Postcolonialism Level: Master of Arts

Lecturer: DJIMAN Kasimi, Professor

Félix Houphouët-Boigny University of Cocody-Abidjan

Department of English

Objective:

This lecture on theory, i.e.postcolonialism, is meant to enlarge students’ horizon

in their approach vis-à-vis the literary object. In other words, students will be
briefed about the ins and outs of postcolonial theory, that is to say a set of ideas
of which the aim is “to change the order of the world, “to quote from Frantz
Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. For the sake of illustrations, the scrutiny of
literary objects will be considered.

Outline:

-Introductory Words

-The Colonial Past

-Basic Ideas

-The Big Three

Introductory Words

The Semantic Probe

Post-colonial:

Here we are dealing with a time-frame. The emphasis is on chronology, i.e.

formerly colonised societies emerging after the colonial era.

Postcolonial:

An approach that pays attention to the strategies of resistance on the part of

formerly colonised societies. This approach takes several forms as it goes beyond
the scope of literature and embraces such fields as economy and politics, to
name but a few.

This reading is applied to both post-colonial and earlier colonial texts.

For Elleke Boehmer, postcolonialism would be defined as a writing that sets out in
one way or another to resist colonialist perspectives. In other words, it aims at
decentring the centre, which means giving decolonisation its full meaning.

It is a critical response to colonialism and its subsequent outlook.

It is a theoretical perspective which pays attention to the experiences,

perspectives and beliefs of those who once experienced colonialism. As Nehru
contends

A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step

out from the old to the new, when an age ends; and when the soul of
a nation long suppressed finds utterance…..

In other words, Nehru argues about the need to make the once suppressed/ silent
voices heard.
Postcolonial literature:

That body of literature (prose, poetry, drama) which aims at rejecting the
inferiorating perception towards non-Europeans.

Postcolonial criticism:

It is a study, analysis leaning on postcolonial theory. In this case, we are dealing

with a postcolonial reading

Postcolonial theory:

A theoretical approach that is sensitive to the voice of societies once living under
the yoke of colonialism.
The Colonial Past

A colony:

It is a territory subdued by a superpower (the metropole). This relationship

expresses itself through economic, political and also cultural domination.

This relationship of hegemony rests on a series of reasons that can be grasped

through what can be termed the “colonial discourse,” a set of rules used to keep
colonised peoples subservient to colonial rule.

The Discursive Construction

It is meant to bring about the Other, the non-European

This creation lies on a series of oppositions despising the native, non-European:

-civilised # barbaric

-White # Black

-strong # weak

-progressive # primitive

-mature # immature

The consequence of this discursive construction is the justification of imperialism,

named by Joseph Conrad through the term ”autocracy.”

Political governance: they need the backing of others to govern their own
societies

Economic exploitation: they are not able to exploit their own riches
Cultural domination: their culture is not praiseworthy. Hence the imposition of a
foreign culture to erase their own. As Wendy Knepper states:

The imposition of the language of the coloniser is another factor to consider as it

is part of a wider process for imposing European culture, particularly as it
transformed or effaced the local indigenous or colonised peoples

The point being made is that the European mode of thinking must be imposed
upon the rest of the world. No wonder Leila Gandhi would argue that

Colonialism marks the historical process whereby the “West” attempts

systematically to cancel or negate the cultural difference and value of the
non-“West.”

In the same line of thinking Stephanie Newell states: “The Europeans claimed that
they were the only ones who had thought out a civilisation to the level and
dimension of universality.”
Basic Ideas

Even though postcolonialism pays attention to the criticism of colonialist thinking,

it is also sensitive to alternative cultural outlooks of the world. This is the reason
why two aspects can be considered:

1. Proleptic Postcolonialism

It involves here writing back to the Center. We are dealing with a subject matter
critical of the colonial heritage.

2. Liminal Postcolonialism

Here it is hybrid, in-between, cosmopolitan

The point is to emphasise local culture, language and vernacular forms. This is
what is meant through the phrase “transnational writing” or “transnational
aesthetic.”

