Postcolonial Studies

 

Post-colonial studies apply the insights of hermeneutics and left-wing political theory to the literature of countries emerging from colonialism. Equally pertinent is the literature of the colonizing power — the unspoken and sometimes superior attitudes of European writers towards the culture of countries they control or once controlled.

Now a complex and a rapidly expanding field of study, post-colonialism was largely initiated by Edward Said, a Palestinian writer concerned about what he saw as the subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture, something he called Orientalism. Though his work was one-sided, encumbered with jargon, and involved some subterfuges on its author's part, Said raised matters important in literature, international relations, trade agreements and third world aid.

Writers point out that the west tends to:

  • view matters wholly through their own culturally-determined and often limited historical perspectives.

  • lump countries together in geographical or economic blocks, which overlooks vital differences in history, outlook and cultural practices.

  • oblige writers to adopt the language of the former colonial power, for practical convenience and/or economic control of the media or publishing houses. In many cases, the foreign language has traditions, social structures and textures that are not appropriate to what the new writers wish to say.

  • apply economic or political coercion. Countries are often given or denied aid on the basis of democratic assessments that are very simplistically applied. Worse, countries often need aid only because they are denied a proper market for their goods by trade organizations that perpetuate the old colonial rule.

Post-colonial studies use a concept called Otherness, a somewhat flexible concept, deriving from Freudian psychiatry, which argues that human beings inevitably define themselves against what they are not: the 'other'. Inevitably, given that resistance to a colonial past helps define new writers, the unwanted colonial attitudes reappear, even if as despised negatives. In short, there is no privileged viewpoint, nothing that is free from earlier prejudice or subsequent reaction. We work within an horizon of understanding, which itself shifts as we think more deeply, and the age itself moves on.

Post-colonial studies have some telling points to make, but can also be one-sided, simplifying and ignoring the obvious.

Greater difficulties arise when we look for evidence. Said's Orientalism made three assertions. Firstly, that oriental studies functioned to serve political ends. Secondly, that Orientalism has produced a false description of Arabs and Islamic culture. And thirdly, that Orientalism helped define Europe’s self-image. None seems to be true. Colonial rule was not justified in advance by oriental studies but in retrospect. Second, if the views of oriental scholars were so wrong, it is hard to see how their adoption by the colonizing powers proved so successful, or why they are still used by native academics. Finally, Europe did not definine itself against an oriental 'other': Europeans may well have thought themselves superior, but they did not construct an 'other' and define themselves against it. The accusation indeed commits the same stereotyping, now of the Europeans powers, that Said himself castigates. Matters are much more complicated, varying with period and countries concerned.

The issues are contentious, and it is difficult to find a balanced position. The overarching faults of post-colonial studies are those of radical theory generally: belief in simple answers to complex matters, disdain for evidence, and a prose style that obscures the issues and sometimes prevents discussion altogether.

A documented article can be found on TextEtc.

 

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Postcolonial Studies

 

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