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Exam questions
Section A I will ask you to summarise the contents of one of the 7 chapters of Beginning Postcolonialism. [A concise summary] Section B (notes and slides from the course)
1. When was the British Empire born? How long did it last? Are the British Empire and the English Empire the same thing? The British Empire and the English Empire are not the same thing. If we refer to what happened before 1707, we are talking about the English Empire, but if we refer to what happened after the 1707, we talk about the British Empire. The British empire was born when the United Kingdom was born, that is in the 1707 with the Union of Parliaments of Scotland and England, that joined two kingdoms that were already under the same king as the Unions of Crowns had taken place in
- But they still had different cultural and economic set ups, legislations and Parliaments, so people weren’t very happy about the situation, in fact there were many protests and riots. It wasn’t an easy transition, in the 1745 began the tragic and violent struggle between the supporters of the Stuart Kings and the Jacobites, and it ended with the defeat of the Jacobites. . There was competition between Scotland and England, and Scotland was bankrupt, so they didn’t have choice but to sign the Act of Union. The Act of Union (union of parliaments) was a way of putting an end to the competition between these two nations and stating an age of collaboration. In 1801 the Irish Act of union was signed; Ireland became part of the United Kingdom. The parliament in Dublin was abolished and the Anglican church became the official religion. This was another step to consolidate the power of the British Empire. The most successful century for the British Empire was the 19th^ century where a big portion of the world was ruled by the British Empire. The beginning of the decline of the British empire was marked by the First World War. (it lasted for over a century). Hong Kong was the last colony of the British Empire, when HK returned to China in 1997 was official the end of the British Empire. 2. What is the difference between old and new imperialism? Old Imperialism refers especially to the Europeans empires that developed between the 16th^ and the 18th^ century. In this historical period Europeans power are not so much interested in acquiring territory (except from Spain and Portugal in South America), but they are more interested in the recourses that countries around the world may offer. So, what they tend to do is to set up trading stations from where they can practice trading or even exploit portions of territory. In this period relationships with native people tend to be “friendly” or at least not very aggressive, the strategies re more political than military, it has more to do with persuading leaders to collaborate. Old imperialism is still imperialism, so a form of exploitation and oppression, even though the instruments used here are not so violent as they will become in the following centuries with the “new imperialism”. New Imperialism refers to what happened between the 18th^ and the 19th^ century in relation to Asia and Africa, not only there but it’s mainly in these two continents that military forces take control of local governments. The shift from the trading stations to military occupation happened due to different reasons: These two continents are very rich in terms of row materials and natural resources, and they were relatively vulnerable from a military point of view. The shift is from a more or less “friendly” relationship with the local governments to a more authoritative violent kind of relationship.
3. What does «imperialism» mean? What does «colonialism» mean? The term “imperialism” refers to a policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other weaker countries politically, economically and socially. It’s the actual and concrete act of conquest and domination. The term “colonialism” refers to a system trough which a country subjugates other states. Colonialism is the practice or manner of things colonial and often serves as a synonym for “provincial”. This term carries also a bad connotation because if you are “colonial” or “provincial” you are far from the center. 4. What are the intersections between imperialism, capitalism and nationalism? Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism, requiring monopolies of labour and natural resource exploitation and the exportation of finance capital. Imperialism refers to the policy of extending one country’s rule over many lands. Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit. Nationalism is the belief that people should be loyal mainly to their nation. Imperialism and capitalism feed each other, Capitalism needs Imperialism to expand and Imperialism needs Capitalism and the technologically advanced weapons that capitalism can produce and material infrastructures that keeps the empire together. Violent types of Nationalism based on the belief that some nations are superior and have the right to dominate other countries (like the kind of nationalisms that developed in the 19Th^ century) are at the origin of the imperial enterprise. These three events are deeply interrelated and characterized the 19th century. 