hello and welcome back to the course on literary
theory and literary criticism and today's
lecture in the two modules will be covering
a ah brief look at post colonial theory and
criticism so what do we understand by postcolonialism
or post colonial studies put very simply it
means the it implies the critical analysis
of the history the cultural the literatures
and the modes of this course that are very
specific to what use to be ah former european
colonies and imperial powers and by former
european colonies and imperial power we are
thinking about countries like england spain
france etcetera all of which had ah colonies
ah outside their own territories now this
studies focus especially on the third world
countries in africa asia the caribbean islands
and south america however some scholars also
extend the scope of such analysis the discourse
and cultural production of such sources countries
as australia canada and new zealand too even
though they achieved independence much much
earlier than the rest of the third world countries
post colonial studies are also concerned with
aspects of british literature in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries these are viewed
through a perspective that reveals the extent
to which the social and economic life represented
in the literature of the period tells us about
the the the phenomenon of colonial exploitation
the premise here is that literature cannot
be judged by a very simple and single universal
iced universal standard the claim that the
claim that often made that great literature
is something that that contributes that's
of timeless value and there is universal undermines
seen as something is serious in an attitude
that undermines ah and disregards cultural
social and national differences in experiences
and world outlooks
let's take an example for instance to claim
that thomas hardys wessex novels are basically
an exploration of the fundamental and universal
aspects of the human condition would be to
ah completely overlook the factor that his
novels are very very reasonal historically
specific and are mostly really white masculine
working class narrative postcolonialism aims
to reject this kind of a universalism instead
it sees to expose white eurocentric norms
and practices which try to pass of a natural
and thus then there by assume an elevated
status postcolonial criticism perhaps gain
impetus the publication of frants fanons richard
of the earth is published in nineteen sixty
one originally in french the richard of the
earth was what could be described as a cultural
resistance to francis african empire fanon
himself was a psychiatrist in martinique and
martinique is is caribbean islands and it's
still continues to exist as ah french
so he was a psychiatrist in martinique and
he argued that the first task for the colonized
people was to reclaim and identity ah to claim
and identity and voice i can be used to reclaim
there on past the european colonization power
had simply devalued the nations past saying
its pre colonial era as an era of pre civilization
almost like a limbo kind of state of affairs
and it was even pre colonial history of these
of this of this places where even read as
something that represented ah as historical
void fenon argued that both white and black
children where taught to see history culture
and progress has something that began with
the arrival of the europeans post colonial
perspectives are thus informed by a need to
reclaim ones pre-colonial past and the need
to wash out the the colonial ideologies by
which this past has been eroded away and thereby
devalued along with frantz fanon homi k bhabha
is also one of the most important figures
and contemporary postcolonial studies
and bhabhas contribution bhabhas significant
contribution is that he has coined ah number
of the fields neologisms or you know key terms
and their originally coined for the purpose
of theorising certain aspects so he gave he
coined a lot of terms himself and also give
us the lot of key concept concepts such as
hybridity mimicry difference and ambivalence
according to bhabhas theory such terms describe
the ways in which colonies people have resisted
the power of the colonizer you might be surprised
to know that homi bhabha is an indian and
in two thpusand twelve he was awarded the
padma bhushan award in the field of literature
on education by the indian government much
of bhabha's work including the location of
culture which came out in nineteen nity four
focus is on the politics the emotions and
the values that exist in the space between
the colonizer which is to say that homa homi
bhabha makes the argument that culture is
something that needs to be seen more than
something that is more than nearly distinction
between us and the other
so that can't be a case of us versus them
kind of a logic operating there they are need
they need to be seen as the some of their
history bhabha likes to use the word hybrid
meaning something that is composed of mixed
elements to describe postcolonial people and
experiences in doing so bhabha focused on
the collective effects of colonization on
people and cultures another key post colonial
think is perhaps edward said edward said was
a palestinian american literary theorist and
intellectual who help found ah the critical
theory of this field known as post colonialism
says most seminal work is perhaps in oreintalism
which was established in nineteen seventy
eight and is considered the foundational work
on which most of postcolonial theory developed
bhabhas own works develops many of the ideas
that we are originally offered to us by edward
said seen thus say good perhaps we considered
as the father of postcolonial thought his
work focus on exploring and questioning the
artificial boundaries or the stereotypical
boundaries that have been drawn between the
east and the west specifically as they relate
to them midlist in doing so said focused specifically
on the stereotypes of midlist however this
very same ideas can also be extended to include
how we view all kinds of other things this
is the us versus other mentality that mini
colonizers take with them into a new country
such simple generation lead to misconceptions
and miscommunications which are very often
the basis of postcolonial analysis orientalism
applied ah what can be described as a revised
form of michel foucault's historicist critique
of discourse to analyzed what's said called
cultural imperialism this mode of imperialism
impose its power not by force but by disseminating
a eurocentric discourse that assumed the normality
of everything occidental occidental is a term
that we used to denote everything that is
western and this can be correlated with the
term oriental which is largely a term that
is used to denote something that is assian
the oriental is often seen in such discourses
as an exotic one and also often the inferior
other such an analysis is supplemented by
other theoretical principles including althusser
own redefinition of the marxist theory of
ideology and the deconstructive theory of
the rake the reader orientalism also study
the phenomenon of euro eurocentric universalism
as we mentioned earlier
this principle take for granted both the superiority
of the european or the westernand and the
inferiority of what what what is not said
also identifies ah european cultural tradition
of orientalism which is a particularly longstanding
way of identifying the culture and the traditions
of the east as nearly the other this cultural
