...IRWLE VOL. 7 No. 2 July 2011 1 Arundati Rai’s The God of Small Things – A Post- Colonial Reading Rajeev. G The adjective “post colonial” signifies the notion that the novel or be it any piece of writing for that matter, goes beyond every possible parameters of the locality, region and nation to participate in the global scenario today which is an aftermath of European colonization. The God of Small Things written in the post colonial Anglophone by Arundhati Roy does reveal a decisive post colonial condition; through its dialogues, characters and various events and instances it encompass. Ms Roy refers to the metaphor “the heart of darkness” in the novel which is a sort of ridiculous reference to Conrad’s novel the heart of darkness. She says that, “in Ayemenem, in the heart of darkness, I talk not about the White man, but about the Darkness, about what the Darkness is about.” (Frontline, August 8, 1997). The God of Small Things tells the story of one family in the town of Ayemenem in Kerala, India. The temporal setting shifts back and forth from 1969, when Rahel and Estha, a set of fraternal twins are 7 years old, to 1993, when the twins are reunited at age 31. The novel begins with Rahel returning to her childhood home in Ayemenem, India, to see her twin brother Estha, who has been sent to Ayemenem by their father. Events flash back to Rahel and Estha’s birth and the period before their mother Ammu divorced their father. Then the narrator describes the ...
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...Post-colonialism theory is focused on analyzing and explaining how the effects of colonization and imperialism have on people and nations (. In a simple sense, this theory can be broken down into three categories: person, nation, and world. These three categories examine how imperialism impacted the psyche of humans from a micro level (person) up to a macro level (world). While the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is most likely analyzed through a feminist lens, the core of the story does allow it to be examined through a post-colonialism lens also. At its center, the story is about the other (a woman seemingly held captive in a man’s world). We see three key characteristics displayed by our other, self-doubt, her inability to protect/provide...
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...Imperialism There is one particular figure whose name looms large, and whose spectre lingers, in indigenous discussions of encounters with the West: Christopher Columbus. It is not simply that Columbus is identified as the one who started it all, but rather that he has come to represent a huge legacy of suffering and destruction. Columbus ‘names’ that legacy more than any other individual.2 He sets its modern time frame (500 years) and defines the outer limits of that legacy, that is, total destruction.3 But there are other significant figures who symbolize and frame indigenous experiences in other places. In the imperial literature these are the ‘heroes’, the discoverers and adventurers, the ‘fathers’ of colonialism. In the indigenous literature these figures are not so admired; their deeds are definitely not the deeds of wonderful discoverers and conquering heroes. In the South Pacific, for example it is the British explorer James Cook, whose expeditions had a very clear scientific purpose and whose first encounters with indigenous peoples were fastidiously recorded. Hawai’ian academic Haunani Kay Trask’s list of what Cook brought to the Pacific includes: ‘capitalism, Western political ideas (such as predatory individualism) and Christianity. Most destructive of all he brought diseases that ravaged my people until we were but a remnant of what we had been on contact with his pestilent crew.’4 The French are remembered by Tasmanian Aborigine Greg Lehman, ‘not [for] the intellectual...
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...December 14, 2013 Shades of Colonialism The continuum of history plays an important role in human thought. History and Colonialism, to the superficial thinker, is a collection of individual actions, social change, periods, regions, civilizations and other events that are long gone. However, as Prof. Montrose points out, history is not just about the past. All that happened in the past was happening in the present at that time. We are living in our present which will be the past in the future. The history of colonialism is being written every moment that we live, and the attached articles aptly illustrate the fact. Events that molded the colonial past are interwoven in the present and are shaping the future. The commonality and diversity of causal forces and human reactions with regard to colonialism, over time is remarkable. The struggle between a dominant and suppressed culture is a common thread. The clash could be between distant cultures, such as the Europeans and Africans or somewhat similar cultures, such as the British and Irish. This can be loosely labelled as external and internal colonialism respectively. External colonialism has declined and changed character in today's world of connectivity and interdependence. Nations now do not directly or outright rule other less powerful nations. Instead, they take a more subtle approach, influencing the political class and deriving their benefits. This has even been called neo-colonialism, such as being practiced by China...
