Postcolonial Approaches to the Study of African Politics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Adeniyi Ogunyankin
Keyword(s):  
Urban Studies ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Homi Bhabha ◽  
Women And Gender Studies ◽  
Limited Applicability ◽  
Gayatri Spivak ◽  
And Gender

Postcolonial theory has been embraced and critiqued by various scholars since the 1980s. Central to the field of postcolonial studies is the examination of colonial episteme and discourse, European racism, and imperial dominance. Broadly, postcolonialism analyzes the effects, and enduring legacies, of colonialism and disavows Eurocentric master-narratives. Postcolonial ideas have been significant to several academic disciplines, largely those in the humanities and social sciences, such as cultural and literary studies, anthropology, political science, history, development studies, geography, urban studies, and gender and sexuality studies. The key scholars that are connected to postcolonial theory, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak, have been critiqued for grounding their work in the Western theories of postmodernism and poststructuralism. Given the predominant association of these three scholars to postcolonial theory, Africanists have argued that postcolonial theory is dismissive of African theorizing. Moreover, some scholars have noted that Africanists have hesitated to use postcolonial theory because it is too discursive and has limited applicability to material reality. As such, the relevancy of postcolonial theory to Africa has been a repetitive question for decades. Despite this line of questioning, some scholars have posited that there are African thinkers and activists who are intellectual antecedents to the postcolonial thought that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s. Additionally, other Africanist scholars have engaged with the colonial discursive construction of African subjectivities and societies as inferior. These engagements have been particularly salient in women and gender studies, urban studies and studies of identity and global belonging.

Postkoloniale Theorie

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria do Mar Castro Varela ◽  
Nikita Dhawan
Keyword(s):  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Homi Bhabha ◽  
Gayatri Spivak

Das Standardlehrbuch zu Postkolonialer Theorie in neuer Auflage. Kompakter Überblick über die Theorien von Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak und Homi Bhabha Diese Einführung erschließt das weite Feld postkolonialer Theoriebildung über eine kritische Debatte der Schriften der drei prominentesten postkolonialen Stimmen – Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak und Homi Bhabha. Die aktualisierte dritte Auflage unterzieht insbesondere die neuen Schriften Spivaks und Bhabhas einer kritischen Würdigung und erlaubt einen aktuellen Überblick über diese bedeutenden Theoriewerke. Die dritte Auflage setzt sich zugleich mit den gegenwärtigen Diskussionen um Globalisierung, Religion, Menschenrechte und Dekolonisierung auseinander und gibt einen Überblick über die aktuellen Debatten in den Postcolonial Studies. Das Standard-Lehrbuch zum Thema Postkoloniale Theorie gibt einen Überblick über die wichtigsten Theorien und Debatten in den Postcolonial Studies und bereitet diese systematisch für das Studium der Kulturwissenschaften auf.

Nationalism and the Postcolonial: from Edward Said’s Orientalism to Graham Huggan’s Postcolonial Exotic

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Jarosław Kujath
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
World Order ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Analytical Potential ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Economics And Politics

As interest in the field of postcolonial studies has grown in recent decades, the theoretical issues with which it is concerned have been applied to an increasing number of areas. As a branch of literary theory, it has provided one of the most important critical platforms for modern theorists and writers who attempt to address issues of cultural identity. However, the analytical potential of postcolonial theory has not gone unnoticed in other academic disciplines. In particular, research into global economics and politics has recognised its relevance to an understanding of the balance of world order and its political dynamics. As was earlier suggested, historians have also demonstrated an increased interest in the area of postcolonialism, particularly in terms of the challenge that it offers to received models of history.Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine the path along which postcolonial studies has travelled to recognise the differences between what used to be pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial, as Ashcroft et al would name it. The paper will discuss the main issues as postulated by the proponents of postcolonialism starting from Edward Said and finishing off with Graham Huggan. Particular attention will be paid to the notion of nationalism and how it provided the fuel to the subaltern (Spivak’s term) to make the colonial the post-colonial, that is, how to construct a new (national) identity in the former colonised.Key terms: postcolonial, nationalism, Edward Said, Graham Huggan

Postcolonialism, Anti-colonialism, Nationalism and History

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 92-108
Author(s):  
Christine Doran
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Nationalist Movements ◽  
Homi Bhabha ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Gayatri Spivak ◽  
Historical Developments