5. Define Postcolonial Studies Postcolonialism refers to the time after colonialism, that is after the colonies of the European Empire became independent starting from the first decade of the 20th^ century (when the age of European empires is over). The field of postcolonial studies is the vast interdisciplinary field of studies which involves literary schoolers, historians, geographers, etc. It engages with the interaction between European nations and their former colonies, so the societies and the countries they colonised. Postcolonial Studies analyses texts produced by cultures that developed in response to colonial domination. So, they don’t necessarily focus on what happened before colonization and during it. But they focus especially on what happen afterwards. They study the process of colonization and decolonization, what kind of cultural context developed former colonised countries, what kind of novels where produce by them and how literary works respond to the experience of colonialism and postcolonialism. 6. Define colonialist ideology and its main features/principles Colonialism is based on the idea/doctrine of cultural hierarchy and supremacy. The theory of colonialism is the domination by a metropolitan centre which rules distant territories though the implanting of settlements. The colonialist ideology is characterized by a sense of superiority the feeling that the European or British culture was civilized, sophisticated and metropolitan. Sophisticated refers to something that is advanced, the opposite of primitive. Metropolitan refers to the heart of the empire. Colonialist ideology is about a binary vision, Europeans regard
-“the Empire” is referred to the British empire, but it could be referred to any European Empire between the 18th^ and the 19th^ century. -“The Empire” doesn’t stand for the Empire as a structure, but it stands for colonialism, so the colonies. // the colonies writing back
- “writing back” is a response to an action // so, the colonies are responding to the impositions of cultural imperialism. -“to the centre” the centre of the Empire, in this case Britain. The opposite of margin. So, the title means that the margins(colonies) are responding to the centre of the empire. The main idea of the book is to show how the new literatures in the English language respond with literary voice to the experience of colonization. The book claims to achieve this aim through:
- Redefining the literary canon, literary genres decided between the 19th^ and 20th^ century. to collect and enlist all the texts that are representative of a specific country or historical period (literary canon). New writers create literary forms like the orature (oral literature: new genres). Thanks to postcolonial studies these genres were re-evaluated within Europe itself.
- Challenging eurocentrism. creating pluralism, a world where different voices are appreciated and respected.
- Challenging notions of identity, accepting multicultural views. 10. What does ‘discourse’ mean according to Michel Foucault? The terms “Discourse” by Michel Foucault stands for a philosophical concept. It refers to a way of organizing knowledge. It’s a hybrid term that mixes semantics (language) and social science (the social practice between one speaker and one listener. the language is a form of social practice. Social sciences look at language as a way of thinking and as an institutionalized way of thinking, this refers to the thinking that leads to the production of knowledge. Thinking in this case is not a free individual art but an institutionalized way of thinking, that is shaped by institutions. “discourse” is defined by both Power (it refers to society and the relationship between hierarchies and power) and Truth ( it refers to knowledge). Discourses are more than a way of organizing and producing meaning. Discourse refers to a way of organizing knowledge and a that makes structured/ that structures social relationships. Social knowledge that is produced within a society and it’s the sum of different statements that are made to explain, to describe a certain thing, object, identity. Set of statements connected to each other in order to achieve social control and knowledge about the world. Discourse affects our views on all things 11. Discuss Orientalism as a form of colonial discourse Orientalism can have two meanings: -Originally the study by Western scholars of the Near and Far East (study of its culture, society, language), defined as radically different from the western world. -Orientalism as a term introduced by Edward Said to describe false images of and myths about the East/ “Oriental world” constructed by the West. The “Orient” is an extremely vast geographical area (from Turkey to Japan), too big to exist in real life. between these two countries exist many countries that have different cultures and languages, so creating a concept that define them as something completely homogenized doesn’t make sense at all. The Orient is just a Western/ European fantasy, it’s constructed to respond to the desires and fears of the West and has nothing to do with the real people that live in that part of the world. Orientalism was nothing but an expression of colonial discourse, the Oriental was constructed through a number of images often distorted, it only exists in the mind of those who represented it from a
European perspective, and favored a process of colonization. The Orient is a good example of “othering” constructing someone as “The Other”, who you don’t want to be. Said says that the Orient cannot be studied in a non-orientalist manner itself because it is just a fantasy, a stereotype, it’s not a reality. Scholars should focus more on smaller culturally consistent regions.
