From Post-Colonial to Post-Imperial The Case of Europe Paulo de Medeiros Seminar on Postcolonial Europe

Sweeping historical considerations oImperialism and colonialism oModern imperialism and colonialism Atlantic expansion towards Asia and America (Portugal and Spain) 19 th Century scramble for Africa oDecolonisation after WWII Passing of imperial mantle from Europe to USA Late decolonisation (NL, PT) and colonial wars Before Postcolonial Theory oFrantz Fanon oAmílcar Cabral Breaking points oLeeds Center for Commonwealth Literature oEdward Said Orientalism Foucault, Althusser, Gramsci as models Implication of academic studies in the political sphere Criticisms oAfter ’68: Derrida and feminist theories Spivak and Bhabha oSubaltern, Voice, Hybridity, Mimicry Against postcolonial theory oArlik and Ahmahd Re-thinking Postcolonial Theory oMcClintock and “The Angel of Progress” oHuggan and “The Postcolonial Exotic” From Postcolonial Theory to Post-Imperial Studies: The Question of Europe

imperialism Function: noun 1 : imperial government, authority, or systemimperial 2 : the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas; broadly : the extension or imposition of power, authority, or influence

colonialism Function: noun 1 : the quality or state of being colonialcolonial 2 : something characteristic of a colonycolony 3 a : control by one power over a dependent area or people b : a policy advocating or based on such control

neocolonialism Function: noun : the economic and political policies by which a great power indirectly maintains or extends its influence over other areas or people Merriam-Webster OnLine

Postcolonialism Two views: Chronological, that is, after independence Theoretical, that is, as anti-colonial

European Maritime Expansion

Decolonization

Paasing the Mantle of Imperialism

Late Decolonization

Before Postcolonialism

Fanon “For Fanon, being colonized by a language has larger implications for one's consciousness: "To speak... means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization" (17-18). Speaking French means that one accepts, or is coerced into accepting, the collective consciousness of the French, which identifies blackness with evil and sin. In an attempt to escape the association of blackness with evil, the black man dons a white mask, or thinks of himself as a universal subject equally participating in a society that advocates an equality supposedly abstracted from personal appearance. Cultural values are internalized, or "epidermalized" into consciousness, creating a fundamental disjuncture between the black man's consciousness and his body. Under these conditions, the black man is necessarily alienated from himself.”language Source: Jennifer Poulos.

Amílcar Cabral

“The value of culture as an element of resistance to foreign domination lies in the fact that culture is the vigorous manifestation on the ideological or idealist plane of the physical and historical reality of the society that is dominated or to be dominated. Culture is simultaneously the fruit of a people’s history and a determinant of history, by the positive or negative influence which it exerts on the evolution of relationships between man and his environment, among men or groups of men within a society, as well as among different societies. Ignorance of this fact may explain the failure of several attempts at foreign domination--as well as the failure of some international liberation movements.” Source: Amílcar Cabral (Syracuse University). “ History is a Weapon: National Liberation and Culture”.

Leeds and Commonwealth Studies