colonialism

POSTCOLONIAL THEORY

  • A theory and lens for understanding life after foreign rule.

What Puts the "Post" in Postcolonialism?

  • The prefix "post" means after, necessitating a discussion of the history behind colonialism.

What is Colonialism?

  • An extension of a nation's rule over territory beyond its borders.
  • The establishment and maintenance of colonies in one territory by people from another country.
  • The process where sovereignty over a colony is claimed by the colonizer.
  • The social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by the colonists.
  • Colonialism also refers to the historical period from the 15th to the 20th century when European nations established colonies in other continents.
  • It represents the relationship between an indigenous majority and a minority of foreign invaders.
  • Fundamental decisions affecting the lives of the colonized people are made and implemented by the colonial powers in pursuit of their own interests.
  • Colonizers are convinced of their own superiority and mandate to rule, rejecting cultural compromises.

Types of Colonialism

  1. Pre-capitalist colonialism:
    • Examples: The Crusades in the 2nd century, Genghis Khan's invasion of the Middle East and China in the 13th century.
  2. Modern Colonialism:
    • European invasion of Africa, Asia, and the Americas from the 16th century onwards.
    • Causes: modernization, nationalization, and capitalism.

Differences between Pre-Capitalist and Modern Colonialism

  • Modern colonialism involved more than extracting tribute, goods, and wealth.
  • It structured the economies of the colonized countries, integrating them into a complex relationship with the colonial powers.
  • This created a flow of human and natural resources between colonized and colonial countries.

Modern Colonialism: Meaning and Types

  • Modern colonialism encompasses military, economic, and cultural oppression and domination.
  • Kinds:
    1. Invasion-colonization
    2. Settlement-colonization
    3. Internal Colonialism
    4. Neo-Colonialism

Internal Colonialism

  1. Racial Domination within an existing territory.
  2. Uneven wave of industrialization leads to inter-group differences in power.
    • Ethnic division of labor $\rightarrow$ Ethnic identities are forged and ethnic colonies are formed (ghettos, or internal segregation).
    • Related to minority discourse or immigrant culture/literature.

Colonialism: Flows of Natural Resources and People

  1. Triangular Trade
  2. Middle Passage
  3. African Diaspora in the Americas

Colonialism: Flows of Migration

  • 1st World Colonial powers sent adventurers, army personnel, travelers, missionaries, and immigrants to the "Third World".
  • Contract laborers, students, and businessmen also migrated.

Cultural Imperialism: Theories

  1. Culture (e.g., literature, language, popular culture) supports and spreads imperialism.
  2. Definitions of self and others are based upon representations rather than reality.
  3. Binary oppositions were employed:
    • The West/Self: civilized, just, moral, industrious, rational, Masculine
    • The Orient/Other: savage, lewd, lazy, superstitious, feminine

Cultural Imperialism: Additional Theories

  • Decoration and support for building the Empire.
  • Belief in Biological Differences used as Justification of Racism.

Edward Said's Theory of Orientalism

  • Introduced by Edward Said (1978).
  • Explains how European/Western colonizers viewed the "Orient".
  • The East was presented as "the Other" (weaker, less civilized, inscrutable, wicked) or as "the exotic" (e.g., Arabian Nights, Madame Butterfly).
  • Oriental women were portrayed as submissive, sexual, and sweet.

The Concept of the "East"

  • The concept of the "East" i.e the ‘orient” was created by the