Assignment Paper No.11
Paper No.11
Name: RavjiJalondhara
Roll No. 28
Enrollment No.
Paper No. 11 (Postcolonial Literature)
Assignment Topic: Different between Colonialism and Postcolonialism
Batch No. 2017-19
Email Id:ravjijalandhara@gmail.com
Words:1601
Submitted to: Department of English MKBU
Different between Colonialism and Postcolonialism.
Introduction:
The term “Postcolonialism” refers broadly to the ways in which race, ethnicity, culture, and human identity itself are represented in the modern era, after many colonized countries gained their independence. However, some critics use the term to refer to all culture and cultural products influenced by imperialism from the moment of colonization until today. Postcolonial literature seeks to describe the interactions between European nations and the peoples they colonized. By the middle of the twentieth century, the vast majority of the world was under the control of European countries. At one time, Great Britain, for example, ruled almost 50 percent of the world. During the twentieth century, countries such as India, Jamaica, Nigeria, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Canada, and Australia won independence from their European colonizers.
The literature and art produced in these countries after independence has become the object of “Postcolonial Studies,” a term coined in and for academia, initially in British universities. This field gained prominence in the 1970s and has been developing ever since. Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said’s critique of Western representations of the Eastern culture in his 1978 book, Orientalism, is a seminal text for postcolonial studies and has spawned a host of theories on the subject. However, as the currency of the term “postcolonial” has gained wider use, its meaning has also expanded.
• Postcolonialism:
"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 sub-fields, including history, anthropology, literature, and what is known as "area studies," specialization on one or more regions of the world (e.g., the Middle East or South Asia) or specific countries (e.g., Egypt, Russia, France, etc.).
It examines the effects on native or indigenous cultures of outside (usually referencing European) influences imposed through the process of invasion, occupation, and exploitation (i.e., colonialism). The formal structure of colonialism having been removed through the process, often violent, sometimes peaceful, of decolonization, what is left behind is a complex amalgamation of foreign and domestic influences.
There is no shortage of good examples, as colonization affected most of the world, either from the perspective of the imperial power or from that of the occupied nation. Among those examples is the enduring influence of French colonialism in Southeast Asia, where the French language remains in use decades after independence was attained in such nations as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (although, each of these nations uses as their primary language that which is native to the ethnicities involved) and French architectural influences dominate many towns and cities. The effects of colonialism, however, run much deeper in terms of the watering-down of indigenous influences in favor of those that were imposed by the outside. Similarly, the use of English across much of India is an enduring legacy of that country's many years of incorporation into the British Empire, as are the legal and civil service systems that are dominant in the ancient culture of India.
In short, "postcolonialism" refers to the long-term influences of foreign occupation on countries and regions formerly colonized by wealthier, stronger European powers. It is not technically incorrect to hyphenate the phrase, but the non-hyphenated form is acceptable.
• Colonialism:
Colonialism is often discussed as the history of imperial expansion and colonization which was generally initiated during the age of exploration. Colonialism is usually discussed as a European domination of American, African and Asian lands. This is true, but this could also include examples like the Roman and Persian empires. Empires that have taken over other countries have often established colonies as a way of staking out territory. In literary analysis, colonialism refers to literature and criticism dealing with the periods of colonialization. This can be from the perspective of the colonized or the colonizers.
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 borders. This is different from the types of conquest that expand a nation's borders in that it may only involve establishing limited enclaves or bureaucracies.
Literary criticsare interested in the way colonialism affects the literatures of both imperial and subjugated nations. One particular area of interest is hybridity, in which literary works take elements from both traditions. Another area of interest is how literature and the other arts can act as part of imperial ideology or as sites of resistance to imperialism.
Many literary critics also work in the field of postcolonialism, examining how the literatures of former colonies have been shaped by the experience of colonialism and how they struggle to reinvent themselves as culturally and politically independent.