12. Discuss an example of Orientalist representation: how is the ‘Orient’ and ‘Orientals’ represented in the 19th century? Mainly in the 19th century, the orientalists have generated a binary opposition between the West (civilized, just, moral, rational and democratic…) and the Orient (represented as backwards, savage, lazy, superstitious, irrational…). The orientalist clichés were already present during Shakespeare’s age, but not yet clearly defined. During the 18th and 19th century, things changed dramatically. Here the idea of race of racial and ethnic Otherness was created and coded, with tragic consequences into the 20th century. Representing racial ethnic Otherness has nothing to do with objective facts and everything to do with the desire to control the colonized people. Moreover, science becomes prominent in the 19th century especially but these scientific studies were not too scientific in the sense that we would use today. The scientists, in this historical period, relied on observation, so the complex classification of human beings into different races, was defined in terms of observation, like skin color. According to this introduction, also in literature and art this ideology was reflected. There are some adjectives which can apply to the paintings of that period: Erotic — mysterious — dangerous — slow, lazy — picturesque — primitive For example: 1) Jean-Auguste- Dominique Ingres, “Odalisque with a Slave”, 1839-1840. This painting contains all the adjectives listed before. Everything is very different from what we would see and find in a Western context in the same historical period. The dark figure in the background of the picture represents danger. The lady represents the “erotic” In the picture are represented lots of oriental objects and traditions like clothes, instruments and structures. (Picturesque details) The emphasis is on racial differences, this is mysterious and dangerous because he is almost hidden in the dark. 2) Antony and Cleopatra, picture taken from 1915 film. - representation of genders is typical of the 1950s. It doesn’t tell anything about historical Cleopatra who was a formidable queen, spoke several languages and was a very sure politician and very authoritative, but certainly not the soft, undecided and weak housewife represented in the picture. 18th from 19th century, things change quite dramatically idea of race of racial and ethnic Otherness everything to do with the desire to control the colonized people. Stereotyping is supported by scientific studies Race was defined in terms of observation superficial and a sort of primitive science Orient as a fantasy. romantic notion of the Orient constructed through colonial discourse. West: civilized, moral, industrious, rational, democratic and masculine. Orient: backwards, superstitious, despotic and feminine (implies inferiority)
Caliban is described as someone who belongs to a separate inferior race and will never be able, even with the “gift” of the English language, to behave as a proper human being: it is in his nature to be savage. This is an expression of racism. Therefore, what would seem as an injustice (the confinement in a remote corner of the island), this is seen as something he deserved because of his vile nature: he deserves to be punished and imprisoned. When Shakespeare was alive, the British empire wasn’t born yet, but the English empire was on the rise so references to imperialism and colonialism are obvious. He seems capable to offer a prefiguration of what will happen in the 18th and 19th century. In a certain sense Prospero and Miranda are the proto- colonizers, while Caliban is the proto-colonized subject. 2- Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe is presented as an authentic account by a real mariner who got marooned on an island. The main character, narrator and fictional writer of the account is Robinson Crusoe himself. He is the hero: all by himself he overcomes all sorts of problems, difficulties and survives. What prevails in Robinson Crusoe is the sense of adventure and discovery. The book is not just about this journey of inner discovery, but there is also a very important encounter with the “other”. Representation of the native. Friday is a native that lives on this island and he is a “good” native: there are bad natives who are cannibals and want to kill Friday and Robinson Crusoe rescues him and then turns him into his servant. Because Friday is nicer than other natives, he is presented as sharing more physical features with Europeans. Certain features are presented as implicitly negative: “his hair was long and black, not curled like wool…” “the color of the skin was not quite black…”. This is an aesthetic appreciation of Friday, which could be seen as innocent but it’s not: explaining his appearance, Defoe says that it is pleasant in so far as it is more European than South American. Friday has an attitude of acceptance of his inferiority: he immediately submits to Crusoe. The extreme colonial and racist gesture is that of renaming him: Robinson renames him with the day they met, which is a disrespectful diminutive way of defining a human being. Friday in fact is represented as human, but definitely below the standard level of what a human being is. This has to do with the process of othering, how people from different cultures were represented through the lens of colonial discourse. Robinson