Colonialism / Post-Colonialism

A definition of colonialism (From this site: Literary Terms and Definitions.) 

COLONIALISM: The term refers broadly and generally to the habit of powerful civilizations to "colonize" less powerful ones. On the obvious level, this process can take the form of a literal geographic occupation, outright enslavement, religious conversion at gun-point, or forced assimilation of native peoples. On a more subtle level, this process can take the form of bureucratic policy that incidentally or indirectly leads to the extinction of a minority's language or culture, economic exploitation of cheap labor, and globalistic erasure of cultural differences. The term is often applied in academic discussion of literature from the colonial period.

For more on Colonialism, see here.

Basically, colonialism occurs when a culture with superior force moves into another culture’s territory and dominates the indigenous culture.  Frequently, the dominating culture will both exploit and Other the culture it has colonized.  Frequently, the colonized people will have their language, their culture, and their religious practices, as well as their very land, stripped from them.

In the USA, the Indian cultures had their lands and their religions stripped from them by American colonists and later by the government of the US; in Africa, England, German, Dutch, and others colonized the various African countries.

Post-colonial literature is an attempt to undo the damage of colonialism.  Colonialism destroys the cultures of the country/countries being invaded. Post-colonial literature is an attempt to reclaim and re-establish that literature; it is also an attempt to recognize, evaluate, and examine the experience of colonization.

Post-Colonial literature rejects the narrative which places the colonizer in the center of the story and the colonized out at the margins (see marginalization for more on this).

Thus in literature of colonization we’ll have stories about British or white person in the American West or Africa who has bold adventures and rescue some beautiful Indian /African woman or child from danger, often with the help of plucky, amusing, or doomed Indian / African  sidekicks. 

The Indian / African character is never the main character; the story is never about him (or her). The story is always about the colonizer.

Think Tarzan of the Apes.  Think The Lone Ranger. Think Heart of Darkness. Think The Night Clerk.  Think Out of Africa. Think just about any Ernest Hemingway story.

Post-Colonial literature attempts to re-cast the story. The Indian or African is the main character. The setting is no longer some exotic backdrop, but just the character’s home, where the events are taking place. If Europeans or Americans appear at all, they are minor characters – sidekicks, at best. The story is about the Africans (Indians, Egyptians).

Post-Colonial literature also attempts to reconstruct and redeem the traditions of its country.  Colonization destroyed these traditions, wiping out the local customs of music, story-telling, language, and replacing them with the culture of the Colonizer. 

Thus, in British colonies, children were educated in British English, taught to read and admire British literature and British culture, punished for speaking their own languages, compelled to adopt British religions and customs – eating British foods, living in British-style houses, wearing British clothing, and so on. Post-Colonial literature works to rectify this as well, bringing back a country’s stories and customs, its mythologies, its songs and ways of living.