• Postcolonial Literary Study:
Postcolonial literary study is in two categories: (i) that of the postcolonial nations, and (ii) that of the nations who continue forging a postcolonial national identity. The first category of literature presents and analyzes the internal challenges inherent to determining an ethnic identity in a decolonized nation. The second category of literature presents and analyzes the degeneration of civic and nationalist unities consequent to ethnic parochialism, usually manifested as the demagoguery of "protecting the nation", a variant of the Us-and-Them binary social relation. Civic and national unity degenerate when a patriarchal regime unilaterally defines what is and what is not "the national culture" of the decolonized country; the nation-state collapses, either into communal movements, espousing grand political goals for the postcolonial nation; or into ethnically mixed communal movements, espousing political separatism, as occurred in decolonized Rwanda, the Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; thus the postcolonial extremes against which Frantz Fanon warned in 1961.
• Marxism (Colonialism)
In recent years, scholars have devoted less attention to the debates on colonialism within the Marxist tradition. This reflects the waning influence of Marxism in the academy and in political practice. Marxism, however, has influenced both post-colonial theory and anti-colonial independence movements around the world. Marxists have drawn attention to the material basis of European political expansion and developed concepts that help explain the persistence of economic exploitation after the end of direct political rule.
Although Marx never developed a theory of colonialism, his analysis of capitalism emphasized its inherent tendency to expand in search of new markets. In his classic works such as The Communist Manifesto, Grundrisse, and Capital, Marx predicted that the bourgeoisie would continue to create a global market and undermine both local and national barriers to its own expansion.
Expansion is a necessary product of the core dynamic of capitalism: overproduction. Competition among producers drives them to cut wages, which in turn leads to a crisis of under-consumption. The only way to prevent economic collapse is to find new markets to absorb excess consumer goods. From a Marxist perspective, some form of imperialism is inevitable. By exporting population to resource rich foreign territories, a nation creates a market for industrial goods and a reliable source of natural resources. Alternately, weaker countries can face the choice of either voluntarily admitting foreign products that will undermine domestic industry or submitting to political domination, which will accomplish the same end.
In a series of newspaper articles published in the 1850s in the New York Daily Tribune, Marx specifically discussed the impact of British colonialism in India. His analysis was consistent with his general theory of political and economic change. He described India as an essentially feudal society experiencing the painful process of modernization.
According to Marx, however, Indian “feudalism” was a distinctive form of economic organization. He reached this conclusion because he believed (incorrectly) that agricultural land in India was owned communally. Marx used the concept of “Oriental despotism” to describe a specific type of class domination that used the state’s power of taxation in order to extract resources from the peasantry. According to Marx, oriental despotism emerged in India because agricultural productivity depended on large-scale public works such as irrigation that could only be financed by the state. This meant that the state could not be easily replaced by a more decentralized system of authority.
In Western Europe, feudal property could be transformed gradually into privately owned, alienable property in land. In India, communal land ownership made this impossible, thereby blocking the development of commercial agriculture and free markets. Since “Oriental despotism” inhibited the indigenous development of economic modernization, British domination became the agent of economic modernization.
• Effects of Colonialism on Indian Children’s:
Colonial governments generally did little to change the lives of local children, particularly in rural areas. There were some attempts to regulate what imperial authorities regarded as abuses. For example, colonial officials frowned on marriages that were contracted for young girls, though they did not usually press their concerns very vigorously. While colonial officials often criticized "natives" for working children too hard, the colonial economy usually depended on continued child labor, so there was little change here.
Gradually, colonial administrations did introduce some new educational opportunities, supplemented often by missionary efforts. So some children were exposed to formal schooling, which in some cases pulled them away from family traditions and into new contact with Western values. Schools for girls might also influence socialization for women's roles, again pulling away from tradition. Educational opportunities were limited, however, so the impact of this aspect of colonialism was only gradually felt.
Works Cited:
editorial, enotes. Post colonialism biography. 2 october 2015. november 2018 <https://www.enotes.com/topics/postcolonialism>.
Editorial, enotes. What is the difference between colonialism and post colonialism. 3 september 2015. 3 november 2018 <https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-difference-postcolonialism-post-colonialism-497169>.
Kohan. Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 3 july 2011. 3 november 2018 <https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/>.