other was always seen as something that was
inferior to that of the west in a book called
literature in the modern world written by
dennis walder said maintained that the orient
is constructed in the western mine has something
which can be comparable to which is something
comparable to a surrogate or even a kind of
underground self what this means is that the
east becomes in effect repository and projection
of those aspects of themselves that the westerners
do not choose to acknowledge
this include such qualities often negative
qualities such as cruelty sensuality decadence
laciness etcetera so all these qualities are
nearly projected onto the other however paradoxically
the east is also seen as a fascinating realm
of this of the of the exotic it is seen as
something that is mystical and seductive it
is seen as a it also seen as a homogeneous
entity with the population with all the people
there just assembling and anonymous mass without
any sense of individuality similarly there
action were also seen as something that was
determined by ah instinctive and primitive
emotions emotions such as last fury terror
etcetera rather than through a very conscious
and plant form of decision which apparently
was the western way of looking at things
moreover the emotions and the actions of the
of the of this other there all where always
interpreted in the light of racial considerations
attributing for instance every aspect of their
personality to their race this would result
in argument such as um that goes like this
you know arguments that maintained that they
are this because they are black or they are
this because there assian etcetera individual
circumstances and aspects or and aspects of
personality where by enlarge ignored so let's
look at some of the central principles of
postcolonialist thought postcolonialsim is
um features the rejection of the master narrative
of western imperialism in which the colonial
other is subordinated marginalised and even
erased as a cultural agency
this is sought to be replaced by account and
narrative in which the colonial figures find
their way back into a world history written
largely by europeans for instance the collection
of essays titled the empire writes back theory
and practice in postcolonial literature is
published in nineteen eighty nine and edited
by bilas craft this this this this volume
stresses what it terms the hybridization of
colonial languages and cultures through which
western models are basically superimposed
on individual on indigenous traditions another
key feature of postcolonialism is the concerned
with the formation of the colonial and postcolonial
subject the term subaltern is a way of designating
the colonial subject that has been constructed
by european discourse and internalized by
the colonial people the term subaltern itself
comes on a british word for someone of an
inferior rank
therefore a topic of interest in postcolonialist
in the postcolonialist approach is to understand
how and to what extend ah subaltern subject
whos speaks a european language can manage
to serve as an agent of resistance against
the very discourse that created its subordinate
identity this is also the idea that gayatri
spivak explores in her seminal work can the
subaltern speak just published in nineteen
eighty eight in this context let me draw your
attention to shakespeare's well known play
the tempest because it is from this play that
we have a very critical component of contemporary
postcolonialist taught that is caribbean paradigm
so for those of you who are unfamiliar with
story and the premise of shakespeare's tempest
let me quickly run you through
in tempest what we have is basically an image
of ah european king who lives his homeland
sales the seas and arrives at what can perhaps
be seen as a third world island there having
to his superior mastery of ah of the world
he quickly subduce the native inhabitants
caliburn is one such inhabitant of this island
even though caliburn doesn't really want to
be a civilized by this alien king his forced
to surrender to his winston fancies because
he is of sup he processes superior strength
and one of the aspects that we encounter in
the play is the way in which this native ah
inhabitants called caliburn has been taught
language by prospero the king his taught language
so that he can communicate with the native
and make him to his meeting however calibration
process this kind of ah an attitude and from
the play we have shakespeare famous lines
uttered by caliban the line goes like this
you taught me language and my benefit up on
it is that now i know how to curse you this
is basically what we were talking about when
we are considering the possibility of the
subaltern speaking back to the colonizer postcolonialism
is also concerned with the disestablishing
with with with disestablishing eurocentric
norms of literary and artistic values and
to expand the literary can itself to include
colonial and postcolonial writers there is
a movements to include in the standard academic
curriculum perhaps the world over the brilliant
and innovative novels poems and plays by such
postcolonialist writers in the english language
such as the african writers chinua achebe
and wole soyinka the carribean islanders vs
naipaul and derekt walcott and the order some
the indian subcontinent as well
authors like g v desani salman rushdie or
arundhati roy now although postcolonial criticism
is similar to cultural studies it assumes
ah very unique rather perspective on literature
and politics and precisely because of this
it warrants a very surprised kind of discussion
specifically postcolonial critics are concerned
with literature produced by colonial powers
and works produced by those who where or who
continued to be colonized you may remember
the case of the caribbean islands which remain
to be french colonies up until today postcolonial
theory looks at issues of power economics
politics religion and culture and culture
and how old this elements work in relation
to ah colonial hegemony therefore to some
up if we where to look at some of the typical
concerns of a postcolonial critique this is
what we would find it should be interested
in looking at how the literary text explicitly
or even allegorically represents various aspects
of colonial operator operation
the postcolonial critic would also be interested
in finding out what the text itself reveals
about the problematic of the idea of ah postcolonial
identity and this would entail studying the
relationship between the personal identity
and the cultural identity of the colonized
subject and would also deal with such issues
as the the phenomenon of double consciousness
or even having a hybrid identity the the critic
would also ah look at what persons or group
that the that the works treats you identify
as the other how are such persons or groups
of people described and treated if you look
at the shekspere an example that we just discussed
you can quickly understand how all these things
might correlate 
the postcolonial outlook would also be interested
in finding out how literary text in the western
canon reinforces or even undermines the colonialist
ideology through its representation of colonization
and finally a postcolonistic critical approach
would also look at whether ah the text in
appropriately silencers the colonized people
it denied them of a voice with which they
can speak out and with that we discussed we
conclude our discussion of the first module
in postcolonial theory and criticism see you
for the next module
