PARIMAL KUMAR SINGH

ROLL NO: 17134011

IDD PART: 5, SEM: 9
THERMAL & FLUID ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ASSIGNMENT – 1, 2, 3 | HLD – 330: NEW LITERATURES IN ENGLISH

“Postcolonialism... involves a studied engagement with the experience of colonialism and its past and
present effects”

A possible working definition for postcolonialism is that it involves a studied engagement with the
experience of colonialism and its past and present effects, both at the local level of ex-colonial societies
and at the level of more general global developments thought to be the after-effects of empire.
Postcolonialism often also involves the discussion of experiences such as slavery, migration, suppression
and resistance, difference, race, gender and place as well as responses to the discourses of imperial
Europe such as history, philosophy, anthropology and linguistics. The term is as much about conditions
under imperialism and colonialism proper, as about conditions coming after the historical end of
colonialism.

The New Literatures in English are not that new altogether. They have emerged from processes of
colonization that transformed large tracts of the world from the late fifteenth century onwards, and
some of them can trace their beginnings to the nineteenth or even late eighteenth century, when
English, Irish or Scottish settlers in the Caribbean, Canada or South Africa first began to create an
‘overseas literature,’ and enslaved or colonized people first began to reflect on their current situation
and future perspectives utilizing the medium of what was then ‘the colonizer’s tongue.’ Other
literatures in English are indeed new, sometimes startlingly so: as distinct literary fields, West African
literature in English emerged in the 1950s, East African literature in English in the 1960s, indigenous
writing in Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the 1970s, and Black and Asian British Literature in
the 1980s.

The study of New English Literatures is concerned with colonial and postcolonial writing which emerged
in former British colonies such as: parts of Africa, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Caribbean countries,
India, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, islands in the South Pacific, and Sri Lanka.
American literature is not considered to be postcolonial. According to many theorists, the USA should
also be included in the list but owing to its state of independence, which was won long before other
colonies, and its current position of power. [1][2]

In general, critics have not yet agreed upon an acknowledged and recognised definition of the
term postcolonial. There is an ongoing debate concerning the terminology and what
exactly postcolonialism  means. Elleke Boehmer, for instance, believes that superficially, most modern
and contemporary literatures could be called colonial or postcolonial owing to the conquest of Britain by
the Roman Empire. She therefore proposes a narrower definition and focuses on "literature written in
English" in the countries which formerly belonged to the British Empire. [3][4]
Postcolonial literature is writing at the margin and has similarities to contemporary European thought,
for example feminism, post-structuralism, and even hypertext theory. The female body, for instance,
was used metaphorically for colonies and the discovery of conquered land. In this connection, Loomba
quotes Freud who regarded the sexual life of women as a 'dark continent', in other words a colony.
Female authors, whether postcolonial or not, have always been marginalised and excluded from the
canon. They are treated as colonies in a male-dominated value system because mainly men decide
which authors - usually male writers - gain access to the canon. [5][6][7][8]

Features of postcolonial literatures:

1. Appropriation of Colonial Languages

Postcolonial writers take the language of their colonizer (English or French) and turn it on its head. A
writer from the Caribbean may write a novel or play in English, but he or she may twist the English
around, write in dialect, make the language sound spoken instead of written, pepper it with native
phrases and terms. It's still English, but it's a different kind of English.

2. Metanarrative

Colonizers liked to tell a certain story. In this story, Europeans were created to rule over other, lesser
people, from the Irish to the Igbo. Europeans were the designated masters, the rulers of the earth.
Therefore, they were justified in ruling over others: that was their destiny. And anyway, they weren't
really in it for their own profit. They were enlightening the darker peoples, you see. They were civilizing
them.

3. Colonial Discourse

Colonial  discourse is the collection of narratives, statements, and opinions that deals with colonized
peoples—told from the perspective of European colonizers, of course. This discourse isn't very kind to
colonized peoples. It usually portrays them as savages, as uncivilized, as lazy, and as servants. Colonizers
themselves are usually presented as civilized and benevolent and generous.

4. Decolonization Struggles

Postcolonial writers aren't just interested in decolonizing the political structures. They're interested in
decolonizing the mind, to use a phrase made famous by the postcolonial Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa
Thiong'o. Decolonizing the mind means different things for different writers, but the idea is always to
gain mental and cultural liberation from the structures and philosophies of colonialism.

5. Nationhood and Nationalism

Postcolonial writers are really interested in nationhood and nationalism. A lot of these writers are very
patriotic. They write books on behalf of their nations. Their work is often nationalist, because
postcolonial writers like to highlight and valorize their nation's cultural, political and social identity.

6. Valorization of Cultural Identity

In postcolonial literature, valorization of cultural identity is reflected in the narrative style of a literary
work. For example, a lot of African postcolonial literature resembles spoken language. That's because,
prior to colonialism, much of African literature was oral literature. People  told stories. They sang poetry
to each other. So, one way that African writers valorize their indigenous heritage is by turning back to
these oral narrative forms that predated colonialism for inspiration.

7. Challenging Stereotypes

In order to justify colonialism, colonizers had to make themselves believe that the people they were
colonizing were somehow lesser than they were. Otherwise, how could they go off and enslave and kill
and steal from so many people? One way they convinced themselves of their superiority was by
developing all kinds of stereotypes about different colonized groups: they were dangerous; they were
untrustworthy; they were lazy. A big mission of postcolonial writers is to challenge these stereotypes
and show that they are based on nothing but the biases of the colonizers.

REFERENCES

1. Bill Ashcroft et al., The Empire Writes Back. Theory and Practice in Post-colonial Literatures (London
and New York, 1989), cf. p. 2.
2. Ashcroft, cf. p. 2. See also Elleke Boehmer, Colonial & Postcolonial Literature (Oxford and New York,
1995), p. 4.
3. Peck and Coyle, cf. p. 10.
4, Boehmer, cf. p. 1.
5. Ibid., p. 1.
6. Ashcroft, cf. p. 12.
7. Loomba, cf. p. 151 f.
8. Ibid., cf. p. 161.

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