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British Colonization of India
The British under Queen Victoria (1819-1901) colonized India. It lasted from 1858 to 1947, but began earlier in 1757 with the powerful East India Company in control. In 1858, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British Raj took control of Indian territories, producing products which greatly increased England’s GDP year over year with their sham trade system (Wikipedia.org). According to Jason Hickel of Aljazeera, “Britain stole $45 trillion from India within their 200 year rule.” -
Belgian Colonization of Africa
The Belgian colonization of Africa was under King Leopold II (1835-1909). It lasted from 1850-1905. -
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) published Heart of Darkness. Heart of Darkness is about a river boat captain who goes mad and how another river boat captain goes to save him. The story reveals how Africans were subjugated and treated subhumanly during the Age of Imperialism in Africa by European nations, in particular, King Leopold II of Belgium which lasted from 1860-1905. -
Video & What is Post-Colonial Theory?
https://youtu.be/c99SbGYKrGw Postcolonial Criticism is a literary theory concerned with colonized people all over the world: Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, India, and even Ireland. It deals with any issue related to colonization by European nations and its impact on the people, the responses of the people, and the struggles of the people. It includes variations - feminism, Marxism, and histography. The 3 major writers: Homi Bahia, G.C. Spivak, and Edward Said. -
British Colonization of India Ends
British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act of 1947, thus ending their occupation of India since 1857. Decolonization wasn’t easy for India. The event divided British-colonized India in half, becoming India and Pakistan, plummeting the two countries into a bitter feud where both countries suffered great losses. -
Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) published Things Fall Apart. This story counters Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as it portrays an Africa that is civilized and organized with community structure and intelligent people who thrive in what Conrad depicted as a hostile land. -
Controversy over Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad’s highly acclaimed novel is criticized by Postcolonial writer, Chinua Achebe in his 1975 lecture. The novella is a “heavy read” because it exposes the prejudice of British people against Africans. Conrad wrote the novella to expose the ill effects of colonization on the Congolese. Achebe criticized the novel because of how Conrad used the “N” word and depicted the Congolese as barbarians. Achebe believed the novella perpetuated racism and maltreatment of Africans. -
Edward Said - Orientalism (1978)
Edward Said (1935-2003) published Orientalism and discusses 3 types of Orientalism: 1. Orientalism is about the relationship of Europe and Asia, 2. Academic study of Asian languages and culture, 3. The Asian stereotype as viewed through the lens of Western writers, “prejudiced views of orientals as criminal and deceitful” (Carter 116). Said proclaims all of this is an effort to “dominate and subjugate” Oriental nations or lands of the East (Carter 116). -
Gayatri Spivak - Can the Subaltern Speak (1988)
Gayatri Spivak (1942-) is a feminist post-colonial critic. She is mostly concerned with the disenfranchised of society or ‘subaltern’ people, “the unemployed, the homeless, subsistence farmers etc.” (Carter 118). She’s also concerned with ‘female subalterns’ who have it worst of all, stating they should be given a voice in whether or not they should be burned on their late husband’s funeral pyre - something “neither the Indians nor the British allowed” (Carter 118). -
Homi Bhabha - The Location of Cultures (1994)
Homi Bhabha (1949-) is a post-colonial theorist who focuses on canonical text “which reflects the margins of society in a postcolonial world” (Carter 117). He looks at “the dominant” & “the subjugated” & is interested in how the subjugated mimic their dominators. The Location of Culture looks at the dynamic relationships in novels like A Passage to India where Mr. Fielding and Dr. Aziz represent the colonizer & the colonized. -
Post Colonial Literature and Non-Fiction
Ngugi wa Thiong'o - The River Between, 1965
Sembene Ousmane - God's Bits of Wood, 1962
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Heat and Dust, 1975
Robertson Davies - What's Bred in the Bone, 1985
Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day, 1988
Bharati Mukherjee - Jasmine, 1989
Michael Ondaatje - The English Patient, 1992
Gita Mehta - A River Sutra, 1993
Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things, 1997
Patrick Chamoiseau - Texaco, 1997 (From the Purdue Writing Lab).