00212—Central issues/concerns of Postcolonial studies [Post-colonialism/Postcolonial literature] [English Literature free notes]

The central issues are:
1. The rejection of the “master narrative” of Western imperialism,
2. Concern with the construction of the colonial and postcolonial subject, and,
3. Disestablishing the Eurocentric norms of literary and artistic values.

1.    The colonial other is marginalized and subordinated in the master narrative where the central power is western imperialism.  Traditionally, the Eurocentric notions regulated the art and literature.  But here there is a revolution. The master narrative is replaced by a counter-narrative.  By doing this the colonial cultures fight their way back into a world history manipulated by Europeans.

2.     Postcolonial studies are also concerned with the categories of by means of which this subject conceives itself and perceives the world within which it lives and acts. The colonial subject=Subaltern.  Subaltern is a British word stands for a low ranked military personnel. Sub=under. Alter=other. (Latin) Gayatri Spivak’s Can the Subaltern Speak is an important work in this field. 

3.    The main agenda of post colonialist thinkers is to destroy the centre that holds the power (here it is Eurocentric norms) so that both the colonial and postcolonial writers can come under one umbrella. 

00196--What is Post-Colonial Reading?

Post-Colonial Reading is an approach (that includes the reading and rereading of texts) toward texts of both metropolitan and colonial cultures to draw deliberate attention to the deep and inexorable effects of colonization on literary production; anthropological accounts; historical records; administrative and scientific writing. It is a form of deconstructive reading most usually applied to works emanating from the colonizers (but may be applied to works by the colonized) which demonstrates the extent to which the text contradicts its underlying assumptions (civilization, justice, aesthetics, sensibility, race) and reveals its (often unwitting) colonialist ideologies and processes.