ABSTRACT
A term generally used to indicate a range of global cultural developments which occurred in the aftermath of the Second World War. To this extent, it has both historical nuances and theoretical ones. On the one hand, ‘post-colonialism’signifies something distinctive about this period as one in which the cultural, economic and social events which have constituted it mark the decline of European imperialism. On the other hand, theories of ‘post-coloniality’ concern themselves with a wide range ofmetaphysical, ethical, methodological and political concerns. Issues which are addressed from this perspective include the nature of cultural identity and gender, investigations into concepts of nationality, race and ethnicity, the constitution of subjectivity under conditions of imperialism and questions of language and power. One of the earliest writers who brought attention to such issues was Frantz Fanon (1925-61), who sought to articulate the oppressed consciousness of the colonised subject. He argued that imperialism initiated a process of ‘internalisation’ in which those subjected to it experienced economic, political and social inferiority not merely in ‘external’ terms, but in a manner that affected their sense of their own identity. Hence, material inferiority creates a sense of racial and cultural inferiority. In turn, Fanon attempted to show the role of language within this process. Colonisation, he argues, also took place through language: under French domination the Creole language is rendered ‘inferior’ to French, and the colonised subject is compelled to speak the tongue of his or her imperial rulers, thereby experiencing their subjugation in terms of their own linguistic abilities and identity (an experience, it might be added, not uncommon within the context of Europe itself, e.g. the colonial experiences of Irish and Welsh cultures under the dominion of English expansion since the sixteenth century). In the wake of the work of such figures as Fanon, writers have
raised questions about the applicability of definitions of culture and humanity (for instance, the question of nationhood) which have been offered within the context of Western cultural domination (see, for example, Bhabha 1990), or have elucidated the cultural bias inherent in particular forms of European discourse (see Edward Said’s writings on orientalism). Likewise, notions, such as those of ‘hybridity’ and diaspora, have been developed in order to emphasise the notion of an implicit cultural diversity underlying the identities of so-called ‘Third World’ or post-colonial cultures (see, for example, the writings of Stuart Hall or Homi Bhabha). Within this
context, theories of discourse and narrative have often been deployed as a means of articulating the distinctions between Western and non-Western culture, and in turn questioning its hierarchical superiority. Some of these theories have been derived from Marxism or the thinking of postmodernism and post-structuralismalthough the anti-realism implicit in the work of thinkers associated with these last two movements has led to some criticism, for instance by Said, of its applicability to the experience of ‘post-colonial’ subjects (and, perhaps, one ought to mention the possible criticism that much of the thought inherent in postmodernism and poststructuralism has itself been produced within the Western academy). It is also worth noting that the use of ‘post-colonialism’ to define such
theories, or indeed even an historical period, is controversial. This is not least because it is possible to argue that the word preserves within it the presupposition that Western culture retains the predominance it attained during the past two or three hundred years as a consequence of colonial expansion. To be identified as ‘post-colonial’, in other words, involves a retention of the belief that colonialism continues to exert its influence through providing a definition of the identity of ‘post-colonial’ subjects and their cultures. Equally, whether the postwar period can be seen as really signifying a move away from colonial forms is questionable. The rise of colonial imperialism rooted in the political form of the European nation state occurred in conjunction with capitalism in the modern era, and the predominance of this form has perhaps subsided. But the cultural and economic power of the West, it is arguable, retains its dominance in the form of those processes of globalisation which have been delineated by some critics as characteristic of developments within late capitalism (see the discussion of David Harvey’s work in the postmodernism entry).
