/r/postcolonialism

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Postcolonialism is an academic discipline that comprises methods of intellectual discourse that present analyses of, and responses to, the cultural legacies of colonialism and of imperialism.

Postcolonialism is an academic discipline that comprises methods of intellectual discourse that present analyses of, and responses to, the cultural legacies of colonialism and of imperialism, which draw from different post-modern schools of thought, such as critical theory.

To present the ideology and the praxis of (neo) colonialism, post-colonial critical theory draws from, illustrates, and explains with examples from the humanities — history, architecture, anthropology, the cinema, feminism, human geography, linguistics, Marxist theory, philosophy, political science, sociology, religion and theology, and post-colonial literature.

Key Concepts: Cultural Hegemony, Hybridity, Liminality, Mimicry, Orientalism, Otherness, Rhizome, Seriality, Spatial Justice, Subaltern

NOTABLE POSTCOLONIALIST THEORISTS:

POSTCOLONIALIST AUTHORS:

Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo, Peter Abrahams, Julia Alvarez, Ayi Kwei Armah, Aime Cesaire, John Pepper Clark, Michelle Cliff, Jill Ker Conway, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Anita Desai, Assia Djebar, Marguerite Duras, Buchi Emecheta, Nuruddin Farah, Amitav Ghosh, Nadine Gordimer, Bessie Head, Merle Hodge, C.L.R. James, Ben Jelloun, Farida Karodia, Jamaica Kincaid, Hanif Kureishi, George Lamming, Dambudzo Marechera, Rohinton Mistry, Ezekiel Mphahlele, V. S. Naipaul, Taslima Nasrin, Flora Nwapa, Grace Ogot, Molara Ogundipe-Leslie, Gabriel Okara, Ben Okri, Michael Ondaatje, Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, Simone Schwarz-Bart, Allan Sealy, Shyam Selvadurai, Leopold Senghor, Vikram Seth, Bapsi Sidhwa, Wole Soyinka, M.G.Vassanji, Derek Walcott, etc.

POSTCOLONIALIST FILMMAKERS

Shyam Benegal, Gurinder Chadha, Claire Denis, Shekhar Kapoor, Srinivas Krishna, Farida Ben Lyazid, Ken Loach, Deepa Mehta, Ketan Mehta, Mira Nair, Peter Ormrod, Horace Ove, Pratibha Parmar, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ousmane Sembene, etc.

RELATED SUBREDDITS

FRIENDS OF /r/POSTCOLONIALISM

/r/postcolonialism

5,262 Subscribers

1

What Do Postmodernists Believe? | Relativism | Fluidity | Fragmentation | Decentralization |

0 Comments
2024/11/30
13:40 UTC

0

I need a suitable theory that can be a applied as a framework for a thesis in Resistance literature and anti-colonial discourse

8 Comments
2024/11/22
07:00 UTC

9

Spivak considers the usage of the term "Post-colonial theorist/ expert" etc., considering it a colonial construct, so where exactly do they draw the line? How else do they describe representatives of the voiceless?

0 Comments
2024/10/23
15:36 UTC

1

I need your Help with regards to Ben okri 'the famished road'

I'm currently reading Ben okri book "the famished road" as my assignment,and i need to proof that it's a decolonial novel, i got this idea from his interview with the booker prize interview where he states that the past two novel that he published follows a western narrative and this one follows what he perceives to be as a Nigerian narrative where time moves diffrent..I know that this is a postcolonial sub reddit but i just need some help and what kind of perspective can I use in my assignment

1 Comment
2024/10/22
15:17 UTC

2

I'm confused as to Flaubert as exemplified in Orientalism by Edward Said.

I'm completely new to post-colonialism theory. I have a question which is 'what does Said mean when he present Flaubert as an example in chapter 2. Should I read any further to get his meaning? Sorry for my incorrect grammar, because I'm not native english/us.

