Introduction to Postcolonial Literature Key Terms lesson 1

Introduction to Postcolonial Literature Key Terms (lesson 1):

Defining Colonialism and Imperialism: • “…By 1914… Europe held a grand total of roughly 85% of the earth as colonies, protectorates, dependencies, dominions, and commonwealths…” -Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism, 8.

Colonialism • Territorial conquest driven by “commercial motives…” It lacks “a coherent plan or driving ideology, ” as in imperialism. –Baldwin and Quinn, “Defining Imperialism and colonialism, ” p. 2.

Imperialism • Territorial conquest driven by ideology. –“Some theorists regard imperialism as territorial expansion from a center outwards, driven by ideology, and resulting in a coherent geographical entity. ” It is a “policy of state and its ideological motivation. ” –Baldwin and Quinn, 2.

Ideology • “A systematic scheme of ideas, usually relating to politics, economics, or society and forming the basis of action or policy; a set of beliefs governing conduct. Also: the forming or holding of such a scheme of ideas. ” -Oxford English Dictionary

Ideology (Marx) • “The production of ideas, of conceptions, of consciousness, is… directly interwoven with the material activity and the material intercourse of men… Morality, religion, metaphysics, all the rest of ideology and their corresponding forms of consciousness, thus no longer retain the semblance of independence. They have no history, no development; but men, developing their material production and their material intercourse, alter… their thinking and the products of their thinking. Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life. ” –Karl Marx, The German Ideology

Ideology (Marx) • “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i. e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas. ” –Karl Marx The German Ideology

“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it's the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretense but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea– something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to…” –Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, 1902. Video: “Colonialism in 10 Minutes: The Scramble for Africa”

“Post-colonial”(with a hyphen) • Simply “the historical period ‘after colonialism’” –Baldwin and Quinn, 9.

Postcolonial (postcolonialism) • “Denotes the body of literary theory and practice used to describe this new area of study” –B&Q, 9 • Postcolonialism “involves discussion about experience of various kinds: migration, slavery, suppression, resistance, representation, difference, race, gender, place, and responses to the influential master discourse of imperial Europe…” –Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin, Postcolonial Studies • Responds to and challenges past and present imperial domination.

Globalization • What is globalization?

Globalization • The intensification of economic, political, social and cultural relations across international boundaries. These relations are often asymmetrical, i. e. , the nation-states, economies, and cultures of former colonial powers (Europe and the United States, or, the global North) benefit at the expense of formerly colonized places: Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, South Asia, i. e. , the global South. • See B&Q p 12.

“Burudika na Coke Baridi”

Neocolonialism (Nkrumah) • “Old-fashioned colonialism is by no means entirely abolished. It still constitutes an African problem, but it is everywhere on the retreat. Once a territory has become nominally independent it is no longer possible, as it was in the last century, to reverse the process… In place of colonialism as the main instrument of imperialism we have today, neo-colonialism. The essence of neocolonialism is that the State which is subject to it, is, in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. In reality its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside. ” – Kwame Nkrumah Neocolonialism, 1965

Neocolonialism • “Acting both overtly and covertly, the United States and other Western countries have intervened directly and indirectly in the domestic policies and economies of former European colonies, using such instruments as military aid, trade agreements, subsidies, and loans to earn the support, loyalty, or cooperation of these countries. ” –B&Q, 12. • “New” forms of colonialism, i. e. , direct or indirect control or influence of an independent nation by another.

Literature as “Mediation” • Postcolonial literature addresses important issues such as the lasting effects of colonialism or imperialism, race, gender, globalization of neocolonialism. • “Mediation means that literature does not simply reflect these issues but participates directly in them by advocating a point of view, opposing other points of view, or critiquing the situation. ” –B&Q, 13.