Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
International relations part
Scope and concerns of postcolonial literature
International relations part
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: International relations part
On Saturday morning, when I was assembling my thoughts to write another paper for my International relations (IR) class, I felt ambivalent, wary and hesitant. Surprisingly, for a brief moment, I was overwhelmed with the sensation of emancipation. As I consciously began to excavate the surface of my uneasiness, I came across fear. Fear of rejection, of failing, of not confining to (Western) imperial standards of academic writing and scholarship. Standards and practices that have been taught, or should I say imposed over me, for so many years. This fear permanently resides in the collective memory of the ‘Other,’ the backward, the illiterate, the savage, the barbarian, the non-Western, and the non-modern. This is the fear what Kumarakulasingam felt at school every day, a fear of “imminent assault” if we dare go against the ‘norms’ (Inayatullah, 2011; 34). What is worse, this fear is not merely confined to the realm of knowledge; it encompasses and actively shapes our individual and collective lives, our imaginations, our bodies, our histories, our borders, our modern day state and its infrastructure, our culture, and even our civilizations. As I read the paper prompt again, I felt a cool refreshing breeze across my face and adrenaline rush in my veins. A breeze, only a prisoner can feel when he/she steps out of the dense, high walls of prison for the very first time. A rush of blood that heralds beginning of a new life. A new life for self and ‘other’. The conception of writing an “Alternative IR” has unleashed me –for a brief moment- from the constraints of ‘standard’ norms and practices. I wish to employ this brief moment of freedom in ‘writing’ a response that would exhibit a methodological, ontological, and epistemological in... ... middle of paper ... ...nd justice,” anti-colonial IR,” and, “politics of postcolonial engagement” entails perpetual struggle against Western imperial project at every front. Struggle against knowledge production, against identity creation, against globalization, and against global injustice. It is, therefore, time to halt ‘free fall,’ open our eyes and realize that we are far from our project. We are still confined in western ways of knowledge production and practices. Despite my best effort to free myself from imperial standards, and norms, I end up writing a Western-styled piece. Maybe, because I do not have any concrete alternative to look to and take guidance from. What we need is our own alternatives. Our own modes of knowledge production, identities, standards and practices that are more humane, sensitive and relevant to us. Works Cited Inyatullah, N. Post colonial IR.
The cornerstone that anti-colonialism was built upon in the years after World War II is the general consensus among the world that each man and woman is entitled to a basic level of freedom to live their lives that is not unique to any one nation. This ideal is solidified in the preamble of
Post-colonialism expresses the opposite idea of colonialism. Hence, post-colonialism literature is a consequence of colonialism. Post-colonialism continues to be a process of hostility and reform. One scholar suggested that although most countries have gained independence from their colonizers, they are still indirectly subjected in one way or another to the forms of neo-colonial domination. (Ashcroft et al.
Post-colonialism is a discourse draped in history. In one point in time or another, European colonialism dominated most non-European lands since the end of the Renaissance. Naturally, colonialists depicted the cultures of non-Europeans incorrectly and inferior. Traditionally, the canon has misappropriated and misrepresented these cultures, but also the Western academia has yet to teach us the valuable and basic lessons that allow true representations to develop. Partly in response, Post-colonialism arose. Though this term is a broad one, Post-colonialists generally agree on certain key principles. They understand that colonialism exploits the dominated people or country in one way or another, evoking inequalities. Examples of past inequalities include “genocide, economic exploitation, cultural decimation and political exclusion…” (Loomba 9-10). They abhor traditional colonialism but also believe that every people, through the context of their own cultures, have something to contribute to our understanding of human nature (Loomba 1-20). This is the theme that Lewis prescribes in his, self described, “satirical fantasy”, Out of the Silent Planet (Of Other 77).
With many magazines and newspapers being shut down, authors are speaking out against the government and the censorship it has established (Iran par. 5). As intellectuals are finding flaws and contradictions in the belief systems the government uses, the religious leaders grow more and more threatened and frightened of losing their power (Iran par. 5). In an attempt to outwit government officials, writers and artist will portray their intended message through a vague symbol or metaphor, as to not seem suspicious (Iran par. 9). The suffocation of intellectualism affects Marji’s life when all of the universities are shut down, the reasoning being that "The educational system and what is written in school books, at all levels, are decadent. Everything needs to be revised to ensure that our children are not led astray from the true path of Islam" (Satrapi 73). The government is trying to eliminate the skepticism floating about in more educated groups of people by teaching the next generation Islamic ideals. This indoctrination will ensure the survival of an Islamic
Church, Kenneth. “Jihad.” Collateral Language. Ed. John Collins and Ross Glover. New York: NYU Press, 2000. 109-123.
