Postcolonialism Questions and Answers
Postcolonialism
Postcolonial Literature Themes
Postcolonial literature addresses the problems and promises of decolonization, the process of non-western countries in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean...
Postcolonialism
What are the differences between colonialism and post-colonialism?
The difference between colonialism and post-colonialism has often stymied us. When we hear people talk about post-colonial theory or post-colonial thought, we have been known to go: “What do you...
Postcolonialism
What is the difference between postcolonialism and post-colonialism?
"Postcolonialism" and "Post-colonialism" are the same thing. The most common accepted form of the word is that without the hyphen. "Postcolonialism" is a field of study that incorporates many...
Postcolonialism
What do you understand by a "decolonization of mind?"
The phrase "decolonizing the mind" was popularized (if not coined) by Ngugi wa Thiongo, a Kenyan novelist, in a book by that title published in 1986. He summed up what it meant to him in the...
Postcolonialism
What is the role of English in postcolonial writing?
I think that one can find the role of English to operate as both an act of oppression and an act of resistance in Postcolonial writing. For many Postcolonial writers, English was the "oppressor's...
Postcolonialism
What is the genre of the essay "On Seeing and Being Seen: The Difference Between Writing With Empathy and Writing...
In part, the genre of Alicia Elliot's "On Seeing and Being Seen: the Difference Between Writing with Empathy and Writing with Love" is a narrative essay. A narrative essay tells a personal story...
Postcolonialism
What postcolonial aspects are found in Gabriel Okara's poem "The Mystic Drum"?
In Gabriel Okara's poem "The Mystic Drum," there are several references to post-colonialism and its aftermath. A Nigerian, Okara invested much of his creative energy in examining the tension...
Postcolonialism
What are some issues that Postcolonialism addresses?
Postcolonialism (or postcolonial theory) can be a slippery beast. In its most literal sense, it can refer to books written after the colonial period. As European countries lost most of their...
Postcolonialism
What are the characteristics of Postcolonialism that can be found in literature? (For example the poem "Piano and...
Postcolonialism is, as the word parts indicate, a period of time after the end of British or French colonialism in various parts of the world. As can be expected, it is characterized by opposition...
Postcolonialism
Postcolonial Criticism
Post-colonial criticism is an attempt to reveal the story of oppressed people from their own point of view by correcting or critiquing the perspective of the powerful. It is often called the view...
Postcolonialism
How can we use Postcolonialism in Multicultural American Literature?
I can see how the accepted ideas of what defines Postcolonial literature can be included in a study of Multicultural American Literature. The struggle for voice and validation in Multicultural...
Postcolonialism
What role have diasporic intellectuals played in the institutionalization of postcolonial theory? Discuss.
Because “diaspora” is a somewhat indefinite term, we might consider the role played by intellectuals who were born in one particular geographical milieu and then exported their experiences from...
Postcolonialism
Discuss in detail distinguishing features of recent Indian writing in English.
The question itself could probably use some level of refinement in its focus and in its scope because in its current state, it is quite broad. In general, I think that some of the most salient...
Postcolonialism
Write a brief note on postcolonial theory.
Postcolonial theory is a genre of literary, social, and critical theory that explores the aftereffects of European colonialism on various non-European countries, although some scholars expand this...
Postcolonialism
How is literature a strategy for postcolonial survival?
Literature is a strategy for postcolonial survival because it gives postcolonial people a voice. "Postcolonial" refers to the point-of-view of the oppressed; it is the view from below. Being able...
Postcolonialism
What is postcolonial literature?
Postcolonial literature, which includes literary criticism, is any literature that depicts or interprets colonialism and imperialism from the point of view of the colonized. It is also...
Postcolonialism
Identify any subaltern short stories.
If we define "subaltern" as relating to and having to do with post- colonial studies, I think that we can find many examples. Some of the best work in all of literature might come from subabltern...
Postcolonialism
How can we describe the United States as a post-colonial society?
The United States in the course of its short history has gone from colony to colonizer. One could define acts of colonization moving into French and Spanish / Mexican controlled areas on the...
Postcolonialism
What are some themes of post-colonial literature written by women?
For female writers as well as for males, primary themes of postcolonial literature are concerned with identity in newly independent nations, generally connected with issues of race, ethnicity,...
Postcolonialism
Connect "Decolonization is not a metaphor" by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang to "On Seeing and Being Seen: The Difference...
At first glance, "Decolonization is not a metaphor" by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang seems to have little in common with Alicia Elliot's "On Seeing and Being Seen." Tuck and Yang's "Decolonization" is...