Crusoe doesn’t waste much time teaching Friday to speak properly, but he just teaches him few words he needs to communicate with him. 3- Hearth of darkness, Joseph Conrad. In this novel, the writer wanted to expose and to denounce the cruelty that Belgian colonizers were enacting in Congo, Africa. Intentions are good: Conrad is not in favor of imperialism, he’s indignant at what happens there. Conrad agrees with idea that it’s very wrong to use the idea of race to exploit other people: this cruelty is not a “noble mission”. Conrad is highly conscious that the idea of improving people’s lives is nothing but a mask for exploitation. Even though Conrad is honest in his attempt to critique colonialism, he uses some standard cliches typical of colonial discourse. Why? Because when we live in a certain historical period, no matter how intelligent and educated we are, the limits of that period will affect our thinking. Even though he questioned colonialism, he unconsciously replicated some of the colonial cliches. Indeed, in his novel Africa is a synonym for darkness: heart of darkness is the heart of Africa and darkness is a stage for self-discovery. With all the good intentions of his critique to imperialism, there are a lot of cliches and images that are racists and colonial. Representation of the place and natives. He refers to Africa as a very primitive place It is a form of denigration: it’s like saying that Africa is a backward and primitive place. The sense of discovery is very strong: all is new and strange; everything is something that has never seen before and cannot be compared with the European reality the narrator comes from (vastly exaggerated). The description of the indigenous people is very interesting: there is a list of parts
of the bodies, they are not presented as whole human beings, but as segments of bodies (black limbs, mass of hands, feet, eyes rolling...). Natives are presented as less than humans: the verbs chosen to describe them are usually referred to animals. Conrad is denying human status to these people: they appear as less than humans. This sense of backwardness and darkness could be fascinating, but it is not realistic and respectful for this country or the people who inhabits it.
16. What are the main concepts articulated by Frantz Fanon in Black Skins and White Masks****? As the title suggests, the book’s focus is on issues of racism and the impact that racism has during the period of colonialism. The concept of Blackness is associated to something that is evil, wrong and not pure in many Europeans cultures, so the colonizers introjected this symbolism. Fanon explains that black people often put on a white mask, not a physical one, but it is a psychological defense: even if they are black, they make an effort to demonstrate that they behave as white people. This behavior represents a psychological damage because colonized people are forced to hate their own appearance and look like the colonizers. “Black Skin, White Masks” is the first analysis of the effects of racism, colonization, the relationship between colonizer and colonized and how, through racism, the colonizer wanted to inferiorize the colonized. This is an autobiography of a black intellectual in a white world. 17. What is ‘inferiorism’ in a colonial context according to Fanon? In his book, “Black Skin, White Masks” (1952), Franz Fanon makes an analysis of the effects of colonialism and racism. According to him, racism allows the colonizer to inferiorize the colonized. While in the book “The Wretched of Earth” (1961), Fanon explains that inferiorization is a long lasting effect of colonialism and the more the colonizers introduce new ideas, the more it had the effect to make the colonized feel inferior. The aim of colonizers was to bring the colonized to admit their inferiority, the inferiority of their culture and their principles. The last phase of this process was to create the notion of an inferior race, culturally but also biologically. Inferiorization every effort is made to bring the colonized subject to admit the inferiority of his culture which has been transformed into instinctive patterns of behavior, to recognize the unreality of his “nation”, and, in the last extreme, accept the notion as their “race” as inferior. Racism the last stage of the process of inferiorization. 18. What is Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s attitude to the English language? Even though he was educated to write, speak and read in English, by 1977 he decided to write in his native language: Ginkuyu (or Kikuyu). This was a revolutionary act because all African intellectuals were trained to use English as their main language. His first modern novel written in his language (Devil on the Cross) was published in 1980 but then he translated it also in English and other languages. He had been baptized in a Scottish mission “james” then he decided to change his first name to a native name and he became Ngugi wa Thiong’o. 19. What do Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s and Frantz Fanon’s theorisations of colonialism have in common? Fanon is more focused on the psychological mechanisms underline the act of colonization. Ngugi is perhaps more interested in social, culture and economic mechanisms, but he says more or less
through ambivalence that Bhabha disempowers and criticizes very effectively colonial discourse.
