It is an area of study that focuses on the Europeans colonization on the cultures and societies of other countries. That is why it aims for decolonizing cultural representations and offering the voices of the postcolonial world. Thus, post-colonialism tries to question Eurocentric perspectives of the world in order to erode the results of untruthful history and biased culture.
Origins and Development
Postcolonialism came to existence in the middle of the twentieth century after independent movements swept Africa, Asia, and Caribbean. Scholars like Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak are ameliorative and fundamentalist scholars of postcolonial development. The art of these authors demonstrates how colonialism affected and reshaped culture, mind, and finances and encourages the restoration of indigenous narratives.
Historical perspective
Postcolonialism is one of the theoretical frameworks that exist with the aim of changing (entities), especially of events which were depicted from the European point of view. When European powers are considered to be colonizing the rest of the world, histories are composed in a way that they paint colonization as a benevolent mission that brought ‘savages’ to the ‘civilization’. This is an area that postcolonial scholars wish to have considered and documented since the colonized were neglected and oppressed by the colonial masters. This involves revisiting historical events, such as the transatlantic slave trade, the partition of India, and the colonization of Africa, from the perspectives of the colonized.
Cultural Imperialism and Identity
Post-colonialism also deplores cultural imperialism that is the forceful incorporation of the cultural attitudes, prescriptions, and procedures of the west in the colonized nations. This cultural imperialism usually led to derogation and eradications of the indigenous languages, cultures, and religious practices. The postcolonial theorists have it that repositioning and empowering native cultures is tantamount to the regaining of individuality. Works like Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's "Decolonising the Mind" underscore the importance of cultural self-determination and the resistance against cultural erasure.
Representation and Literature
Postcolonial criticism cannot be understood without literature and art. What postcolonial literature aims at is giving the newly liberated people a new platform to express themselves and tell their story and this is well illustrated by their workshop of colonialism where they twist and turn conventional literary genres and sort of battering them into the shape of indigenous folk lore forms. Authors such as Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explore themes of identity, displacement, and resistance in their works. This way, they subvert the hegemonic European ‘literary,’ text and open space for multiplicity and heterophony.
Neo Colonialism and Economic Exploitation
Postcolonialism also deals with the processes that took place in the context of the colonialism and economic effects of colonialism till now. In many times it was marked by taking raw materials and the use of the native labor in the exploitation of these resources thus under developing the areas in question. Even after the postcolonial period, these economic differences remain: third world ex-colonies are to this day poor, in debt, and heavily dependent on the first world. Neo-colonialism in the view of Kwame Nkrumah; it ends when lines of the former colonial powers continue to dominate their ex-colonies politically and economically a decade or so after a freedom. Current postcolonial theorists suggest remedial socio-economic justice, reparation, and equity in trade to redress these imbalances.
Inter-security and postcolonial feminism
Postcolonial feminism is a subfield of post-colonialism where scholars study gender, race and colonialism relationships. Postcolonial feminists stress the specific position of women in the colonized states, who experiencing double oppression. Scholars such as bell hooks and Audre Lorde have helped to try to understand how colonialism and patriarchy work in tandem to construct the lives of women. Postcolonial feminism calls for an inclusive approach that recognizes the diverse and intersecting identities of individuals and challenges both colonial and patriarchal structures.
Various thinker on Eurocentrism
Postcolonialism is a concept and method of analysis of the effect of colonialism on cultures, societies and epistemologies. Perhaps, the most observable efforts of postcolonial theorists are meant to challenge the Eurocentric thinking to encourage and give back the voice and power to the dominated colonies. Different people have written a lot on this issue, and each has a different way of presenting the topic as well as a different way of presenting ideas. The following section analyses the opinions within some of the most well-known postcolonial theorists.
Edward Said
Orientalism by Edward Said published in 1978 is considered as the postcolonial literature. Said pointed out that the knowledge produced by Western scholars about the “Orient” was not just pure research interest but control. He argued that the West constructed a crude stereotype and sexualized representation of the East for the purpose for colonization. Orientalism, according to Said, was a Eurocentric discourse that framed the East as inferior and in need of Western intervention and control. His work questioned the representational accuracy and neutrality of Western hegemonic view and pursuit of decolonization and getting back the right to self-representation by the colonized.
Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon, or Francios Fanon, was a Martinican psychiatrist and philosopher, who is mostly remembered for his books Black Skin, White Masks, published in 1952 and The Wretched of the Earth published in 1961. Fanon’s work analyses consequence of colonization to the internal state of colonized as well as the colonizers. He condemned the I-Complex where the colonized minds embrace the European superior cultural form thereby feelings of inferiority and foreigners. The decolonisation process should covers both the society and the mind; the solution meant the revolutionary overthrow of the colonial powers. His ideas have been instrumental in understanding the complexities of identity and resistance in postcolonial contexts.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
An Indian theorist and her theoretical piece her essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988) was a major contribution to the Post-colonial studies. critically, in some of her writings, Spivak explores how some groups are prevented from speaking – especially women in the colonies. She questions the imperialistic actions of European intellectual who presume the talking for the subaltern and therefore silence them. Spivak is also concerned with how the subaltern subject can speak and more broadly with the epistemology of the subaltern, arguing that deconstruction is the only way to gain an understanding of the mechanisms of power. Her work challenges the assumptions of universalism and highlights the need for an inclusive and nuanced understanding of postcolonial issues.
Homi K. Bhabha
Hybridity, mimicry and ambivalent are some of the global concepts that Homi K. Bhabha put forth in his book, The Location of Culture published in 1994. Hybridity in Bhabha’s concept is a fusion and change of culture taking place in the contact interfacing zone between colonizer and the colonized. According to him, this process complicates the colonial bipolarity and opens a possibility of a new subjectivity and forms of rebellion. Another theoretical framework proposed by Bhabha, is mimicry, which explains how the colonized assimilate the colonial cultural values so as to undermine the colonial rulers. His work therefore provides insight to the textures and shifts of the postcolonial subjectivity and cultures.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Kenyan writer and erudite scholar Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has particularly been very vocal on the question of decolonizing African literature and education. In his book “Decolonising the Mind” (1986), Ngũgĩ warns that language is a way of colonial domination that European language has supplanted native languages. He urged the shifting the consumption back to native languages and the renewed of the African Writing culture to regain cultural subjectivity.
Understanding Eurocentric Views of the World and its Impact on Various Disciplines
This is the practice of orienting one’s perceptions and valuations in European terms and of assuming that European standards of civilization are superior to those prevailing in any other part of the globe. This worldview was formed during colonial times and has strongly affected very various disciplines studies and producing the stereotype of European exceptionalism as the center of world history civilization. Here’s an exploration of Eurocentric views and their impact on different fields of study:
Defining Eurocentrism
Speaking of Eurocentrism it is to say about a European way of envisioning the world with non-Europeans culture and history usually excluded or distorted. Such a view does not only foster the Anglo-Saxon bias regarding the pre-eminence of western culture but also basically erases the accomplishments of other world areas. It refers to beliefs and approaches selfish to European experiences and knowledge systems, denying various experiences within the global arena.
Impact on History
Western biased has played a huge role in the analysis of histories. Mainstream historiography implodes traditional historical perspective that regards the European Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and industrial revolution and so on as the most significant time frames in human development. This focus tends to erase accomplishment of other cultures for example, the civilizations in China, outstanding scientific discoveries made by the Arab civilization, and a fulfilling history of civilizations in Africa and America. As a result, the histories are considered ‘Others’ or subordinate to Europeans and thus continue to give impressions of European superiority.
Impact on Literature and Arts
In literature and the arts, Eurocentrism translates to the colonial way of marginalizing non-European works of literature and forms of fashion and art. This way, the academic achievements of different peoples are often declared as examples of universal values, while it is difficult to find works of non-European cultures in the ‘world’ literature and art sections. This prejudiced portrayal hampers cultural plurality thus framings outsiders by stereotyping them giving the rest of the globally world an inferior impression of non-European cultures.
Science and Technology
European bias also dominates the coverage of Science and Technology history all-round the globe. Sometimes contributions made by scientists and inventors in Europe, are given much prominence while inventions done by scholars of other parts of the world are given scarce prominence. For instance, while using mathematical knowledge and results, Indian scholars or astronomical findings of Mayan civilization or medical experience of Egyptian civilization may be simply pushed behind the European discoveries. This kind of perception helps to maintain the informational distortion that scientific development is largely a Western process.
Social Sciences
Social sciences have seen visions emanating from Europe as the single source of knowledge and research framework. Some of the concepts and frameworks emanating from Europe are used a priori in Other contexts, without due regard to how adaptable they are to context In Other parts of the world. This approach can result in misinterpretation and wrong analysis of social, cultural, political phenomena in various areas of the world. To illustrate, globalization might present a skewed perception of Western state, economic, political and social organization, development, human rights and democracy that does not fit the many societies and cultures and therefore produces distorted results and misty frameworks.
Education
Studies conducted across the globe reflect how the European epistemology dominates most learning systems. Studies suggest that in many social studies text books there is a bias towards European material whilst material from other parts of the world is either ignored or is given minimal attention. This is educational prejudice reduces the chances that learners have to encounter different cultures and disabilities to acquire an appreciation of other cultures. To rectify this, it is necessary to raise more tolerance to multicultural approaches and perspectives in education.