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...CHAPTER 3 COLONIAL HISTORY TRACKED Colonialism trumpeted the cultural superiority and rightness of the White. The European empire is said to have held sway over more than eighty-five percent of the rest of the globe by the time of the First World War, having consolidated power and control over several centuries. One of the ways by which colonialism maintained power was by writing its own histories. These histories were conceived within grand narratives of progress, expansion and enlightenment. Inevitably, they both systematically and accidentally recast, ignored and silenced other competing histories from the places and cultures with which they came into contact. Post - colonial studies has consequently set itself the task of examining and challenging those narratives, developing other ways of telling histories, and re – evaluating other ways of remembering. If post- colonial literature means the interrogation of the subaltern to the “center”, no other book is representative of the post-colonial theory and practice as Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace. The novel won the 2001 Frankfurt e – book Award of fifty thousand dollars Grand Prize for Fiction. Abreast of the contemporary academic debates about colonialism and culture, Ghosh is well-equipped in challenging the institutionalized perspectives...
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...Subsaharan Africa In my opinion the legacies of colonialism in Subsaharan Africa have done more to hinder the realm’s economic growth. The three main reasons I believe this to be the fact is infrastructure, corruption, and political problems. After all the European countries left their colonies to the African people, the country’s infrastructure was not much improved than when they arrived. According to Regions by Blij, Muller, and Nijman, much of the land was built around the port cities, capitals, and core areas so that the Europeans could maximize their profits off the exploitation of minerals and soils. So while there are descent roads and railroads leading from the port cities into the interior of the coastal states, there are no roads that lead from port city to port city because many of these cities were colonialized by different countries. This has lead to Africa having the lowest percentage of intra-realm trade in the world, only 13%, according to Regions . Infrastructure is in need of major renovations to improve the economic stability of Africa. Since the decolonization of Africa in 1994 corruption has run rampant. Before colonization corruption was unheard of. According to Dr. Jean-Marie Hyacinthe Quenum, S.J., “the institutionalization of corruption in sub-Saharan Africa has invalidated the history and institutions of African traditional societies based on the cultures of solidarity with a strong sense of community and the virtue of hard work for the...
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...COLONIALISM IN AFRICA How does the legacy of colonialism affect contemporary African international relations? If questioned today about Africa in general the first reactions I would have are poor governance, poverty, conflict, economic instability and hunger. These are the major characteristics that dominate most of the states within the continent as a whole. The question would be has it always been this way? Different debates and differences have been focused on the colonial legacy for post-colonial Africa and the nature of colonialism. Various characterizations and conceptions tend to differ considerably among the international relations and African scholars. Between 1800 and 1900, majority of the European powers colonized the African continent. Colonialism, a political-economic occurrence whereby the various European nations exploited, took over, explored and settled down in great parts of the world still has a far reaching impact on the African continent. The colonialists; prolonged their ways of living beyond their domestic borders, economically exploited their colonies natural resources and this was done in order to strengthen and develop the colonies of the West and lastly created new markets. The African continent was indirectly impacted on the social, political, economic and cultural way of living. The colonial legacy is the inheritance of the state that belonged to the colonial administration from this administration by post-colonial rulers in...
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...What is Neo-colonization? Neocolonialism(also Neo-colonialism or Neo-imperialism)is the geopolitical practice of using capitalism, business globalization, and cultural imperialism to influence a country, in lieu of either direct military control or indirect political control, i.e. imperialism and hegemony. Neocolonialism is the relationship between two nations in which one exercises strategic, economic and cultural domination, despite the legal independence of the other. The term neo-colonialism describes the influence of countries from the developed world in the respective internal affairs of the countries of the developing world. It is also defined as the policy of a strong nation in seeking political and economic hegemony over an independent nation or extended geographical area without necessarily reducing the) During the 1950s, African leaders began using a new word, neocolonialism, and there were even books published on the subject. Neocolonialism (neo = new; thus, “new” colonialism) refers to the idea that some countries can control their former colonies (or other less developed countries) by political, economic and cultural pressures. How Neocolonialism affects 21st Century? In post-colonial studies, the term neo-colonialism describes the influence of countries from the developed world in the respective internal affairs of the countries of the developing world; that, despite the decolonization that occurred in the aftermath of the Second World War (1939–45), the...