1 Comment
2024/10/13
12:59 UTC

16

What are your thoughts on Cedric Robinson's "Appropriation of Frantz Fanon"?

Hi all. I recently came across Cedric Robinson's "The Appropriation of Frantz Fanon", and I'm quite intrigued by it, especially as someone who has read (excerpts of) Black Skin, White Masks and Wretched of the Earth. In particular, I'm struck by Robinson's claim that several postcolonial scholars (e.g. Gates, Spivak) utilize Fanon as a text or ornamentation as opposed to engaging with his class analysis and revolutionary-oriented theory. In contrast, Robinson says Benita Parry and Edward Said tend to uphold the latter and treat Fanon as more than a text. I'm wondering what you all think of this.

Furthermore, and a bit of a tangent, because Fanon is a psychiatrist, Robinson charts how Fanon deviates from psychoanalytical takes on the colonial condition towards a class lens. Given that, I'm wondering what you all think of incorporating psychoanalysts like Lacan in your own analyses of postcolonialism and culture more broadly.

1 Comment
2024/10/13
07:36 UTC

6

A critique of postcolonial theory

Hey guys, a german left youtube channel has published a nice critique of postcolonial theory, which I wanted to share with you: [ENG] 10 critiques of Postcolonial Theory w/ Michael Kuhn (youtube.com)

0 Comments
2024/09/29
12:08 UTC

1

Teaching a Seminar on literary /cultural theory and need your help..

Hi everyone, I am teaching a seminar on literary and cultural theory and I'm struggling to fin good and relatively easy (first year students) readings for my students. It would be ideal to have one short literary text like a short story or excerpt in combination with a theoretical text about e.g. hybridity that can "easily" be applied for analysis.. really looking forward to your input!! Thanks a lot in advance!

0 Comments
2024/09/26
21:20 UTC

1

Eternal feminine beauvoir

Dear all, what are your toughts about the eternal feminine posed by simone de beauvoir?

0 Comments
2024/09/15
12:20 UTC

2

Case studies/literature recommendation for women's economic empowerment

I have to develop a series of workshops based on soft skills for the economic empowerment of rural women in the area where I work. Until now I've maily read about ecofeminism, but I'm finding it really difficult to move from the academic/theorical world to the real empirical everyday life. Obviously I want the workshops to be decolonial and critical of the main economic/development narratives.

Does anybody have some case studies or literature recommendations on postcolonial or postdevelopment women's organisations who have worked to improve/change their livelihoods?

Right now, I only know The Lace Makers of Narsapur by Maria Mies, and philosophies such as Buen Vivir, eco-swaraj...

0 Comments
2024/08/20
22:54 UTC

11

I need literature recommendations regarding Post-Colonialism and the Nation/Nationalism

Hey, I have to write a seminar paper on nationalism and want to incorporate some left theories and concepts including Post Colonialism. Questions that interest me are:

-Are nations artificial or natural? -Should people organize around national lines or not? -Is it an instrument of the Bourgeoisie/State or a way to unite oppressed people against the ruling/colonial class?.. -Even though some nations can be seen as artificial and maybe even as an instrument of the ruling class, does it make sense for liberation movements to call themselves ‘national’ etc?

I greatly appreciate any recommendation and advice!

6 Comments
2024/08/15
14:27 UTC

2

Anyone got these two books? Need them for a project, but am a broke student :(

The Lion and the Lily: The Rise and Fall Of Awadh by Ira Mukhoty

Filming Fiction: Tagore, Premchand, and Ray

Desperately need them for a project (research paper), but can't find them anywhere :(( Would be super grateful for a pdf or anything else I could use!

5 Comments
2024/08/03
17:04 UTC

6

The Challenges of the Postcolonial Approach?

Hello everyone!

