POST-
prefix.
meaning “behind,” “after,” “later,” “subsequent to,” “posterior to,” etc.
POSTCOLONIALISM
Poscolonialism refers to the historical reality of colonized states, primarily Third World countries, “after” colonialization by Europeans. Specifically it studies the lasting socioeconomic, political, and psychological effects of colonization after European powers withdrew.
CONTEXT
Geographic locations – Americas, Asia, Africa, and South Pacific
Time period – 17th to 20th century
IMPORTANT IDEAS
1. It is impossible to access a precolonial existence. As such, colonial doctrines can be replicated to form neocolonial states of existence.
2. Colonialism was not so much geo-political conquest, but a way of thinking that accompanied social progress in other contexts
3. Post-colonial rhetoric mediates the present day understanding of global society
prefix.
meaning “behind,” “after,” “later,” “subsequent to,” “posterior to,” etc.
POSTCOLONIALISM
Poscolonialism refers to the historical reality of colonized states, primarily Third World countries, “after” colonialization by Europeans. Specifically it studies the lasting socioeconomic, political, and psychological effects of colonization after European powers withdrew.
CONTEXT
Geographic locations – Americas, Asia, Africa, and South Pacific
Time period – 17th to 20th century
IMPORTANT IDEAS
1. It is impossible to access a precolonial existence. As such, colonial doctrines can be replicated to form neocolonial states of existence.
2. Colonialism was not so much geo-political conquest, but a way of thinking that accompanied social progress in other contexts
3. Post-colonial rhetoric mediates the present day understanding of global society
Post-colonial scholars study texts outside the dominant Western genres. Notable Scholars include:
A CRITIQUE OF POSTCOLONIALISM
A post structuralist critique of post colonial studies in the West is that 1) the West still remains in the position of primary subject, and 2) overlooks reflexive relationships in identity construction by the colonized, the colonizers, and within the relationship between colonizer and colonized. That is, postcolonial perspective would look very different if the scholar were situated in Baghdad instead of, say, Boston. The focus of the lenses has yet to be turned to or away from the West; the postcolonial interaction with the “East” still requires a duality of knowledge and perspective by the colonized (of themselves and of the colonizers) while the “West” only strives to know the “East” in extension to itself as the colonizer.
A post structuralist critique of post colonial studies in the West is that 1) the West still remains in the position of primary subject, and 2) overlooks reflexive relationships in identity construction by the colonized, the colonizers, and within the relationship between colonizer and colonized. That is, postcolonial perspective would look very different if the scholar were situated in Baghdad instead of, say, Boston. The focus of the lenses has yet to be turned to or away from the West; the postcolonial interaction with the “East” still requires a duality of knowledge and perspective by the colonized (of themselves and of the colonizers) while the “West” only strives to know the “East” in extension to itself as the colonizer.