Dave Mayuri P.
M. A. English Sem -2
Roll no. 13
Paper no. 7
Topic :- Postcolonial Theory &
Cultural Studies
Submitted :- Department Of English M.
K. B. U.
- : Postcolonial Theory & Cultural
Studies:-
Postcolonial
definition:-
Post colonialism
is the study of the legacy of the era of European and sometimes American,
direct global domination, which ended roughly in the mid-20th
century, and the residuals political, socio-economic and psychological effects
of that colonial history.
Postcolonial studies is an
academic discipline featuring methods of intellectual discourse, that analyze
explain, and respond to the cultural legacies of colonialism and imperialism,
to the human consequences of controlling a country and establishing settlers
for the economic exploitation of the native people and their land. drawing from
postmodern schools of thought, postcolonial studies analyses the politics of
knowledge creation control and distribution by analyzing the functional
relations of social and political power, that the how colonialism and
Neocolonism the how and why of an imperial regime’s representations colonizer
and of the
Colonize
people.
As a genre of contemporized history, post
colonialism questions and reinvents the modes of cultural perception – the ways
of viewing and of being viewed.as Anthropology, post colonialism records human
relations among the colonial nation and the subaltern peoples exploited by
colonial rule as a critical theory, post-colonial presents, explains and the
praxis of neocolonialism, with examples drawn from the humanities history from
the humanities history and Marxist theory sociology, anthropology, and human
geography; the cinema, religion and theology, feminism linguistics and
postcolonial literature, of which the anti-conquest narrative genre presents of
the subaltern man and woman.
Colonialism has been an
integral part of the history of numerous nations is Asia, Africa and South
America. European nations controlled much of the world’s resources and
populations from the seventeenth century, well into the twentieth.
Postcolonial theory
looks at the ways in which the non-white races have been subject to oppression
and exploitation during colonial rule. It foregrounds questions of race in
discussion about the west and west’s interaction with the East. It also looks
at how the present age of globalization brings back memories of colonialism,
albeit in a new frame and with newer rhetoric and modes of exploitation.
In postcolonial studies, the task to
see how colonial systems of knowledge –medical, legal, literary –enabled
oppression.it seeks to explore the modes of representation through which
colonial writings and culture justified exploration and oppression.
Postcolonial theory in cultural
studies looks at the global calculation
of Euro-American culture, with uses products created out of exploited Third
world labor, the question of race and gender in economic and cultural policies,
the centrality of techniques of representation to the cultural imperialism of
the Euro-American nations.
The category of ‘Man’, argue
post colonialists, means only ‘White man’ because the non-white is rendered
less than human within colonialism. Eventually, through western education and
‘acculturation’ the native also comes to believe in this stereotype of the
white man as superior and himself as inferior. Postcolonial critics are very
interested in literary and cultural representation of the non-white races by
Europeans because they argue such representations are extremely powerful.
Other Thinkers like Homi
Bhabha argue that the stereotype actually reflects the flaw and anxieties
within colonialism where the stereotype is an attempt to maintain stability.
Colonialism for Bhabha is ambivalent because on the one hand it wants to
‘improve’ the native into being more like the white man, but on the other does
not want to lose its status of being uniquely white.
Contemporary postcolonial studies look at the ways in
which globalization works on the same principles of earlier colonialism. The
free trade agreements and treaties benefit the west even as they exploit the
Asian nations. Global immigration policies suit particular skills alone, and
not the lower working classes.
The global circulation of
Hollywood, for critics like Simon during (2000), is a colonizing phenomenon
where cultural and material icons and actions are sold by a first world
corporation in Asian markets and ease out local, ethnic products. Racism is not
completely dead even in the politically correct age. The differential salary
–wage structures that enable medical transcription or BPO work involves, in
postcolonial studies questions of race statistics will reveal that Indian call
center workers are paid far lower than the US basic minimum wage. Postcolonial theory
asks us to pay attention to the politics or representation of non-white races
in white-race-controlled media.
-: Cultural Studies:-
Cultural studies definition:-
Cultural study is
interested in the processes by which power relation between and within groups
of human beings organizes cultural art effects such as food habits, Music,
cinema, sports events and celebrity culture and their meanings. Before we
define ‘Cultural studies’ we need to understand the key terms used by he
discipline.
Postcolonial
studies is concerned, as the chapter on theories explores, the oppression in
past or present of the non-European races by European ones, cultural studies in
globalized age also needs to be conscious of the racial zed nature of
globalizing culture. That is, the theme of race and unequal relations has to be
worked into any analysis of global cultures. For instances, we need to ask how
Hollywood films circulate globally. Does the fact that audiences in Asia or
Africa will be viewing these films influence the film- maker? How does a
Hollywood film appear to poorer nation in these areas of the world? Think of
films like romancing the stone, Indiana jones and Blood Diamond which explore
other cultures- how are these conceived by Americans and received by other
parts of the world?
Cultural studies are alert to the
postcolonial perspective in global cultures. Colonialism is a kind of
globalization where the European settler imposes his cultures. The current
phase of globalization is therefore one more moment in the colonial process.
MTV, CNN, Levi’s and McDonald’s are global companies with local presence and
effects. In a sense globalization has indeed become synonymous with
Americanization that has become a cliché. A cultural study therefore examines
the role of globalizing finances and markets in the formation of cultures.
Shared economies in globalization influence cultural modes, what cultural
studies are interested in.
What does such a link between
postcolonial theories mean for cultural studies in a globalizing age?
What is, however important to keep in mind
is that a culture cannot be reduced to its material goods or products. The
presence of American food products or clothing does not mean an extensive
Americanization is on. At the same time these are not merely material products;
they often carry cultural values. Thus postcolonial cultural studies must be
conscious of:
· The material nature of any particular
product / object.
· The marketing and symbolic values
assigned to the object.
· The economic gains / losses with the
arrival of global product.
· The ‘share’ of the culture / economy
in the production and profits of the global product.
· The kind of images associated with
the objects its cultural value.
Even though globalization produced ‘hybrid’ products and cultural
values, the question of economic gain must underwrite our analysis of even
these products. This analysis therefore is firmly rooted in a postcolonial
perspective.
