To begin, some definitions:

2. Postcolonial studies may be taken as a term for a more or less cohesive theoretical approach to the history and condition of societies involved in the process of colonisation and/or decolonisation. It also addresses the condition of social cohorts (peasants, workers, women) who are subject to comparable forms of systematic oppression whether in material or cultural terms.

Postcolonialism, considered as an intellectual movement, is a branch of cultural theory which incorporates in varying degrees a good deal of the theoretical apparatus associated with several strands of modern theory and its chief exponents - e.g., dialectical materialism (Marx), psychoanalysis (Freud), semiology (de Saussure), poststructuralism (Derrida), postfeminism (Kristeva), as well as other thinkers who work within the field of postcolonialism itself (e.g., Bhabha, Spivak.)

What all of these strands have in common is their opposition to the world-view of the European bourgeoisie in the age of Empire, sometimes identified as Liberalism or Enlightenment Rationalism - the so-called Europo-centric, logocentric outlook identified with the expansion history of European capital.

Similarly, the neo-liberal philosophy associated with the “New World Order” is antipathetic to postcolonial theory and, in turn, regards it as subversive. It is not necessary, however, to declare oneself an enemy of the dominant global powers in order to engage in postcolonial studies. In fact, while postcolonialism emphasises a history of exploitation, one of its effects is to defuse future conflict.

3. In this module we study a number of novels which can be categorises as “postcolonial” in the sense that they have emerged from formerly colonised societies. We also examine a body of classic postcolonial texts which set out the theory of decolonisation and critique colonial culture in the process.

In at least one instance (Kim), the interest lies in the extent to which it embodies the ideology of the colonising power - in this case the British Raj - and therefore illustrates the mentality, values and textual practices which the postcolonial writer seeks to disrupt by “writing back” against the dominant discourse - whether or not the text so-produced explicitly declares itself to be a counter-discourse.

4. Both postcolonial fiction and postcolonial theory are, at bottom, concerned with the valorisation of colonised peoples and the identification of hegemonic strands in the discourse of the coloniser whcih tend to denigrate the colonised as such, reducing them to the status of the subaltern - otherwise, colonial subjects.

Postcolonialism is thus a radical movement although it may be added that cultural criticism, in so far as it puts in question the received forms of thought and feeling is always radical and always concerned with the distinction between authenticity and false consciousness in literature and society.

Without such a distinction, supported by a strongly democratic impulse to recognise and awknowledge the presence of humanity outside the conventional bounds set by “polite” Western letters postcolonialism would becomes the very thing it criticises: a form of tourism and exoticism that reduces the object to the status of a curiosity - something “strange” and “other” which represents all that we are not.

Postcolonialism is thus a radical approach to literature and culture. It may be added, however, that criticism, in so far as it puts in question the received forms of thought and feeling, is always radical and always concerned with the distinction between authenticity and false consciousness which dominates in postcolonial studies.

5. A good test of the validity of the postcolonial approach to texts is to ask whether a given text on this module can be adequately considered, examined or analysed without resort to the categories of thought and the critical terminology in use in postcolonial studies. That terminology is the subject all of special glossary on this website (“Terminology”).

The best test of the match between postcolonial studies and postcolonial fiction is, whether the former makes it easier for you to appreciate novels produced by “other literatures” in English and whether it makes it easier to understand the world we live in.

Step by step, this module explains the making and then the dismantling of the colonial world; the advent of neo-colonisalism and “free-market” globalisation; the nature of the colonial mentality and the condition of the colonised psyche; the legacy of colonialism in individuals and societies of former colonised countries (as well as among former colonisers).

Crucially, however, it examines the role of fiction - and, more specifically the novel genre - in the colonial and post-colonial world: how this medium, which was generated from the practical outlook of Europeans in the age of imperialism, became, in fact the main vehicle for the articulation of critical reflection both on the colonial set-up and their own social and cultural arrangements among former-colonised.