Transcript Document

The colonial era also known as imperialism, lasted from the
late 15th to the early 20th century, with World War 2 marking the official
end to all European colonization.
During this time period European nations experienced
a Renaissance of wealth and arts.
The most prominent nations that are generally associated
with colonialism are England, Spain, Portugal,
France and the Dutch.
The expanded power that these nations gained came at the cost of
many developing nations throughout the Americas,
Africa and Asia. The resources and peoples of these colonies
were abused in a quest for power by the west.
The history of colonization was characterized by massive reorganization
and appropriation of nations and territories in attempt to gain power.
Many atrocities were committed to achieve these goals: Institutionalized
slavery, racism, enforced migration, murder, torture and genocide to name
a few.
It was through a process of indoctrination that the Europeans were able to
control the larger populations of natives. The cultures of these people were
replaced by Eurocentric beliefs. These beliefs replaced the ideological,
political, economic, and cultural values of the native peoples with those of
their European masters.
The effects of these losses of culture and nationality can be seen throughout
the world today.
Postcolonial theory is a generalized term used to describe the variety of events that took place in the aftermath of
decolonization throughout various nations.
Post colonialism as a study addresses issues of power, subordination, race, gender inequality and class warfare; but it
examines how these issues still exist and linger far after the imperial powers exited the colonies.
The ultimate goal of post colonial theory is to combat the lasting effects of colonialism on native cultures. It is not
simply concerned with recovering these past cultures, but learning how the world can move beyond this period
together, towards a place of mutual respect.
Some of the most prominent theorists and authors of this theory are Frantz Fanon, Gayatri Spivak and Edward W.
Said. These authors sought to expose and deconstruct the racist, imperialist nature of Eurocentric assumptions and
thus remove the power of persuasion and coercion. Many of these authors found inspiration through Feminist and
Marxist teachings.
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Fanon is one of the earliest writers associated with post
colonialism.
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He is best know for his books: Black Skin, White Masks (1952)
and The Wretched of the Earth (1961)
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In his books, Fanon points out the hypocrisies of racism that are
woven into Western culture. Pointing to the fact that whiteness in
western culture always equates to “ Virginity, justice and truth”.
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Fanon describes colonialism and its racist justifications as the
source of violence and discord throughout the third world. This
was a stark contrast to the Europeans view that the Western
powers were saving the heathens from their violent natures and
enlightening them to the truth of Western thought.
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Best known for her lecture Can The Subaltern Speak
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The Subaltern refers to any culture that is in the
minority.
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Spivak felt that dominant or hegemonic cultures tend
to marginalize the Subaltern cultures, beliefs and ways
of thinking.
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Spivak shows that practices that were viewed as
barbaric from Western standards were outlawed
without any consideration to the viewpoints of the
native peoples.
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She coined the term Strategic Essentialism. This refers
to a temporary solidarity among different peoples and
groups among a culture in order to defend a common
cause.
Known for his famous book Orientalism (1978)
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Said, in his book, creates a binary view of the world. He split’s
the world into two cultures. He referred to the so called East as
the Orient and the West he called the Occipital
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The thesis of the book was that Western views of the East had
prevented the Eastern world from having a voice of its own.
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The West romanticized about the East. But this romanticism
justified the feelings that the Asian and Arabian people were
barbaric in comparison to the West. This viewpoint had
allowed the West to colonize the Eastern world under the
context of enlightening the “wretches” of the world.
•
Most importantly, Said showed how these opinions had found
their way into scholarly writings, as well as literary and
popular fiction.
Jean Rhys made a significant contribution to postcolonial
literature in her story Wide Sargasso Sea. The story was
developed to confront Charlotte Bronte’s opinions about
women as well as her opinions of the colonies.
In Jane Eyre, Bronte depicts the colonies as hostile deadly
environments. Rhys on the other hand, tries to depict these
environments as beautiful and extravagant.
Bronte’s portrays her main character Jane, a Western
woman, as innocent. In contrast, she portrays the character
Bertha as insane and evil.
We can see how these views parallel a Eurocentric viewpoint
of the colonies. The insanity in Antoinette/Bertha mimics the
views the Europeans had of the natives as being violent by
nature. Where as the view of Jane is similar to how
Europeans saw themselves as being innocent and being
surrounded by gothic, dark, chaotic people.
Jean Rhys in her story is showing that Bertha was not
naturally crazy. She shows that Rochester’s bigoted and
abusive treatment of Antoinette is what drove her crazy. Just
like we can see that the mistreatment of the native peoples by
the Europeans is what caused the violent revolts in the
colonies and not their so called “Violent natures”.
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