Terms & Definitions

Question 1

Ideology

Answer 1

A set of concepts, beliefs, values and ways of thinking and feeling, through which humans perceive, and by which they explain, what they perceive to be reality.

Question 2

Eurocentrism

Answer 2

The privileging in Colonial societies of European cultures, values, and ways of life over and above local culture, values, and ways of life.

Question 3

Androcentrism

Answer 3

A society that privileges males above others.

Question 4

Graphocentrism

Answer 4

Privileges the written word over the spoken word.

Question 5

Phonocentrism

Answer 5

Privileges the spoken word over the written word.

Question 6

Metanarrative

“grand” or “master” narrative

Answer 6

A large cultural story that seeks to explain within its borders all the little, local narratives. Claims to be a big truth concerning the world and the way it works. Some charge that all metarratives are inherently oppressive because they decide whether other narratives are allowed or not.

Question 7

Mimicry

Answer 7

The means by which colonized people adapt to culture (language, education, clothing, etc.) of the colonizer but always in the process changing it in important ways. Such an approach always contains in it the ambivalence of hybridity (i.e.: some forms of mimicry implicitly support colonialism while others function to subvert it)

Question 8

Subversive Mimicry

Answer 8

• A form of counter-discourse whereby colonized people mimic the colonizer in order to challenge colonial ideology and practice.
• Adopting the ways of the colonizer and using it against the colonizer in order to bring about justice; i.e.: using bible quotes to unveil hypocrisy)

Question 9

Cultural Hybridity

Homi K. Bhabha

Answer 9

The “fusion” of cultural forms that takes place even in contexts characterized by social, political, and economic inequality. Hybridity acknowledges that there are no “pure” and “authentic” forms of identity in a globalizing world.

Question 10

Truth and Reconciliation Mandate

TRC

Answer 10

To inform all Canadians about what happened in Indian Residential Schools and document the accounts of survivors, families, communities,band anyone else affected by the Indian Residential Schools experience.

Question 11

Cultural Genocide

Answer 11

Destruction of those structures and practices that allow a group of people to continue as a group; destroying political and social institutions of a targeted group.

Question 12

Biological Genocide

Answer 12

Destruction of a targeted group’s reproductive capacity.

Question 13

Physical Genocide

Answer 13

Mass killing of the members of a targeted group.

Question 14

Manichaeism Delirium

Abdul R. Jan Mohamed

Answer 14

A psychological condition common to colonized people which is brought about by the internalization of Eurocentric/racist ideology; a harmful mode of colonial mimicry in which colonized people buy into dichotomous value systems privileging colonized culture: white/black, civilized/savage, rational/emotional, etc.

Question 15

Agency

Answer 15

Self-determination; the ability to pursue one’s goals and desires freely.

Question 16

Imperialism

Answer 16

The policy of acquiring and maintaining an empire.

Question 17

Counter-Discourse

Answer 17

The use by colonized or marginalized people of hegemonic discourses to challenge and oppose hegemonic practices.

Question 18

Hegemony

Answer 18

The social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group, giving that group a degree of control or authority over others.

Question 19

Linguistic Post-Colonial Dialectic

2 Parts

Answer 19

1) Linguistic Colonialism

2) Linguistic Pragmatism

Question 20

Linguistic Colonialism

Answer 20

The idea that you use language to colonize people (i.e.: children of residential schools stripped of their language)

Question 21

Linguistic Pragmatism

Answer 21

The power of unionizing people under a language; using the English language as a practical advantage.

Question 22

Infantilization

Answer 22

To consider and treat the “other” as a child.

Question 23

tautology

Answer 23

A circular and therefore illogical argument.

Question 24

Colonial pedagogy

Answer 24

European, often Eurocentric, method or practice of teaching

Question 25

Colonial mimicry

Answer 25

Where colonial people adopt the customs (language, dress) of the colonizer.