Notes on Postcolonial Theory - Principles of Literary Criticism | E 341, Study notes of English Language

Download Notes on Postcolonial Theory - Principles of Literary Criticism | E 341 and more Study notes English Language in PDF only on Docsity! 27 November Postcolonial Theory What does Post Colonial mean? Ania Loomba’s essay indicates the problems of defining it – indicating instead the range of its meanings Let’s begin by defining Colonialism: Conventional, literal definition of Colonization: a body of people from one geographical area creating a settlement or colony in a new locality but maintaining connections with parent state and remaining politically subject to it Parent state = Metropole; occupied land = Colony Relationship – Metropole-Colony = Center-Margin But what about the population already occupying the “new locality”? What happens to their communities, languages, culture? Colonization “locked the original inhabitants and the newcomers into the most complex and traumatic relationships in human history.” Colonization devalued a nation’s past, culture, history, progress in favor of a preference for Eurocentric norms, customs, language, culture. Forming a new community meant ‘unforming’ or ‘re-forming’ the existing communities and practices. The colonialist, while committing these atrocities against the natives and territories of the colonies, convinces himself that he stands on high moral grounds. Some of the justifications for colonization: The colonized are savages in need of education and rehabilitation; their culture is ‘backward’ and it is the moral duty of colonizers to do something about it; the political situation of the colonized nation is poor and needs the colonizer’s wisdom to improve it; the religion of the