Theories of post-colonial discourses.

- Edward said and Frantz fanon

Theories of postcolonial discourses were hugely influential in genre of post
colonialism.
Colonial discourses (novels, dialogues) contributed to development of post
colonialism.

Under post colonialism we have two aspects which are used as weapons of colonial
power to keep colonized people subservient or under their control.
The two weapons are representation and modes of perception.
Novels are also colonial discourse.
Jane eyre contributed to this representation of Indians. St john rivers went to teach
Indians.
So we think colonialists are superior and the colonized are inferior and require
teaching from the colonisers to become civil.
One Trinidadian writer – his name is Sam Selvon. He wrote a lecture titled ‘Three
Into One Can’t Go – East Indian, Trinidadian, West Indian’. This was given in
1979.
He talks of one incident. An indian (not sure if indian or west indian) fishermen
who visited san Fernando, Trinidadian when he was a child.
The fisherman was Sammy. One day Sammy brought an assistant who was white
and was also an escaped convict.
Selvon saw all this and he found is utterly shocking to find Sammy having an
assistant who was white convict.
This shows how people are trained to perceive that whites cannot hold menial jobs
and are only supposed to hold power.
The notion is that white man should be smarter and coloured man should be
servant.
Sammy was partially go analysed. He also had flaws.
The assistant was a criminal.

1
Selvon felt bad that assistant, the white man was following orders of paralysed,
lame, ridiculed boy called Sammy.
Because of certain things, we have internalized that white are forever smarter and
coloured are servants.
The concept/idea of colonizer being superior and colonized being inferior is the
purpose of post colonial literature.
The motif is that white – superior and colonized inferior.
That is why we need to reread and study the colonial discourses.
Colonialism is practiced to justify actions of colonisers and the colonisers
themselves. The colonisers feel it is right to rule over the colonized and it is their
duty to colonise the uncivilized.
Colonialism is done on large scale with a practice called colonizing the mind
where the colonized accept a lower ranking.
People internalize the coloniser’s logic, speak their language, to perpetuate the
values and assumptions of colonisers as the right way.
Language plays an important role in getting people to succumb to a particular way
of seeing things. Language makes colonized think this. It depends on
representation.