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...Define Colonialism (Western) Colonialism: A political-economic phenomenon whereby various European nations explored, conquered, settled, and exploited large areas of the world. The purposes of colonialism included economic exploitation of the colony's natural resources, creation of new markets for the colonizer, and extension of the colonizer's way of life beyond its national borders. In the years 1500 – 1900 Europe colonized all of North and South America and Australia, most of Africa, and much of Asia by sending settlers to populate the land or by taking control of governments. The first colonies were established in the Western Hemisphere by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 15th – 16th centuries. The Dutch colonized Indonesia in the 16th century, and Britain colonized North America and India in the 17th – 18th centuries. Later, British settlers colonized Australia and New Zealand. Colonization of Africa only began in earnest in the 1880s, but by 1900 virtually the entire continent was controlled by Europe. The colonial era ended gradually after World War II; the only territories still governed as colonies today are small islands. http://www.answers.com/topic/colonialism#ixzz1lYMQdYfY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony, and the social structure...
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...VICTOR O. Modern Africa historians have correctly stressed that Africa had a meaningful past long before the coming of the Europeans. Also Africa has been argued to be the cradle of the world civilization, but whether or not Africa went to sleep or signed a supposed amiable pact with Europe and the Western Bloc which paved way for the woeful turn of events contemporary is contentions. For a full appreciated of the situation that present reputable scholars have argued that “for Africa to move forward, it must be understood backwards”. It is based on the outlined issues sketched above that this book was written. The piece of literature is arranged in chapters from one to six with thought provoking and are stimulating issue at each chapter. A post script as well as a biography of the author is attached at the latter part of the literature. A chapter by chapter method of review have been adopted to do justice to this work for an incisive appreciation. The conceptualization of the notion of development and underdevelopment took the central stage in the first chapter, as the author attempted a penetrating analysis into the duo concepts in order to demystify their justification of capitalism which myopically conceives economic development with little or no consideration for human social development. Chapter two focused mainly on the developed nature of African territories before the coming of the Europeans up to the 15th century. The unique status of African civilization which is characterised...
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...Post colonialism highlights the issues that hold various Western countries together in a grasp in order to define their weaker counterparts. Post colonialism is the study of exclusion, denigration ‘othering’ and resistance which takes place under systems of colonial control where countries struggle to deal with colonial legacy. When one looks at the text Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M Coetzee, the ideology of Orientalism and Mimicry unfolds and speaks of the unspeakable encounters of the Empire as opposed to the Barbarians thus, creating the distinctions between the empire and the colony. Therefore, it is the purpose of this essay to justify how the foretold philosophers theory, excavate understanding of Morrison and Coetzee’s text. Orientalism as according to Edward Said “Orientalism is the product of circumstances that are fundamentally, indeed, radically fractious.” To simply state, orientalism is the result of circumstances that revolves around misunderstanding of another inferior race that however results in anger and prejudices. This is evident when we look closely at Coetzee’s novel where there is an unnamed Magistrate who serves as the radical self and the other. As the novel progresses, the natives do not fit into the label ‘Barbarians’ despite the fact they live on the boundary, uncivilized in the face of the Empire, barbaric and inferior. These barbarians are then blamed for things that they do not even commit and are tortured on the terms of the command of the...
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...opening the markets in those countries. Thus, neocolonialism would be the end result of relatively benign business interests leading to deleterious cultural effects. Neocolonialism describes certain economic operations at the international level which have alleged similarities to the traditional colonialism of the 16th to the 20th centuries. The contention is that governments have aimed to control other nations through indirect means; that in lieu of direct military-political control, neocolonialist powers employ economic, financial, and trade policies to dominate less powerful countries. Those who subscribe to the concept maintain these amounts to a de facto control over targeted nations. What are the social phenomena neocolonialism? It is a set of political, economic, social and colonial arrangements or systems which continue to exist in a society, managed and controlled by little local property-ruling class on behalf of their corresponding foreign property-ruling class. The arrangement is a phenomenon which is heavily imposed on the majority of the people who remain poor, unemployed, low income-earned, unskilled, and uneducated. These arrangements designate a continuation of colonialism wherein the majority of the people are denied dominant control and management of the bulk of their wealth. This lopsided state...
