A very good way to introduce

colonialism . PC in classes
..let me bring in
First the queen ant comes
out..forms a colony..after
completing she moves to form
another colony ..locates a
spot..safe, warm starts
hatching eggs Underground,
above the ground, on the
trees…
Slowly it starts multiplying to
millions..
This is how British colonisation
also happened..
 What was Colonialism?
Colonialism was not an identical process in
different parts of the world. It is the conquest
and control of other people’s land and goods
which witnessed a wide range of practices
including trade, plunder, negotiation, warfare,
genocide, enslavement and rebellion. . .
(Loomba) Colonialism/Postcolonialism
 The term post-colonial means post, or, after, the
colonial period.
 Widely accepted term, to indicate those
literatures which emerged after the end of formal
colonisation.
 Covers all the literatures from countries which
were affected by colonial culture.
Cont....
 In simple terms it is the antithesis (critique)
of European literatures.
 Its implication is a historical phenomena.
 Shifting of power relationship of the
coloniser/ colonised
 Umbrella term, covers Commonwealth
Literatures and New Literatures
When did post-colonialism begin?

“We use the term ‘post-colonial’. . . to cover all the

culture affected by the imperial process from the
moment of colonization to the present day. This is
because there is a continuity of preoccupation
throughout the historical process initiated by
European imperial aggression. . .”

(Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin: The Empire Writes Back)

The term ‘post-colonial’ . . . addresses all
aspects of the colonial process from the
beginning of colonial contact. Post-colonial
critics and theorists should consider the full
implications of restricting the meaning of the
term to ‘after-colonialism’ or after-
Independence. . .

(Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin: The Post-Colonial Studies Reader)

Major Issues in Postcolonial theory:
 Universalism/Eurocentrism
 Representation & Resistance
 Orientalism
 Language
 Diaspora
 Canon (subverting the canon)
 Hybridity & Ambivalence
 Subalternity-Class, race, gender, caste, ethnicity
What is Post-colonial criticism?
Postcolonialism deals with the
effects of colonisation on cultures
and societies. . .

It examines
(I) the processes
(2) the effects of
(3) the reaction to
(European) colonisation
Postcolonial ways of engaging with the Text
Critique and subvert canonical texts (promote

oppositional readings)
Promote regional literatures in translation (revise

the curriculum)
Critique internal colonisation
Promote englishes rather than English
Promote mini/little narratives (internal

colonisation)
 Themes of suppression and slavery.
 Dispossession
 Search for Roots
 Cultural Fragmentation
 Colonial and Neo-colonial domination
 Post colonial corruption
 Crisis of identity
 Exile
 Alienation
 Survival
 Defining “Home”
 Physical and emotional confrontation with

“New” land.
NATIVE WRITERS’ USE OF ENGLISH
 English is an imported language. (bilingual

creativity)
 Appropriating English to fit their culture.

(Adopt, Adapt, Adept, )

SETTLER WRITERS’ USE OF ENGLISH

 English is a native language.

 Appropriate English to fit an alien atmosphere.

NATIVE WRITING MATERIAL
 Already available to the natives in the form

of, myths, epics, legends and oral tales

(folklore)
SETTLER WRITING MATERIAL
 Settler had to recreate or invent his own

material
 NEW LITERATURES IN ENGLISH
UNIT-I : POETRY
 1. Australia - Judith Wright : At Cooloola
 2. New Zealand - James Baxter : The Ikons
 3. Allen Curnow :House and Land

UNIT-II : POETRY
 1. Canada - Al Purdy : Lament for the Dorsets (Eskimos Extinct in the
14th Century AD)
 2. Africa - Kofi Awoonor : Song of War , The Weaver Bird
 3. WI - Ace Nichols, Grace Nichols : Of course, when they ask for
poems
UNIT-III : PROSE
 1. Africa - Achebe : Colonialist Criticism
 2. West Indies - V.S. Naipaul-India : A Wounded Civilization

UNIT-IV : DRAMA
Australia - Louis Nowra : Radiance J.P.Clarke : Song of a goat

UNIT-V : FICTION
Africa-Koetzee : Disgrace Canada-Maragaret Laurence : The Stone Angel
Australia-Peter Carey : Oscar and Lucinda
 COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE
UNIT-I : POETRY
Australia - A.D. Hope : Australia
New Zealand - Jessie Mackay : The Noosing of the sun-god
Africa - Abioseh Nicol : The Continent that lies within us
UNIT-II : POETRY
Africa - David Rubadiri : A Negro labourer in Liverpool
Dereck Walcott : Ruins of a Great House
Canada - F.R. Scott : The Canadian Author’s Meet
UNIT-III : PROSE
Sri Lanka - Ananda : The Dance of Shiva Coomaraswami
UNIT-IV : DRAMA
Nigeria - Wole Soyinka : The Lion and the Jewel
UNIT-V : FICTION
Canada - Margaret Atwood : Surfacing
Australia - Patrick White : Voss
1.Ethnic differences are complicated and compounded by those of
gender, class and age in a couple of the following post/colonial
texts: Achebe

2. Practising postcolonial approaches in a multicultural context

help frame a response to any text

3. Rewriting Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe to explore alternative

subject positions and perspectives. Consider changes of genre,
medium and period, too, if you wish. Add a commentary on the
problems and possibilities encountered

4.Post-colonialism [is] an always present tendency in any

literature of subjugation marked by a systematic process of
cultural domination through the imposition of imperial structures
of power.
Ahmad, Aijaz. In Theory. London: Verso, 1992.
 
Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary & Cultural Theory. Manchester
and New York: Manchester Univ., Press, 1995.
 
Loomba, Ania. Colonialism / Post-Colonialism. London and New York: Routledge,
1998.

Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back: Theory in
Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures. London: Routledge, 1989.

Boehmer, Elleke. Colonial and Postcolonial Literature. Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 1995.
Jenkins, Keith. Re-Thinking History. London: Routledge, 1991.
Hamilton, Paul. Historicism. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.
Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage, 1994.

Ed. Padmini Mongia. Contemporary Postcolonial Theory: A Reader. Delhi: Oxford

University Press, 1997. 
During, Simon. Ed. The Cultural Studies Reader. 2nd ed. London and New York:
Routledge, 1999.
 Achebe, “Colonialist Criticism.” Hopes and Impediments – Selected Essays
1965-1987. London: Heinemann, 1988.

 Bhabha, “Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial

Discourse.” October. No. 28. Spring (1983). Ed. Philip Rice and Patricia
Waugh. Modern Literary Theory: A Reader. 3rd edn. London: Arnold, 1996.

 Bhabha, “Signs Taken from Wonders: Questions of Ambivalence and

Authority under a Tree Outside Delhi, May 1817.” Critical Inquiry 12 (Autumn
1985)

  Spivak, Gayatri Chakravarthy. “How to read a ‘culturally different’ book.”

Colonial discourse / Postcolonial theory . Eds. Francis Barker et al.
Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1994.
By
Dr. C. Anita
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Thiruvalluvar University
Serkkadu, Vellore-632115
Contact Mail ID: lookanita@ymail.co