Name: RavjiJalondhara
Roll No. 28
Enrollment No.
Paper No. 11 (Postcolonial Literature)
Assignment Topic: Different between Colonialism and Postcolonialism
Batch No. 2017-19
Email Id:ravjijalandhara@gmail.com
Words:1601
Submitted to: Department of English MKBU
Different between Colonialism and Postcolonialism.
Introduction:
The term “Postcolonialism” refers broadly to the ways in which race, ethnicity, culture, and human identity itself are represented in the modern era, after many colonized countries gained their independence. However, some critics use the term to refer to all culture and cultural products influenced by imperialism from the moment of colonization until today. Postcolonial literature seeks to describe the interactions between European nations and the peoples they colonized. By the middle of the twentieth century, the vast majority of the world was under the control of European countries. At one time, Great Britain, for example, ruled almost 50 percent of the world. During the twentieth century, countries such as India, Jamaica, Nigeria, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Canada, and Australia won independence from their European colonizers.
The literature and art produced in these countries after independence has become the object of “Postcolonial Studies,” a term coined in and for academia, initially in British universities. This field gained prominence in the 1970s and has been developing ever since. Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said’s critique of Western representations of the Eastern culture in his 1978 book, Orientalism, is a seminal text for postcolonial studies and has spawned a host of theories on the subject. However, as the currency of the term “postcolonial” has gained wider use, its meaning has also expanded.
• Postcolonialism:
"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 sub-fields, including history, anthropology, literature, and what is known as "area studies," specialization on one or more regions of the world (e.g., the Middle East or South Asia) or specific countries (e.g., Egypt, Russia, France, etc.).
It examines the effects on native or indigenous cultures of outside (usually referencing European) influences imposed through the process of invasion, occupation, and exploitation (i.e., colonialism). The formal structure of colonialism having been removed through the process, often violent, sometimes peaceful, of decolonization, what is left behind is a complex amalgamation of foreign and domestic influences.
There is no shortage of good examples, as colonization affected most of the world, either from the perspective of the imperial power or from that of the occupied nation. Among those examples is the enduring influence of French colonialism in Southeast Asia, where the French language remains in use decades after independence was attained in such nations as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (although, each of these nations uses as their primary language that which is native to the ethnicities involved) and French architectural influences dominate many towns and cities. The effects of colonialism, however, run much deeper in terms of the watering-down of indigenous influences in favor of those that were imposed by the outside. Similarly, the use of English across much of India is an enduring legacy of that country's many years of incorporation into the British Empire, as are the legal and civil service systems that are dominant in the ancient culture of India.
In short, "postcolonialism" refers to the long-term influences of foreign occupation on countries and regions formerly colonized by wealthier, stronger European powers. It is not technically incorrect to hyphenate the phrase, but the non-hyphenated form is acceptable.
• Colonialism:
Colonialism is often discussed as the history of imperial expansion and colonization which was generally initiated during the age of exploration. Colonialism is usually discussed as a European domination of American, African and Asian lands. This is true, but this could also include examples like the Roman and Persian empires. Empires that have taken over other countries have often established colonies as a way of staking out territory. In literary analysis, colonialism refers to literature and criticism dealing with the periods of colonialization. This can be from the perspective of the colonized or the colonizers.
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 borders. This is different from the types of conquest that expand a nation's borders in that it may only involve establishing limited enclaves or bureaucracies.
Literary criticsare interested in the way colonialism affects the literatures of both imperial and subjugated nations. One particular area of interest is hybridity, in which literary works take elements from both traditions. Another area of interest is how literature and the other arts can act as part of imperial ideology or as sites of resistance to imperialism.
Many literary critics also work in the field of postcolonialism, examining how the literatures of former colonies have been shaped by the experience of colonialism and how they struggle to reinvent themselves as culturally and politically independent.