I wrote a little piece on some of the problems with the postcolonial framework - primarily my critique rests on the problem that even while, to some extent, the mission of postcolonialism is realizing the value of native histories in a non-Eurocentric light, it often subverts its own mission exactly by hanging on to categories such as "Eastern" and "Western" - and even projects it back in time, which is really rather anachronistic (are ancient Greeks markedly 'Western' by comparison to Alexandrian Jews, or Nestorian Arabs? Are ancient Assyrians markedly "Eastern" by comparison to Carthaginians? I don't think so.)

https://magnusarvid.substack.com/p/religion-and-the-critical-divide

What do you think? Is there a place for a 'double-critique', so to speak? Have you ever heard this type of argument before?

9 Comments
2024/07/20
09:57 UTC

12

Help your Spivak girlie out!

Hello! I am currently struggling to find a good Subaltern Studies materials. Are there any recommendations from you guys? 😭 I really want to read more about Spivak’s works but I also need secondary materials for that. Thank you so much in advance!

8 Comments
2024/05/29
23:44 UTC

11

Is Edward Saïd an overdone and boring foundation to ground my contribution to post-colonial discourse?

Hello,

I am writing a thesis for my BA in literary studies and have focused my topic around post-colonialism in Ireland. I have already considered and reflected on the contextually-specific writings of Joe Cleary, Claire Connolly and W.J. McCormack (to name a few).

For my last chapter I am trying to argue why a post-colonial approach to literature differs from the normative and dominant approach that New Criticism or Post-structuralism implies. I am doubting which theorist to use in order to substantiate my claims.

Edward Saïd would be the obvious choice and would provide me with a baseline overview of postcolonial theory’s approach. It could be useful to state him as the founder of this movement and so providing an overview of its spirited origins.

It just feels overdone and unoriginal because most postcolonial discourse refers to his groundbreaking work. Am I overthinking it? Would it be most relevant and useful to use his descriptions of empirical hegemony in literature? Or would you suggest using a more contemporary or modern theorist?

Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

5 Comments
2024/05/25
22:07 UTC

7

what's up with white scholars trying to defend white philosophers so much?

i am especially talking about hegel and kant but you can do it with all other influential but racist and eurocentric ones.

i have a bit of a background about each of them as a philosophy under/graduate.

like, talking to some of those scholars, it seems to me that everyone is trying to extract that bit where the racism doesnt really apply anymore.

• its either looking into alternative works of those philosophers.

• or trying to reformulate by saying their works can be used against themselves.

• or trying to pour in some axioms that say stuff like author & works are unrelated, the not so racist part being someone else talking and not themselves.

• etc.

can you give an updated opinion on how the academic landscape is dealing with this matter? is there even a rescue for these philosophers' philosophies?

my personal view is that i rather spend and waste my time in exploring alternative philosophers (female ones or someone like spinoza or even very niche ones of the past) or even geographically different ones like african (ubuntu) philosophy or indigenous, filipino philosophy etc.

(i need to clarify, its not just "white" scholars but i think predominantly white ones or just those with a white upbringing.)

5 Comments
2024/04/23
08:38 UTC

19

Anti-colonial thinkers who wrote on settler colonialism?

Hello! Since Fanon based his anti-colonial work on the colonization of Africa, especially with reference to Algeria, his critique is of European classic colonialism, the administrative kind. But I'm wondering, are there anticolonial thinkers who have written on the subject but from the position of settler colonialism?

9 Comments
2024/03/23
20:19 UTC

4

Chakrabarty's response to Vivek Chibber?

Has Dipesh Chakrabarty responded anything to Chibber's critique of his work? I know Spivak and Chatterjee respond but do not see anything from Chakrabarty himself.

0 Comments
2024/03/07
03:04 UTC

2

Marx Madness 2024

0 Comments
2024/02/21
22:29 UTC

3

if there are any sensible studies of the social sources of colonialism?