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...The Battle of Elderbush Gulch and The Shirt Mia Duan THTRFLM 1T03 Dr. Glen Norton March 14th T03 In two films The Battle of Elderbush Gulch and The Shirt are both talk about colonization that occurred in North America. They illustrated two different and perspectives on colonialism. Based on the group discussion, these two films were happened in two different time periods, this shows the change in discourse about colonial history and the treatment of Native Americans throughout history. However, The Battle of Elderbush Gulch more focus on the white colonialist perspective but The shirt focus on post colonial perspective. Compared to the background, this essay is going to illustrate how the cinematography and background setting portrays the representations of the colonial and postcolonial perspective. These two films start from very different ways in terms of cinematography. By watching the Battle of Elderbush Gulch, majority scenes are using medium shots to telling story, and never moving cameras. Meanwhile, through medium shots, audiences could see more elements which shown in the movie. When film using medium shots, viewers saw white people’s family life, which proves that white people's happy and civilized life. However, native people are trying to eat puppies, which show how native people violent, savage, and uncivilized are. Comparing to Elderbush Gulch, the cinematography of The shirt is not using too many ways. Pan shots are the major shot in the film...
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...The Location of Culture, by Homi K. Bhabha; 285 pp. New York: Routledge, 1994, $49.95. This book assembles several of Homi Bhabha's most significant essays, allowing for an examination of his contribution to contemporary literary theory. As a self-described postcolonial critic, often compared with Edward Said or Gayatri Spivak, Bhabha is perhaps most well-known for his theory of cultural hybridity, which he develops in "Signs Taken For Wonders" and several other essays included in this collection. Bhabha argues that hybridity results from various forms of colonization, which lead to cultural collisions and interchanges. In the attempt to assert colonial power in order to create anglicized subjects, "[t]he trace of what is disavowed is not repressed but repeated as something different--a mutation, a hybrid" (p. 111). This hybrid trace contradicts both the attempt to fix and control indigenous cultures and the illusion of cultural isolation or purity. His project thus adapts poststructuralist challenges to stable or fixed identities, attempting to "rename" postmodernism from a postcolonial perspective (p. 175), and allowing sustained attention to the ways in which race, gender, community, and nationality converge. One of his major contributions to theories of cultural production and identity is that he examines these various intersections closely, and avoids simply listing them or elevating one aspect of his analysis over others. Eight of the twelve chapters in this volume have...
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...A Lesson of Dominance “This Earth of Mankind” by Praemodya Ananta Toer is a novel that attempts to elucidate the relationship between the Orient and the Occident; the conquered and the conqueror. The story takes place in Java in 1898 with the main focus being a town by the name of Surabaya. Surabaya was home to a trading port and is what you would call a contact zone, a place where distinct cultures clashed. This time period designated the end of an era of colonialism and the beginning of an era of post-colonialism. Colonialism demanded direct domination over a culture and often met with heavy resistance which resulted in a high-risk. In response to the end of colonialism, ideas such as the Association Theory were implemented in order to establish control over Native people having a lower-risk. The Association Theory as explained by Sarah De La Croix meant “…direct cooperation, based on European ways, between European officials and educated Natives. Those of you who have advanced would be invited to join together with us in governing the Indies. So the responsibility would no longer be the burden of the white race alone.” (Toer 145). Bluntly speaking, this was a doctrine that sought to create Javanese puppets for the Europeans. Arguably, colonial governments were only concerned with education so that they could create an army of Natives for themselves. Soldiers by the name of bupati’s who would wear the armor of their people but provide patriotic duty for the Europeans. This...
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