Postcolonial Criticism

Postcolonialism Emerged in the 1990’s Undermines universalist claims Universal claims disregard difference Regional National Cultural Social White Eurocentric norms should not be privileged

Postcolonialism As more immigrants and refugees move to our country, we must consider a broader range of literary texts in order that diverse populations may see themselves and their circumstances in the works they read. In addition, we need to consider the perspectives and identities that historically have not seem themselves as part of the American mainstream.

Postcolonialism Colonialist worldviews underpin much of the ideology that pervades mainstream American culture. Those of us raised in the United States have experienced an environment shaped by traditional Western values and beliefs. While many of these values serve well, we have to distinguish those that drive us toward the highest ideals of democracy and equality from those that provide advantage to us and adversity to others.

Postcolonialism An understanding of postcolonial viewpoints is crucial if we are to educate new generations of Americans who are willing to move beyond Western preconceptions and biases. Postcolonial criticism provides an opportunity to level a playing field that has been tilted since the beginnings of Western identity.

Postcolonialism Lois Tyson (2006) summarizes the origin of the problem—the construction of a worldview that inherently privileges the perspectives of those who constructed it: The colonizers believed that only their own Anglo-European culture was civilized, sophisticated, or, as postcolonial critics put it, metropolitan. Therefore, native peoples were defined as savage, backward, and undeveloped. Because their technology was more highly advanced, the colonizers believed their whole culture was more highly advanced, and they ignored or swept aside the religions, customs, and codes of behavior of the peoples they subjugated. So the colonizers saw themselves at the center of the world; the colonized were at the margins (p. 419).

Postcolonialism This colonist ideology constructs a world that imprisons both sides. It precludes any ability for Western peoples to learn from histories and cultures of the colonized and to incorporate ideas and values that have successfully sustained non-Western societies for centuries, often with less detrimental effects than those of Eurocentric cultural practices.

Literature and Colonialism For a very long time, authors, poets, critics, and scholars have made the case that literature reflects cultural heritage. Largely as a result of this understanding, literature study has traditionally been divided into literature of historical periods and national literatures. Dominant societies created images of themselves by publicly recognizing what they thought to be the best representations of their arts and sciences. Featured among these representations were literary masterworks thought to capture the essence of who we were and what our societies stood for at various points and places in the past.

Literature and Colonialism In time, however, it became clear that the images created within our national literatures provided a less than complete understanding of our history and heritage. Only those people who had historically participated in the construction of our cultural imagination found themselves fairly represented, and their voices were predominantly White, male, and of the upper social classes.

Literature and Colonialism Members of racial and ethnic groups who were not part of the mainstream found themselves and their cultures represented from the outside. They themselves became the creations of a cultural imagination that neither understood nor sympathized with them. The same was true for women. The source of this misrepresentation was a cultural predilection that reflected the products and processes of Western civilization.

Literature and Colonialism The colonialist worldview imposes on other landscapes and peoples its own images of the colonized as it wishes them to be. Competing worldviews are summarily dismissed. The underlying idea of postcolonialism is that the colonized needed to have their stories heard.

To Achieve Postcolonial Perspective First step for the “colonized” is to reclaim their own past i.e.. History did not begin with the Europeans Second step is to erode colonialist ideology that devalued their past

Orientalism (continued) Filled with anonymous masses of people (not individuals) Actions determined by instinct (lust, terror, fury, etc.) vs. logic Their reactions are determined by racial considerations rather than individual circumstance

Orientalism Definition style, artifacts, or traits considered characteristic of the peoples and cultures of Asia. the representation of Asia, especially the Middle East, in a stereotyped way that is regarded as embodying a colonialist attitude.

The Berlin Conference 1884-1885

Ground Breaking Work Edward Said’s Orientalism East is seen as “other”; inferior to the West East is portrayed as projection of negative aspects cruelty, sensuality, decadence, laziness, etc. Yet East is also portrayed as exotic, mystical, seductive

Characteristics of Postcolonial Criticism An awareness of representation of non- Europeans as exotic or ‘Other’ 2. Concern with language Some conclude the colonizer's language is permanently tainted, to write in it involves acquiescence in colonial structures

Characteristics of Postcolonial Criticism (cont.) 3. Emphasis on identity as doubled or unstable (identify with colonizer and colonized) 4. Stress on cross cultural interactions

Stages of Postcolonial Criticism Phase 1: Analyze white representation of colonial countries…uncover bias Phase 2: Postcolonial writers explore selves and society (The empire writes back)

What Postcolonial Critics Do Reject claims of universalism Examine representation of other cultures Show how literature is silent on matters of imperialism and colonialism Foreground questions of diversity and cultural difference Celebrate ‘cultural polyvancy’ (belonging to more than one culture) Assert that marginality, plurality and ‘Otherness’ are sources of energy and potential change