Bill
Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths & Helen Tiffin, The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (London: Routledge, 1989)
Post-colonial studies are based in the “historical
fact” of European colonialism, and the diverse material effects to which
this phenomenon gave rise. It addresses all aspects of the colonial
process from the beginning to the end of colonial contact ( p.2).
The idea of “post-colonial
literary theory” emerges from the inability of European theory
to deal with the complexities and varied cultural provenance of post-colonial
writing. European theories themselves emerge from particular cultural
traditions which are hidden by false notions of “the universal”.
Theories of style and genre, assumptions about the universal features
of language, epistemologies and value systems are all radically questioned
by the practices of postcolonial writing. Post-colonial theory has proceeded
from the need to address this different practice. Indigenous theories
have developed to accommodate the differences within the various cultural
traditions as well as the desire to describe in a comparative way the
features shared across those traditions. (p.3.)
Terry
DeHay (USA)
The definition of postcolonialism
that I am most comfortable with is as follows: the social, political,
economic, and cultural practices which arise in response and resistance
to colonialism. This corresponds to Mishra and Hodges’ definition
of postcolonial literature as, “an always present tendency in
any literature of subjugation marked by a systematic process of cultural
domination through the imposition of imperial structures of power”,
which as they point out implies that postcolonialism is “already
implicit in the discourses of colonialism”. As I think will
become clear, these categories will reverse, with colonialism being
subsumed into postcolonialism. Always important, as well, is the incorporation
of an understanding of material condition in any analysis of postcolonial
cultural production. Postcolonial texts will incorporate culturally
specific details, often not offering translations or explanations of
non-European practices, decentering the European-based reading. In addition,
the texts very often decenter the white characters, who become faceless,
nameless representatives of a dominating power, shifting the power relationships
within the text. Finally, it is perhaps most important to stress the
ever changing nature of postcolonialism as a defining term, as it responds
to the material conditions under which people live in colonial and neo-colonial
situations. Although postcolonialism comes out of colonialism, in opposition
to colonialism, in its development, it has literally become a critical
perspective through which to view colonialism. By problematizing the
Western humanistic metanarratives on the basis of which colonialism
was justified, colonization itself becomes a motivated political, historical
effect. In effect, “colonialism” no longer exists outside
some critical framework; hence it always exists from within the postcolonial
context. [ Online at www.sou.edu ]
George
P.Landow (University of Singapore)
Terms like “Postcolonial” or “Victorian” are always
open-ended: They are never answers, and they never end a discussion; they
begin it. In other words, labeling a text or event or attitude “postcolonial” places it within a category of things under discussion. It permits one
to ask a whole series of questions: Do former colonies that speak French,
Spanish, German, English, and Portuguese have anything significant in
common, or do those with that speak basically the same language one could
put three of the last four words within quotes -- have more in common?
What is the relation of former colonies that only learned alphabetic writing
at colonization to those that had long written traditions? Do Africans
living in Africa share fundamental experiences, issues, or problems with
people of African descent living inthe Americas? And if so, what does
that have to say about postcolonialism? ... [ Online at www.scholars.nus.edu ]