• Postcolonial Literary Study:
Postcolonial literary study is in two categories: (i) that of the postcolonial nations, and (ii) that of the nations who continue forging a postcolonial national identity. The first category of literature presents and analyzes the internal challenges inherent to determining an ethnic identity in a decolonized nation. The second category of literature presents and analyzes the degeneration of civic and nationalist unities consequent to ethnic parochialism, usually manifested as the demagoguery of "protecting the nation", a variant of the Us-and-Them binary social relation. Civic and national unity degenerate when a patriarchal regime unilaterally defines what is and what is not "the national culture" of the decolonized country; the nation-state collapses, either into communal movements, espousing grand political goals for the postcolonial nation; or into ethnically mixed communal movements, espousing political separatism, as occurred in decolonized Rwanda, the Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; thus the postcolonial extremes against which Frantz Fanon warned in 1961.
• Marxism (Colonialism)
In recent years, scholars have devoted less attention to the debates on colonialism within the Marxist tradition. This reflects the waning influence of Marxism in the academy and in political practice. Marxism, however, has influenced both post-colonial theory and anti-colonial independence movements around the world. Marxists have drawn attention to the material basis of European political expansion and developed concepts that help explain the persistence of economic exploitation after the end of direct political rule.
Although Marx never developed a theory of colonialism, his analysis of capitalism emphasized its inherent tendency to expand in search of new markets. In his classic works such as The Communist Manifesto, Grundrisse, and Capital, Marx predicted that the bourgeoisie would continue to create a global market and undermine both local and national barriers to its own expansion.
Expansion is a necessary product of the core dynamic of capitalism: overproduction. Competition among producers drives them to cut wages, which in turn leads to a crisis of under-consumption. The only way to prevent economic collapse is to find new markets to absorb excess consumer goods. From a Marxist perspective, some form of imperialism is inevitable. By exporting population to resource rich foreign territories, a nation creates a market for industrial goods and a reliable source of natural resources. Alternately, weaker countries can face the choice of either voluntarily admitting foreign products that will undermine domestic industry or submitting to political domination, which will accomplish the same end.
In a series of newspaper articles published in the 1850s in the New York Daily Tribune, Marx specifically discussed the impact of British colonialism in India. His analysis was consistent with his general theory of political and economic change. He described India as an essentially feudal society experiencing the painful process of modernization.
According to Marx, however, Indian “feudalism” was a distinctive form of economic organization. He reached this conclusion because he believed (incorrectly) that agricultural land in India was owned communally. Marx used the concept of “Oriental despotism” to describe a specific type of class domination that used the state’s power of taxation in order to extract resources from the peasantry. According to Marx, oriental despotism emerged in India because agricultural productivity depended on large-scale public works such as irrigation that could only be financed by the state. This meant that the state could not be easily replaced by a more decentralized system of authority.
In Western Europe, feudal property could be transformed gradually into privately owned, alienable property in land. In India, communal land ownership made this impossible, thereby blocking the development of commercial agriculture and free markets. Since “Oriental despotism” inhibited the indigenous development of economic modernization, British domination became the agent of economic modernization.
• Effects of Colonialism on Indian Children’s:
Colonial governments generally did little to change the lives of local children, particularly in rural areas. There were some attempts to regulate what imperial authorities regarded as abuses. For example, colonial officials frowned on marriages that were contracted for young girls, though they did not usually press their concerns very vigorously. While colonial officials often criticized "natives" for working children too hard, the colonial economy usually depended on continued child labor, so there was little change here.
Gradually, colonial administrations did introduce some new educational opportunities, supplemented often by missionary efforts. So some children were exposed to formal schooling, which in some cases pulled them away from family traditions and into new contact with Western values. Schools for girls might also influence socialization for women's roles, again pulling away from tradition. Educational opportunities were limited, however, so the impact of this aspect of colonialism was only gradually felt.
Works Cited:
editorial, enotes. Post colonialism biography. 2 october 2015. november 2018 <https://www.enotes.com/topics/postcolonialism>.
Editorial, enotes. What is the difference between colonialism and post colonialism. 3 september 2015. 3 november 2018 <https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-difference-postcolonialism-post-colonialism-497169>.
Kohan. Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 3 july 2011. 3 november 2018 <https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/>.
No comments:
Post a Comment