The term post-colonialism belies the current condition for the colonized and falsely suggests colonialism has ended or disappeared. Decolonization will be—must be—a deliberate, enduring process of divesting colonial power.Post colonialism will only take effect when the indigenous people will once again restore their honor, unique cultural practices and spiritual belief systems which are mostly questioned and rendered insignificant. The theories and stories spread by the Western colonization are so dominantly rooted that it is impossible for Maori traditional knowledge to overthrow Western knowledge; so the attempt currently made by the Kaupapa Maori researchers to ‘co-exist’ with the Western perspective. Although one challenge faced by Kaupapa Maori is the attitude and feelings held by the Maori people towards research due to which they prefer the term ‘project’ rather than research, where a culturally safe research by the indigenous people is essential to legitimize Maori language and culture. Research is highly institutionalized, so it’s difficult to articulate a large-scale decolonizing agenda let alone execute it. Simply put, self-determination requires indigenous peoples’ active
...templates for strong and weak western narratives of other places but lacks literary rigor. Even so, both are equally important for the education of young people in a larger, global setting with diverse experiences and cultures trying to understand one another. She draws attention to voice appropriation, authorial national ideological agendas, and the Americanized slant in representations of the non-west by westerners. The presence of Americanized interpretation and editing can cause a crooked depiction of the other, ultimately telling us more about ourselves than about them.
In this intricate time, Niall Ferguson, the author of Civilization: The West and the Rest, presents a story and what appears as a defense of the ascend of the west to supremacy and its unrivalled influence in restructuring the world of today. The West seems to be on the defensive, confronted economically, politically, and militarily by the rise of China (delete this: as well as politically along with militarily) by a gesture of Islamist abhorrence (what do you mean by “as well as politically and militarily by a gesture of Islamist abhorrence”? It’s not clear. Are you trying to convey the idea that the West’s political and military interventions in the Muslim world are a sign of their defensive posture and abhorrence of the Muslim world? Or do you mean to say that the West is on the defensive due to Islamist hatred of the West?). Perhaps the major interior challenge is the examination of western culture, which subjugated American education following World War II and has been under siege for a long time. Therefore, western culture has been harder to discover in our schools and colleges ([Symbol]consider rephrasing this sentence). "When tackled, the west slandered owing to (by “slandered owing to…” do you mean “attributed”? I don’t think slandered is the right word here. Slandered means “insulted”) its history of oppression and imperialism, a supposed addiction to conflict and its barring of women and non-whites from privileges and rights. Some condemn its study as slender, limiting, haughty, and discriminatory, emphasizing that it has small or no worth for those originating outside Europe (Ferguson 22).
Colonization most assuredly produced altered states of consciousness, in which the fundamental sense of “rightness” was understood to be subjective and culturally constructed, rather than naturally true. In conjunction with this realization came the idea that identity is not something personally owned, but rather, something inscribed upon a body or culture by an agent of power. In this case, identities were projected onto the natives by the imperialists.
School systems have become the domain of learning about our own cultures; it prescribes what we know and how we engage within the global sphere. By students attending School it is a way to intersect knowledge to the new generations to come. We use textbooks in schools to help facilitate the information that has been passed down through the years of progression. In order to understand ones heritage one needs to understand what occurred and how one came to be. Education has become a fundamental process in which all youths must obtain too in order to develop into a valued functioning member of society. Educators strive to educate youth in the history of their culture but the reality of the truth is that history is a false perception derived from years and year of colonization, white hierarchy. “Textbooks are very influential message senders in the formal kindergarten through 12th grade school systems in the United States. The realities of students reading these textbooks are shaped by the information printed, especially of things that are unfamiliar and unavailable to them” (Clark & Moore, 2004). Textbooks have in turn brought upon a false history and claims to what the truth really is, but whose truth is it, whose truth is dominant, colonial truth is dominant and textbooks within the school system provide false truths of history to back up colonial ways. Colonization is a continuing process within the school system by means of history textbooks; it is this book that claims to speak the truth but only one truth.
... by years of resentment and bloodshed. I have returned with a renewed energy for my studies and a determination to use these studies to contribute in the future-to both grassroots work and international diplomacy. As I continue on my journey, I will surely encounter more nervous checkpoint moments, stimulating the moral and social reflections that have become part of my border crossings.
I argue that upon closer inspection it becomes evident that this idea is hardly defensible, because the very idea of Western as a concept is inherently flawed, because the reality is that cultures are themselves a product of many years of outside influence and this process was simply another manifestation of this natural evolution, and because the human rights process was as inclusive and as participatory as was possible at the time and to cry over spilt milk is simply futile.
Aschcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin, eds. 'The Post-Colonial Studies Reader'. London; Routledge, 1995.
1. Krishna Kumar has argued that “Orientalism and Anglicism appear to be two faces of the colonial enterprise, rather than forces in conflict” (Kumar, Krishna, 2005, Appropriate Knowledge, pp: 71). Explain your agreement or disagreement with Krishna Kumar by providing arguments and suitable examples drawn from different readings, minute by Macaulay and letter by Wilson and the discussions in the class. (2000-3000 words)
Postcolonialism is the continual shedding of the old skin of Western thought and discourse and the emergence of new self-awareness, critique, and celebration. With this self-awareness comes self-expression. But how should the i...