Dear friends, I have a question. Does anyone know if there are any sensible studies of the social sources of colonialism? Is it even possible to talk about something like this? Given that in the societies of the colonisers there were sometimes philosophical movements designed to justify colonialism, is there any research on the societies of the colonising powers? Or is there anyone who could tell me about it? Maybe I'm wrong, but from my perspective, this is a kind of a blank spot in postcolonial studies at the moment, and I would like to know if anyone has done any research on this at all.

1 Comment
2024/02/04
16:40 UTC

5

Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World (2000) by Mike Davis – A reading group discussion on Wednesday December 6, open to everyone

0 Comments
2023/12/04
02:52 UTC

3

The Rise of Techno-Orientalism in the 21st Century

0 Comments
2023/11/19
15:25 UTC

1

Arrival of the postcolonial nation also meant "arriving at the present"?

I am writing a paper in art history and need help with some readings from postcolonial theory.
I am looking into the subject of globalization and a shared global art world from a postcolonial point of view. My starting point is the fracturing of the international stage into a pluralist space today with many key persons, where it is common now to account for a new “post-nation” internationalism in the art world. In my paper I am mostly trying to identify examples of art activities from earlier decades to demonstrate how "internationalism" in art is not a novel thing attributable to this century; a lot of art activism and activism in general from the 1980s led to the devaluation of art exhibitions produced from a strictly national perspective, but even before that there was a slow process fermenting.
Right now I am looking for a very specific subject that I am sure must've been addressed in postcolonial theory. It is the notion of "the arrival of the nation state." I am interested in readings that might highlight some productive views of the nation, addressing

  • how the postcolonial "nation" itself might have stood as a polemic to earlier Eurocentric order through its process of decolonisation, but taking into account moments from after independence and its status as a sovereign entity
  • how the status of the postcolonial nation arriving into the international stage of independent nations also promoted a kind of "arriving at the present"
  • where this "arriving at the present" was not just for postcolonial nation states, but also for the rest of the nation states (colonizers included) in the globe. I'm seeing it as a sort of how even former colonial powers through their status as nations are kind of following the postcolonial nation, as every nation state "enters" the "present" (the post war period, or late 40s onwards)
  • and how this idea of the postcolonial nation state-led "arrival" is kind of at the centre of today's idea of a plural international platform that is pretty much "post national"

I am pretty sure these are some very basic intro things addressed by the discourse, but since I do not specialize in postcolonial theory and know of its debates only from my art history related readings, I really need to be nudged towards specific readings.
Please suggest books (or specific chapters, even better) that address this area!

4 Comments
2023/11/02
19:52 UTC

0

https://youtu.be/4idQbwsvtUo?si=ONWtjUxPg6fcF2RH

What do you guys think?

0 Comments
2023/10/23
00:39 UTC

7

Post-colonial comics?

Greetings everyone,

I wish to write about post-colonial literature in comics. So far a couple names came to mind (Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese, most of Sergio Toppi's production), but I know I could do far better with international titles: I'm looking for original works which have been conceived for a comic book format, not adaptations (Transmediality is cool, yet I feel it would drive me too far off my topic).

Thus, my search goes for authors coming from the UK, Eire, former British colonies and Commonwealth Countries, just because that's where the focus of my work is.

Do you have any suggestions? Thanks,

Maria

6 Comments
2023/09/24
14:40 UTC

3

Arun Mukherjee's "Whose Post-Colonialism and Whose Postmodernism?"

Hey everyone! I am trying to find Arun Mukherjee's article "Whose Post-Colonialism and Whose Postmodernism?", but it's not available through my library nor can I find it online. Does anyone here have a PDF copy that they can share? I would be very thankful.

1 Comment
2023/09/05
21:43 UTC

2

Post-colonial short stories that are written in dialect or have specialties regarding their language

Hi, I'm not sure how active this community is but I'll give it a try anyways: I'm looking for english-language post-colonial short stories that are written in dialect or have some other specialty regarding their language. Suggestions would be much appreciated!

0 Comments
2023/09/05
15:25 UTC

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