries during which European countries colonized much of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific.

Question 2

Generally references the phenomenon of white peoples colonizing lands of peoples of

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colour, not people of colour colonizing others (this is also considered a limitation of the lens)

Question 3

Colonization is not just a political or historical state of affairs, but an entire

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system of thought that accompanied other social developments such as the expansion of science, discovery of new sources of wealth and employment, and exploration.

Question 4

Critics are concerned with literature produced by

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colonial powers and works produced by those who were/are colonized.

Question 5

Post-colonial theory looks at issues of power,

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economics, politics, religion, and culture and how these elements work in relation to colonial hegemony (Western colonizers controlling the colonized).

Question 6

Post-colonial criticism also takes the form of literature

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composed by authors that critique Eurocentric hegemony.

Question 7

Post-colonial criticism also questions the role of the Western literary canon and Western history as dominant forms of

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Postcolonialism refers to the decline of colonization through the freeing

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of lands from Euro-American nations often by means of bloody revolutions or peaceful transfers of sovereignty

Question 9

Views English as both a tool and a symptom of

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colonialism in its elevation as a ‘global language’ (ex. it is almost exclusively the language of the internet)

Question 10

Looks less at ‘blaming’ those who descend from white,

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colonizing nations and more to economic realities that continue to subordinate the post-colonial and emerging nations of the world

Question 11

Aims to assert the power and influence of nonwhite cultures,

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challenging the centuries of dehumanization and genocide some of such cultures have faced

Question 12

Postcolonialism Literary Theory has…
3 Broad Stages:

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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

Question 13

A fusion of traits that belong to a group (values, beliefs, norms, behaviours, experience, and memories)

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deeply related to personal identity
ETHNICITY = INSIDE

Question 13

Race
The division and classification of people by physical characteristics

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is socially constructed by society and is used to maintain power
RACE = OUTSIDE

Question 14

Hegemony
The dominance of one group (race) or class in society.

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Achieved through force and/or moral and intellectual institutes ex. religion, education

Question 15

Subaltern

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Those subordinated by the hegemonic group either through physical force and/or moral and intellectual institutes

Question 16

Occidental
A person of European ancestry;

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often associated with being in a position of power

Question 17

Oriental

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A person of Asian ancestry; often associated with being in a position of submission

Question 18

Eurocentrism

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Practice of viewing the world from a European perspective and an implied belief that European culture is the ‘standard’ by which we critique others

Question 19

Orientalism

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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

Question 20

The Exotic

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Using native customs and traditions for commercial and aesthetic motives

Question 21

Noble Savage

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The idealized portrayal of natives/Indigenous people as simple, innocent, to be pitied, ignorant etc.

Question 22

Demonic Othering

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The belief that those who are different from oneself are inferior, backward, demonic and savages
Ex. Masque of Blackness (c. 1690)

Question 23

White Man as Saviour

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The portrayal of European (male) characters as superior, high-minded, paternalistic, and knowing best

Question 24

Diaspora

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The voluntary or forcible movement of peoples from their homelands into new regions

Question 25

Mimicry

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Effects by the colonialist to impose their own culture and codes on to the native culture

Question 26

Assimilation
Individuals from different ethnic groups are absorbed into the

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dominant culture of society; commonly referred to as ‘the melting pot’

Question 27

Hybridity
Occurs when a society becomes ethnically

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mixed in a way that represents a synthesis rather than absorption of cultures

Question 28

Creolization
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The combining of identities and language from both sides (the imperialist and colonized) that lead to new forms

Question 29

Ambivalence
The ambiguous way in which the colonizer and colonized

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view one another. The colonizer views the colonized as inferior and exotic, while the colonized views the colonizer as enviable and corrupt.

Question 30

Double Consciousness

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Feeling as though your identity is divided into several parts, making it difficult or impossible to have a unified identity

Question 31

Unhomeliness

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Feeling estranged in a situation that should be familiar