History is written by the winners George Orwell

� “History is written by the winners. ” - George Orwell

� An analysis of and response to, the impact of colonialism and imperialism*. �* the creation of colonies and empires

� Colonialism is the belief in the right of a country to take over and run (colonize) another country, often as part of a bigger empire. � The British empire was the greatest empire in history. � At its height (1800 s) it controlled nearly 1/3 surface of planet and nearly 1/3 of population of world.

� The colonial power is by its nature powerful, militarily, economically and culturally. � So it tends to produce books etc that tell the story of the past. � (Consider also WW 2 and our views of it) � The colonizer’s view of history is what is accepted � The colonized people are sidelined, silenced

� Since the end of WW 2 the British Empire went into decline and most of the countries within the empire were either given or fought for, independence. � These countries then created art and literature about being former colonies, a response to having been a colony.

� Post-colonialism attempts to give the point of view of the colonized � Post-colonialism revises the view of history � Criticises the colonialists? � Attempts to give a more balanced view of history to include the colonized

� In Ireland, post-colonialism might present modern Ireland as having emerged from being under the control of the British government or it might present the past � In India, post-colonialism might do something similar

�A work of literature might be considered a post-colonial text if it presents a view of history that includes the perspective of the colonized (usually written after independence from the colonizer)

�A reader might take a post-colonial view of a text if it comments on colonialism. � E. g. Shakespeare’s The Tempest (from a post -colonial p. o. v) might be considered to criticise ( or simply to present) the act of colonizing since a man takes over an island makes the natives his slaves

�A poem like ‘Ruins…’ might be considered a post-colonial poem since it is written after the colonial time and looks at the British empire from the p. o. v of a descendent of a slave.