Colonialism and Postcolonialism
Colonialism and postcolonialism are two widely used terms in literary criticism. Colonialism is actually a historical fact which refers to establishment of colonies by European empires especially by the British. And, post-colonialism refers to the experience and reaction of the colonized after the departure of the colonizers from the colonies.
Colonialism is about the dominance of a strong nation over another weaker one.
Wikipedia writes,
“Colonialism is the extension of a nation's sovereignty over territory beyond its borders by the establishment of either settler or exploitation colonies in which indigenous populations are directly ruled, displaced, or exterminated.”
Stanford Ensyclopedia of Phylosophy states,
“Colonialism is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another.”
However, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish colonialism from imperialism. Colonialism usually involves the transfer of population to a new territory, holding political allegiance to the country of origin. While, in imperialism, one country exercises power over another, whether through settlement, sovereignty, or indirect mechanisms of control.
The term colonialism may also maintain an ideology or a set of beliefs and assumptions used to legitimize or promote this system in defense of the colonizers:
- the colonized are savages and dangerous threat to themselves and to the civilized world if left alone;
- their culture is not standard and needs to be polished by the colonizers;
- it is God’s given duty of the colonizer to bring the stray colonized people to the right path.
On the basis of these assumptions, the white Europeans ventured adventurously into the so-called underdeveloped countries in Africa and Asia and dominated a lot of geographical spaces there; imposed their will at large on them and eroded the natives’ cultures and languages.
But under colonizer’s ideologies was oppression as a basic ingredient of colonialism. As a result, the colonized revolted and gradually gained independence.
In the meantime, there emerged some evident results and effects of colonialism:
1. The total or partial erosion of the colonized culture
2. The mediation of the identity and subjectivity of the colonized
3. Protest against the colonizer
4. The categorization of the world into ranks, such as first world, second world, the West etc.
5. The emergence of different forms of fundamentalism
6. The emergence of bourgeoisie classes in the colonies
7. The emergence of societies with a lot of contradictions and split loyalties.
Now we will look into post-colonialism.
Generally speaking, as a literary theory (or critical approach), postcolonialism deals with literature produced in countries that once were colonies of other countries, especially of the European colonial powers Britain, France, and Spain; in some contexts, it includes countries still in colonial arrangements.
Margaret Kohn(2008) writes,
“Post-colonialism [is] used to describe the political and theoretical struggles of societies that experienced the transition from political dependence to sovereignty.”
Bill Ashcroft(2002:02) states that
“we use the term 'post-colonial', however, to cover all the culture affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day”.
Jeremy Hawthorn (2003:269) argues that it is used
“to refer to literature emanating from or dealing with the peoples and CULTURES of lands which have emerged from colonial rule(normally, but not always, relatively recently)”.
It also deals with literature written in colonial countries and by their citizens that has colonised people as its subject matter.
However, Hawthorn (Ibid) further states, post colonialism “can also be used to imply a body of theory or an attitude towards that which is studied”.
M. H. Abrams(2004:236) regards postcolonialism as
“the critical anlysis of the history, culture, literature, and modes of discourse that are spesific to the former colonies of England, Spain, France, and other European imperial powers.”
In order to make the critical analysis, the post colonial writers select the language of the very colonizers. In Salman Rushdie’s words, “the empire writes back to the centre”. That is, the empire or the colonies respond to the center or colonizer’s oppression and authority with the language, education and culture by which the colonizer has practised his authority and oppression over the colonies. The empire has become now the Calliban of The Tempest who curses Rrospero who represent the centre in his own language:
“ You taught me language; and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid you
For learning me your language!”
(The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2)
However post-colonial literatures have developed through several stages— ‘Adopt’, ‘Adapt’ and ‘Adept’. In the first phase, the post colonial literatures adopt the universal validity of the colonial literature as it stands in its form. The second phase adapts the European form to the subject matter of the colonies, thus assuming partial rights of intervenention in the genre. In the final phase there is a declaration of cultural independence without reference to European norms. Thus postcolonialism stresses on the ‘cross-cultural’ interactions. [2]
The pioneers of Post-colonialism like Edward Said, Franz Fanon, Homi Bhabha among others, concerned themselves with the social and cultural effect of colonizationand exposed to both the colonizer and ex-colonized the falsity or validity of their assumptions. Edward Said's 1978 Orientalism has been described as a seminal work in the field in which Said has been able to undermine the ideological assumption of value-free knowledge and show that “knowing the Orient” is part of the project of dominating it.
While defending its position against colonialism and imperialism, post-colonialism in literature and the arts assumes the following:
a) Cultural relativism: the colonialists’ defilement of culture is socially, morally and politically incorrect.
b) The absurdity of colonial language and discourses.
c) Ambivalence towards authority which leads the native to question all forms of authority.
d) Colonial alienation. Colonialism leads to the alienation of the native in his own land.
Now we can analyse some of the texts from colonial and postcolonial perspectives. Our selected texts are: Passage to India
Ø Defilement of the culture of the other and the supremacy of the culture of the settler: In Passage to India, and in Round the world in 80 Days, the colonialists chuckle at the Indian cultural habits of intimacy, privacy, hospitality; and out laws other cultural practices like burning alive a wife with her dead husband.
Ø Colonial alienation: Friday, in Robinson Crusoe, is no longer at home with himself after his encounter with Robinson Crusoe losing his own identity and self. This loss, confusion and alienation as negative effect of colonialism on the individual also goes for Dr Aziz and his cohorts in Passage to India.
Ø Exploitation and misuse of power: In Robinson Crusoe, Crusoe enslaves Friday; teaches him English for his own cause; makes fun of his newly acquired English; imposes a new religion on him without giving him any choice; even sells Friday.
Works Cited:
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