Postcolonialism
Should the term 'postcolonial' be challenged? Do you think postcolonial reinforces the dividing force of east and...
As long as it retains its explanatory power, i.e. as long as the legacies of colonialism persist, I think the term postcolonial will remain in use. I understand the backlash against it, but in...
Postcolonialism
How does postcolonial criticism uses poststructural theories to understand a text?
One significant way in which postcolonialism uses poststructuralism in understanding texts is within the issue of race and racial identity. For the postcolonialist, the concept of "race" is beyond...
Postcolonialism
Describe "stars and bars", why was it unique?
The "Stars and Bars" was the first official flag of the Confederate States of America designed by Nicola Marschal (1829-1917) a Prussian who had immigrated to the States in the 1840's....
Postcolonialism
What does colonialism mean as a literary term?
The term colonialism as used in literary studies on the most basic level means the same thing it does in standard English. It refers to one nation establishing colonies in a region outside its...
Postcolonialism
I am attempting to write an essay applying a postcolonial ctiricism to William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily." I have...
Barbara Ladd and Deborah N. Cohn apply postcolonial criticism to Faulkner by examining his "contradictory treatment of Native Americans" (Hamblin, Faulkner in the Twenty-First Century). A similar...
Postcolonialism
How does postcolonial literary theory work with reference to Jane Eyre?
Postcolonial theory is of course a massive discipline and it is very difficult to summarise it all in one response, but generally speaking it either takes the form of examining books that have...
Postcolonialism
Anticolonialism has often been regarded as a constitutive feature of “postcolonial literature”. Do you agree?
The rejection of colonialism and its exploitation of the subjects of the Empire is certainly a feature of postcolonial fiction. However, critics from a New Historicist perspective often argue that...
Postcolonialism
Is postcolonialism historically important for the third world? Discuss.
Postcolonialism is important for the entire world in that it represents the ongoing efforts of formerly colonized people to understand the global processes that led to imperialism and then brought...
Postcolonialism
Does Postcolonial literature involve only the lieterature of colonized countries or does it also includes the...
The literature of the Post-colonialists encompasses any texts which focus upon races, cultures, and the idea of identity after the gaining of independence. This literature is not, necessarily,...
Postcolonialism
How can you describe post-colonial influences on individual's identity in Britain in Hanif Kureishi's " The Buddha of...
One of the most evident post-colonial influences present in Kurieshi's work is the role of race and racism in the modern setting. Karim struggles with understanding how multiple forces converge...
Postcolonialism
What do you understand by "the discourse of postcolonial studies"?
The discourse of postcolonial studies involves applying a postcolonial perspective to texts, ideas, and events in history. This postcolonial perspective is a reaction against (and, postcolonial...
Postcolonialism
Identify the challenge that has tended to exist in newly independent nations that experienced a long period of...
Part of where this answer lies is in the realm of Postcolonial thought. When trying to assess the challenges that have tended to exist in newly formed nations is how to construct reality after...
Postcolonialism
What is the main idea of post-colonialism?
Post-colonialism is the study of the legacies of colonialism and imperialism, often explored in literature and the arts. The "main idea" of post-colonialism is to study the cultural shifts that...
Postcolonialism
Identify the main idea in "Networks of Resistance" by Elleke Boehmer.
One of Boehmer's primary points is that the exchange of ideas that is intrinsic to Colonialism helped to develop the vocabulary and consciousness that led to its dismantling and the rise of...
Postcolonialism
I was given an assignment to read a short story and analyze it from a New Historicist and postcolonialist...
A short story that lends itself to analysis from both perspectives would most likely be one that is set in an earlier time period, such as pre-independence– or early-independence–era Africa or...
Postcolonialism
What is and what are the "Poco Issues"?
One of the main concerns of postcolonialism is the way in which the Western urban world is taken for the universal and anything other than that is exotic or strange. Joseph Conrad's "Heart of...
Postcolonialism
What are the main points to be noted while doing a Postcolonial criticism of an Indian novel?
This is a really broad question as we should be equally careful to make "Postcolonial criticism" and "Indian novels" homogeneous entities. Postcolonialism is a diverse and pluralistic critical...
Postcolonialism
Examine how Modern Indian writings tend to subvert the dominance of a traditionally patriarchal society by giving...
I think that Modern Indian writings tend to subvert the dominance of a traditionally patriarchal society in making the case that gender oppression is no different colonial oppression. Part of the...