Postcolonial literary theory as a reading practice deals with a set of principles

aimed at reacting against the inferiorating discourse which underlied colonialism:

-they reject the claims to universalism, which more than often, only means the
adoption or imposition of Eurocentric norms and practices

-It draws attention to issues of cultural difference in literary texts and seems to
assert what might be termed ”cultural resistance” by Frantz Fanon, “cultural
independence” by Pramod Nayar

-It promotes ”cultural polyvalence”, meaning the capacity to belong to two

cultures, that of the coloniser and that of the colonised
-It pays attention to the abrogation of the Centre within the text. Any discourse
claiming to give dominance to the West will be questioned

-It shows how colonial powers despised other peoples based on race

-It reflects on the ways in which the text speaks to the ongoing processes of
decolonisation, i.e. the efforts to move beyond the legacies of the colonial past

-It pays attention to pre-colonial wisdom and forms of knowledge to challenge

their would-be inferiority

 Magical realism: Ann Bowers ”The variety of magical occurrences in

magic(al) realist writing includes miracles, extraordinary talents as “the
appearance of the dead in the realm of the living”
 Mythical dimension(witchcraft, sorcery practices)
 Deities

-It deals with using the coloniser’s language to criticise their ideological
standpoints. In the words of Charles Baker” the postcolonial writers are using the
primary tool of oppression as a means of their own liberation.”

 This issue of language is so important that Ngugi wa Thiong’o

argues:”the bullet was the means of physical subjugation, English
language was the means of spiritual subjugation”
 This is the reason why the notion of Appropriation is quite important
here: “Appropriation is the process by which the language [Standard
English] is taken and made to bear the burden of one’s own cultural
experience” Bill Ashcroft & al.

-It shows how colonial powers invented discursive formations to perpetrate their
domination over peoples believed to be inferior
The Big Three

The phrase is from Ato Quayson who uses it to label the most important theorists
in the field. They are: Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha.

 Edward Said (1935-2003), from Palestine.

-Postcolonial theory is generally said to begin with Said’s Orientalism (1978).

Power can exercise itself through knowledge. In the case of colonisation,

knowledge about the Orient (Asia, the East and non-European cultures) preceded
actual colonial practices of political domination and economic exploitation

-Western imperialism sustained itself through an ideological creation of the

Orient, i.e. Orientalism: body of knowledge about Eastern cultures, religions and
languages developed by western colonisers.

 This policy is achieved through a set of activities ”making

statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, teaching
it, settling it, ruling over it”

-This representation is not natural but constructed

Us # Them

Self # Other

West # Orient

-Cultural resistance: local narratives as responses to western official discourses

-Cultural autonomy in a sort of partnership with the West

  Gayatri Spivak, 1942, from India

-She analyses the condition of the colonised

-the subaltern (a term used to refer to someone who does not belong to the
colonial elite

-What is unsaid and silenced through representation

-Where the marginal can speak and be spoken, even spoken for

-How texts represent the oppressed

-Who can speak for whom? Who listens? How does one represent the self and
others?

 Homi Bhabha 1949, from India

-ambivalent, contradictory aspects of the colonizer-colonised relationships

-colonial discourse is ambivalent with respect to the colonial subject, who is

represented as someone to be nurtured, civilised as well as exploited

-mimicry: colonial discourse encourages the colonized subject to “mimic” the

colonizer by adopting the coloniser’s culture, language and values. But this is
never complete since there are differences that cannot be eradicated. Mimicry
involves similarity and difference (the colonised subject is not quite/not white)

-hybridity: the heterogeneous aspects of cultural formation, the intermixtures of

language, race…

-liminal: in-between
Bibliography

Boehmer, Elleke, Colonial and Postcolonial Literature: Migrant Metaphors, 2005

Knepper, Wendy, Postcolonial Literature, 2011

Nayar, Pramod, Literary Theory Today, 2006