POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
EMPIRE - (Latin origin) associated with 'command' or 'power'. - A country presided over or the authority exercised by a ruler who happened to be called an emperor. - The territorial possessions of a state outside its strict national boundaries. Informal Empire Survival of the Empire No single language, religion, no one code of laws Government adapted to local conditions

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
British world power manifested through the empire Free trade mid XIXth C superiority in industry and commerce

It depended on other countries for prosperity, almost for survival. Creeping colonialism Britain intervenes in other countries. No longer 'ruled' by Britain but dependent on it economically

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
The British Empire

From the 16th Century onwards.

The heyday was 1890 to 1920 'The sun never sets on the British Empire' Principal motivation: commercial, industrial and political. Nowadays Dependencies (Falkland Islands, Gibraltar) The British monarch is head of state in many ex- imperial countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Caribbean nations) and is head of the Commonwealth.

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
Colonialism brought Venture capital (commodities such as tobbaco, sugar, minerals and human beings) The pioneering spirit Government expediency (shipping convicts to distant lands) The British sustained a high level of class and regional distinctions among themselves and race distinctions with others

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
1970's Edward Said's Orientalism construction of the oriental 'other' by European discourses of knowledge Literature produced in countries that were once or are now, colonies of other countries. Concern with the national culture after the departure of the imperial power. Distinguish bet. the periods before and after independence. Covers all the culture affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day

'Postcolonial Literature'

Different concepts

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
Post-colonial literatures African countries, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Caribbean countries, India, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, South Pacific Island countries, Sri Lanka, the literature of Minorities of the USA

Emerged out of the experience of colonization and asserted themselves by foregrounding the tension with the imperial power, and by emphasizing their differences from the assumptions of the imperial centre.

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
Imperial Oppression Control over the language 'standard' versions of the metropolitan lang. as the norm. Marginalization of 'variants' as impurities. Language Hierarchical structure of power is perpetuated Concepts of 'truth', 'order' and 'reality' become established.

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE

English english - Standard code - English varieties (the English of the thoughout the world. erstwhile imperial centre) - Centre - 'Peripheries'

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
Main Issues: * National identity (develop it and reclaim it) * The oriental and the westener (images of the colonized as inferior) * The legacy of colonialism * Write their own stories, legasy, using the colonizer's language for their own purposes.

Purpose

Writing back to the Empire Write their way back into a history others have written.

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
The Issue of Identity Identity How we see ourselves and how others see us Necessity of belonging, of fitting in. Differences of appearance, language, cultural and religious practices (racial identity and social identity)

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
IDENTITY In terms of Family (changing structure vs traditional unit, psychological problems, desintegration of personal relationships, the children of missing people) Community (circumstances) School Dominant culture is taught Communication breakdown bet. Home and school European values

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
Nation Inmigrants Identity conflict (maintain ethnic roots an belonging) Citizens of two worlds (ambivalence and evasion) Gender stereotyping and subtle racism Images devoid of humanity, passive roles and stereotypes

Portrayal of Minorities in Literature

South African Literature

Africanness A matter of both land and blood The land of black people Blackness in history and culture Community and ancestry

White Boer or Afrikaans Whiteness Power Political, cultural and racial oppression of Apartheid (fear of blackness) White society, culture and literature Blood whiteness made absolute, sacred, vulnerable.

South African Literature

John M. Coetzee Its the white settler, the original worm that came to canker South Africa, and who have committed the original and unforgivable sin that has forced whites out of paradise.

South African Literature

Apartheid 2 categories Black = African Boesman Kaffir Old and native (barbarian, dying)

New and emergent (urban and cosmopolitan)-Bantustan (authentic and original) Soweto (African's Harlem) - Townships - The Ghetto