Post colonialism

Post Colonialism and its Concepts

The study of the period after Western Colonialism is called post colonialism. It is a study
of the consequences of colonialism that the native people felt such as control, exploitation, loss
of properties, human rights, etc. It also analyzes the transformation and development of culture,
history, discourse, and literature of European imperialism. In this article, we will discuss what
postcolonialism is and what its effects are.

What is Post Colonialism?

The study of the aftermath of imperialism on the countries due to the invasion and
settlement of the European countries is called post colonialism. It shows the effect on the native
people who have been subordinated by the colonial rules in different parts of the world resulting
in one of the biggest chapters of the history of mankind.

The characteristics of postcolonialism symbolize a significant change in the society for

overcoming colonialism and also depict the different ways of dominating the subordinate or
native population wielded by the colonial rules. It also showed the formation of new empires that
spread across the continents resulting in an unending urge for power and domination to
showcase. The time span considered to study this part of the history of mankind ranges from the
15th Century till the 20th Century.

The historians and theorists investigate the various graphs of modernity from different
cultural, historical, and philosophical perspectives. It can be simply described as a critical theory
formulated based on the analysis of contemporary culture, history, and literature depicting a
diverse set of approaches. There are attritions in the theories and analysis done by the historians
regarding this era. Not all the implications agree with each other.

If we consider postcolonial studies with an anthropological angle, it gives us a clearer

understanding of colonial life. From a deeper angle, this subject also leads to the examination of
political power and social relationships sustaining neo colonialism and colonization. It surrounds
the colonized and the colonizer. This approach, on the other hand, might overlap with
contemporary history and draws examples related to historiography, anthropology, political
science, sociology, human geography, and philosophy.

Concept of Post Colonialism

Now that we know what is postcolonialism, let us concentrate on the basic concept that
reflects on European colonial power and its effect on South American, Asian, and African
countries. It all started back in the 15th Century with the urge of the European countries to
explore the world and to set their dominion on unmapped lands.
Since then, the settlement of the colonizers and their self-proclaimed rule resulted in a drastic
change in the political, social, and cultural spheres of the colonized countries. Later on, struggles
and revolutions erupted across these countries against the colonial rules resulting in gaining
independence from such rulers. The time after these countries gained independence is considered
to be the post-colonial era and its study is coined postcolonialism.

The criticism and characteristics of this colonial rule on the quoted third-world countries
can be depicted in the following points.

The dethroning of the colonial rule resulted in the formation of new governments in those
countries resulting in the development of a new sociopolitical sphere. It offered newfound
freedom to the people whose generations were under the impact of colonial rule.

The sovereign countries and states described and asserted their independence from such
rules and prepared their policies depicting freedom and democracy. Their policies signified
social and economic development in all possible spheres.

With freedom, many other things evolved in society. It brought along the practice of
culture and religion.

These are the prime characteristics of postcolonialism that reflect the certain changes and
transformations occurring in the countries under colonial rule and the independence they got.

Post-Colonial Literature

The literature developed during this era depicts the interaction of the colonials with the
natives. By the end of mid 20th Century, a major part of the colonial empires was under the local
political government. Previously, it was under the impression of the European countries enjoying
sovereign authority.

This impression can be found in the art and literature produced by contemporary authors,
writers, painters, etc. These creations became the right dimension to study the features of
colonialism and the postcolonial era.

According to this literature produced by the post colonial writers, there are four types of
colonialism.

Settler colonialism

Surrogate colonialism

Exploitation colonialism

Internal colonialism
The postcolonial criticism thus reflects on the following points. It is a study and analysis of
politics and cultural resistance mentioned in the colonialism history. The ideas of social justice,
democracy, and emancipation against the oppressive rule, discrimination, and racism emerge
from such criticism. The contrasting differences between the natives and the colonial population
reflect in the colonial literature.

Post Colonialism in India

The time span between 1947 till the 1980s depicts the post-colonial era in India. After the
formation of a new democratic government, India saw a huge transformation from a regional
scattered power to a global player. The impression of India we have these days is the nifty work
of the then eminent personalities constituting the political status of India.

These decision-makers thoughtfully and judiciously converted India into a superpower

after emerging from a tattered condition in 1947. The post-era of Western Colonialism is
signified as post colonialism in India.

Postcolonialism

Postcolonialism or 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 analyse the politics of knowledge (creation, control, and
distribution) by analyzing the functional relations of social and political power that sustain
colonialism and neocolonialism—the how and the why of an imperial regime’s representations
(social, political, cultural) of the imperial colonizer and of the colonized people.

As critical theory, postcolonialism presents, explains, and illustrates the ideology and the
praxis of neocolonialism, with examples drawn from the humanities—history and political
science, philosophy 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 the stories of colonial subjugation of the subaltern man
and woman.