Postcolonial theory & cultural studies

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-20^th 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.