Postcolonialist Theory

Postcolonialism is a theoretical approach that deals with colonization and its later effects. Starting from the 16th Century, European countries were becoming powerful and by the 19th Century, they became much more powerful with the rise of the British and French empires which led to dominance as well as imperialism over other countries. As Western Empires grew larger, they had a major historical effect on world history. Such power proved the dominance of the European empires as they shaped history with their imperial rules. “Children, both black and white, will have been taught to see history, culture, and progress as beginning with the arrival of the Europeans.” (Barry 349). In this context, postcolonial writers and critics mainly explored the postcolonial situation after the independence of the colonies, the attitudes of the Western colonizers toward the East, and the situation of the colonized. The problem is that Western colonizers perceived the East as other and oriental which triggered the interest of theorists such as Edward Said and Homi K. Bhabha. The professor and the critic of Postcolonialism, Edward Said explored Orientalism, otherness, and inferiority by focusing on Eastern stereotypes which later influenced Homi K. Bhabha who accepted and challenged the views of Said in a broader sense. In this article, I intend to give an overview of the ideas of ‘’the other’’ and stereotypes of both Said and Bhabha.

On the imperialist education

Edward Said, the Palestinian professor of literature, is a prominent figure in terms of postcolonial studies since he originated the field of postcolonial theory. In his book Orientalism, which was published in 1978, Said explores how the West discursively constructs the East which implies its otherness. “Said identifies a European cultural tradition of ‘Orientalism’, which is a particular and long-standing way of identifying the East as ‘Other’ and inferior to the West” (Barry 349).

Orientalism by Said, Penguin Modern Classics. 5 December 2021

According to Said, the Orient was fundamental in terms of the West’s self-definition. “I shall be calling Orientalism, a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient’s special place in European Western experience. The Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe’s greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other. In addition, the Orient has helped to define Europe” (Said 35). There is a sense of superiority of the West due to its imperial power and the East is often depicted as negative as well as inferior. Such superiority over the Orient put negative stereotypes on the colonized. As a result, the Orient was seen as unchanging with no scientific progress. However, it was also seen as exciting, exotic, feminine, beautiful, and different from the Western countries which makes it appealing. Thus, a fascination with the East occurred both in the eyes of the colonizer and common people. In addition, the people living in the Orient were perceived as if they possessed fixed stereotypical traits; while men of the Orient were seen as effeminate, women were seen as exotic and erotic. Overall, the people of the Orient are perceived as uncivilized, uneducated, and lazy. Thus, Western colonizers believed that they had a civilizing mission so that they could save or help the people of the Orient.

 Homi K. Bhabha, another literary theorist, was highly influenced by Edward Said. Yet, more broadly influenced by Poststructuralism which enabled him to enhance the ideas of Said. He is more interested in the effects of Orientalist discourse and the reactions of the colonized. ‘’My concept of stereotype-as-suture is a recognition of the ambivalence of that authority and those orders of identification. The role of fetishistic identification, in the construction of discriminatory knowledge that depends on the ‘presence of difference’, is to provide a process of splitting and multiple/ contradictory belief at the point of enunciation and subjectification.’’ (Bhabha 115). For Bhabha, there is an ambiguous hybridity and ambivalence in colonial discourse. The civilizing mission, in this case, makes the East more like the West and it traditionally and culturally resembles the West. The only possible way to overcome such ambivalence is to identify and repeat the features of the stereotype so that the colonized and colonizer should be aware of the difference between them.

The Civilizing Mission of the White Man

In addition, Bhabha argues that colonial mimicry and hybridity can both lead to cultural and racial diffusion and can be subversive. As a result, the colonized either mimics the colonizer or unites with the expectations of the colonizer through performative, cultural pedagogical, and religious hybridity. These factors may cause ambivalence by making the colonized resemble the colonizer or cause subversion if the colonized people are reluctant to revolt by loosely resisting the imperial ways. Performing ways of subversion, such as speaking the language perfectly or behaving like the colonizer, can be very disturbing for the colonizer since the colonized people should be inferior. On the other hand, those who possess a hybrid identity may also feel as neither inside nor outside the society since they might find it difficult to determine whether to lose their cultural roots or take up the culture of the colonizer. 

In conclusion, I intend to give a brief overview of the ideas of the most important critics of Post-colonialism. Edward Said, the Palestinian professor of literature, originated the postcolonial theory.  Homi K. Bhabha, another prominent literary theorist not only influenced by the ideas of Said on postcolonialism but also influenced by Poststructuralism which enabled him to advance the ideas of Said in a broader sense.

Ludwig Deutsch - The Tribute, 1909

SOURCES CITED:

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory Third Edition. Manchester University Press, 2009. Accessed From https://zlibrary-asia.se/ 2021

Bhabha, Homi.K. ‘’The Other Question’’. The Location of Culture. Routledge Classics, 2004. London, England. Accessed From https://zlibrary-asia.se/ 1 June 2023

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Vintage Books. New York, 1978. Accessed From https://zlibrary-asia.se/ 6 June 2023