Overview

The British Empire is gone, but its ghost remains. Post-colonialism argues that the structures of power established during the colonial era (racism, economic exploitation, cultural dominance) didn’t vanish when the flags came down. They persist in our minds, our literature, and our global economy. It is an intellectual project to “decolonize” knowledge.

Core Idea

The core idea is Orientalism (Edward Said). The West didn’t just conquer the East; it invented it. It created a stereotype of the “Oriental” as exotic, irrational, feminine, and dangerous, to contrast with the “Occidental” (Westerner) as rational, masculine, and civilized. This knowledge was used to justify power (“They need us to rule them”).

Formal Definition

A theoretical approach in anthropology, literature, and history that analyzes the effects of colonization on cultures and societies. It focuses on the discourse of power, the formation of the colonial subject, and the struggle for autonomy.

Intuition

Why do we call the Middle East the “Middle East”? Middle of what? East of whom? It is only “East” from the perspective of London. The very map of the world is a colonial construct. Post-colonialism asks us to look at the map from the perspective of the “Subaltern” (the oppressed who have no voice).

Examples

  • Frantz Fanon: A psychiatrist from Martinique who analyzed the psychology of racism. He argued that the colonized person internalizes the colonizer’s view, feeling inferior and wanting to be white (“Black Skin, White Masks”).
  • Hybridity: Homi Bhabha’s concept that colonial culture is never pure. The colonizer and colonized mix, creating a “third space” of hybrid identity (e.g., Indian English, Caribbean Creole) that challenges the authority of the pure colonial power.
  • Museum Repatriation: The debate over whether the British Museum should return the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria is a central post-colonial struggle.

Common Misconceptions

  • It’s just “hating the West”: It is a critique of power, not a hatred of people. It often uses Western tools (Marxism, French philosophy) to critique Western imperialism.
  • It’s over: “Post” doesn’t mean “after” in the sense of “finished.” It means “following from.” We are still living in the post-colonial condition.
  • The Subaltern: Gayatri Spivak’s term for the lowest classes (especially women) in the Global South who are silenced by both the colonial power and their own local patriarchy. “Can the Subaltern Speak?”
  • Neocolonialism: The idea that while direct political rule ended, economic control continues through corporations, the IMF, and debt.
  • Decolonization: The active process of undoing colonial structures (e.g., changing the curriculum, renaming streets).

Applications

  • Literature: Reading Heart of Darkness not as a masterpiece, but as a racist text (Achebe’s critique). Promoting voices from the Global South.
  • Global Health: Understanding that Western medicine cannot just be “dropped” into Africa without understanding the colonial history of medical experimentation and mistrust.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Jargon: The field is notorious for incredibly dense, difficult academic language (Spivak, Bhabha) that alienates the very people it claims to help.
  • Essentialism: Sometimes it falls into the trap of treating “The West” as a monolithic evil, ignoring the diversity and resistance within Western history itself.

Further Reading

  • Said, Edward. Orientalism. 1978. (The book that started it all).
  • Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. 1961.
  • Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?”. 1988.