- “An important feature of colonial discourse is its dependence on the concept of 'fixity' in the ideological construction of otherness.
- Mimicry It is the ability to camouflage or to become like someone else who is different from you. • What is the effect of the viewer? Mimicry can have different effects but the immediate effect of someone imitating someone else is laughter or smile.
- Mimicry happens in many contexts, it can be used in comedy and it makes us aware of certain defects or highlights in politicians for example, and it makes us laugh. It is also meant to defuse his/her authority, it’s a way of lowering their power. MIMICRY IN A COLONIAL CONTEXT (Homi Bhabha):
- Submission, admission of inferiority by the colonised. This leads the colonised people to imitate the colonizers, so who is superior. (Fanon)
- Mimicry is unsettling colonial power. It acts like a distorted mirror, so the Indian, the African, the Aboriginal and the Asian who imitates the British colonizer, will never be like him, they have a different color of skin, different accent, different behavior and so on... BUT making the colonizer aware of his own limitation and the fact that the border separating himself from the Other is not so fixed and rigid, but the other is getting closer to you through mimicry. 21. Who is the ‘subaltern’ according to Spivak? Spivak did not invent this term, but she revisited and developed in an interesting new direction. Meaning of the word from Oxford English Dictionary: “Of a person or group of people: subordinate, inferior (to another); of a lower rank. Meaning in relation to post-colonial theory: marginalized, oppressed; not part of the hegemony”. This definition was taken from Grasmci’s and it refers to the working class in that particular historical period, those who were not simply oppressed, but also marginalized somehow, excluded from the society. Spivak really starts from Gramsci’s ideas of what subaltern means. The subaltern is someone who doesn’t not belong neither to the speaker nor to the listener (act of communication), so basically the subaltern is excluded from the act of communication. For Spivak the oppressed and the working class are not the subaltern because they can reach a minimal level of communication, they subaltern cannot. The subaltern represents the most extreme form of powerlessness, in a colonial context the subaltern has no access to the cultural system created by imperialism, the subaltern is excluded by it, it’s no matter of speaking the language (that remains a problem) but it’s matter of not being part of the system. In many cases the subaltern, in a colonial context, refers especially to the many indigenous populations that were conquered and submitted by the European empires. The only way in which the voice of the subaltern can be heard is through a translator that somehow translates their message linguistically and culturally. 22. Define the term ‘diaspora’ Diaspora comes from the ancient Greek and means dispersion. Originally, it describes the Jewish communities that lived outside Palestine. Although there were communities of Jews outside Palestine from the time of the Babylonian Captivity (6th century BC), the Diaspora essentially dates from the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (ad 70). -another definition: “Voluntary or involuntary dispersal of people from a geographic homeland who then create a distinctive community and identity based on that history.” It involves many other things like social, cultural and emotional issues and issues of
assimilation and hybridity. There are historical linkages between colonialism and diaspora; the production of social, cultural, and affective belonging; persistent heterogeneity and hybridity, not assimilation; identity and racial formation; the co-constitutive dynamic between nation and diaspora; and the relationship between diaspora, citizenship, and long-distance nationalisms”. Diaspora is not simply the act of dispersing, but this term gives the idea of a loss of unity. Diaspora doesn’t involve simply a movement, but it involves many other things like social, cultural and emotional issues, but also issues of assimilation and hybridity.
23. What is Diaspora Studies about? Diaspora is a term that is more inclusive and more neutral. The term oscillates between being a very useful and empowering and being a term a little bit too generic. Diaspora’s original connotations of dispersion and exile now encompass different experiences. This simultaneously empowers the term and causes conceptual problems. In particular, diaspora studies seek to identify a list of characteristics which are intrinsic to the dynamics of diaspora and which transcend individual cases. Diaspora studies distinguished different types of mobility which can generate different responses and different situations, but they have few things in common
- Forced: the one who runs away from wars, persecutions. They don’t have a choice because they want to survive.
- Exile: can be a more vocational choice. You don’t like your country, you are not treated well, you don’t identify with your country any longer. It can be voluntary or forced. It implies a sort of unhappiness, in satisfaction and incompatibility.
- Work: easier and more pleasant than in the past
- Holiday: just for a period even if it implies a dislocation. It is voluntary and hedonistic. You pay for it. 24. Explain the three stages of the diasporic experience (home, away, return) (We referred to diasporic experience as a technical term used in diaspora studies -instead of immigration, emigration or migration- because is a neutral term and therefore quite comprehensible) ➢ Home, also referred to the ancestral homeland, the roots of our origins. It represents the homeland’, the place left behind. It describes the starting point for most diasporic communities (not for all). ➢ Away, the hostland. We use this term to represent the destination where in which both the physical and mental process of the diasporic experience takes place; processes of displacement from the old home, from our origins (someone who leaves his home and goes away to his hostland) and emplacement in the new (settling in a new place) ➢ Return, It’s the moment during which the return to the country of origin takes place It describes a physical return, another migration, that happens when many migrants are eager to go back to their countries of origins. The return can be possible only if the economic, political and social conditions are favorable. In this case they can travel back if they want to. 25. Explain the meaning in a diasporic context of the terms change, home, memory The diasporic subject feels emotions that are usually intensified by diasporic experience. We have analyzed 3 elements that can influence the emotions of a diasporic subject:
- Change: Change happens everywhere and every time, it is something we cannot stop. The change can affect the subject or the emotions he feels (these can change over time). It can affect home, because you’re not there any longer and it is changing while you're not there and your
- When the hosts attempt to inferiorize the immigrants by treating them very badly. Even before attacking them legally or physically, it is important to demonstrate that that community is made up by people who are criminals, inferior, savages. On one hand an attempt to inferiorize this diasporic community, and on the other hand, this community stands up and resists against this inferiorization.
- Inside the community (it does not necessarily always happen) whether they should return to the homelands. They are divided with members of them who are settled, happy and even though they return with their imagination to their homeland, they do not wish to return there physically; with the hostlands that don’t want them in their territories and wish to send them back. So, if a return happens, they should be aware that the country they go back to is deeply changed, in addition, they bring with them their experiences, what they had learnt in the hostland (which has also changed them and which is part of their identity). This generates conflict with the country of origin when they go back. in- betweenness means the sense of being caught in-between ancestral homeland and hostland. Members of a diaspora will adapt in different degrees that can vary to life in the hostland, but part of them will have an idealized memory of the ancestral homeland as a spiritual, emotional, and/or cultural home. There is no way out, no matter the privilege the diasporic experience is, the diasporic person will always be oscillating between these two poles. The ancestral homeland is where diaspora originated but it may be more complicated as this homeland might be originally a hostland, for example:
- the homeland of a West Indian resident of London may be Jamaica rather than Africa, or the homeland of a Jew in the United States may be Russia or Romania rather than Israel. Caryl Phillips’s experience is a good example of black diaspora or African diaspora.
- It does not seem to be crucial whether that homeland was a comfortable or welcoming one. For some diasporic subject the notion of ancestral homeland is complex and fragmented (the Jews represent an excellent example) but also even if memories associated with once homeland are terrible, there will still be home and affective bonds are there (for the Jews a home which is being denied, that rejected them). Even when a country becomes hostile or persecutes a part of citizens, there still will be an emotional attachment.