One of the most outstanding historical developments of the twentieth century was the gaining of national independence from imperial rule by most of the formerly colonized countries, especially in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Yet, rather surprisingly, many of the leading contributors to postcolonial theory, including Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha and others, tend to minimize the significance of national independence and take a dim view of the nationalist movements, leaders and ideologies that struggled for it. The aim of this article is to probe the reasons for this, canvassing postcolonial theorists’ main arguments and outlining certain intellectual currents and commitments, notably poststructuralism, deconstruction and postmodernism, that have contributed to these negative stances. Some counterarguments are presented, as it is suggested that the achievements of nationalist revolutions in the former colonies should be reassessed more favourably. This could be a way of resisting the current hegemonic power of the ideology of globalization.

scholarly journals Indigenous Identity through Hybridity and Humor: A Postcolonial Reading of Robert Merritt’s The Cake Man

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Parvaneh Ganjtalab Shad
Keyword(s):  
Focal Point ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Australian Society ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Homi Bhabha ◽  
Gayatri Spivak ◽  
Central Argument

The major thrust in this research has been in the area of postcolonial studies. As one their primary missions, post-colonial works of art relate stories as seen by the oppressed and the colonized. Beginning with Edward Said’s Orientalism, postcolonial figures as diverse as Franz Fanon, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha emerged and each targeted an aspect of postcolonial conditions. The present article was undertaken to trace postcolonial elements of “colonial negotiations,” and “hybridity” in an Aboriginal play by Robert Merritt entitled The Cake Man. The central argument of this article is that in its anticolonial stance, this play discusses issues of Aboriginal race and identity. To realize this argument, the play is studies with the background of Edward Said and Homi K. Bhabha’s theories. While these two figures are the leading theoreticians of the research, Aboriginal anticolonial strategies, like Aboriginal humor and figurative emasculation, are also pointed out. In fact, the novelty of the study is in its amalgamation of Western theories and Aboiginal strategies. All through the play, history as seen by the oppressed becomes the focal point, making it eligible to be called postcolonial works. Merritt’s The Cake Man, which is a well-known example of forced conversion, contains a very prominent manifestation of Said and Bhabha’s colonial negotiations. In addition, by creating an anticolonial character in the play, Merritt highlights and criticizes colonial Christianity, colonial otherization, and figurative emasculation of Aboriginal men in Australian society. All these issues, as the play leads the audience to believe, contribute to the realization that colonial discourse has the policy of obliterating Aboriginal traditions.

Nationalism and the Postcolonial: from Edward Said’s Orientalism to Graham Huggan’s Postcolonial Exotic

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Jarosław Kujath
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
World Order ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Analytical Potential ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Economics And Politics

As interest in the field of postcolonial studies has grown in recent decades, the theoretical issues with which it is concerned have been applied to an increasing number of areas. As a branch of literary theory, it has provided one of the most important critical platforms for modern theorists and writers who attempt to address issues of cultural identity. However, the analytical potential of postcolonial theory has not gone unnoticed in other academic disciplines. In particular, research into global economics and politics has recognised its relevance to an understanding of the balance of world order and its political dynamics. As was earlier suggested, historians have also demonstrated an increased interest in the area of postcolonialism, particularly in terms of the challenge that it offers to received models of history.Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine the path along which postcolonial studies has travelled to recognise the differences between what used to be pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial, as Ashcroft et al would name it. The paper will discuss the main issues as postulated by the proponents of postcolonialism starting from Edward Said and finishing off with Graham Huggan. Particular attention will be paid to the notion of nationalism and how it provided the fuel to the subaltern (Spivak’s term) to make the colonial the post-colonial, that is, how to construct a new (national) identity in the former colonised.Key terms: postcolonial, nationalism, Edward Said, Graham Huggan

British Women Amateur Filmmakers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes ◽  
Heather Norris Nicholson
Keyword(s):  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Extensive Study ◽  
Aesthetic Judgment ◽  
Visual Anthropology ◽  
Gender History ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Visual Narratives ◽  
And Gender ◽  
British Commonwealth ◽  
Film Making

In the rapidly growing study of amateur film, this groundbreaking book addresses the development of British women's amateur visual practice. Drawing upon social and visual anthropology, imperial and postcolonial studies and British, Commonwealth and gender history, the authors explore how women in Britain and overseas, used the evolving technologies of moving imagery to create visual stories about their lives and times. Locating the making, watching and sharing of women's recreational film-making against wider societal, technological and ideological changes, British Women Amateur Filmmakers discloses how women from varied backgrounds negotiated changing lifestyles, attitudes and opportunities as they created first personal visual narratives about themselves and the world around them. Using non-fictional films and animations, the authors invite readers to view films through different interpretative lens and provide detailed contexts for their case-studies and survey of over forty women amateur filmmakers. Whether in remote communities, suburban homes, castles, missionary or diplomatic enclaves, or simply travelling as intrepid sightseers, women filmed their companions, other people and their surroundings, not only as observers but often displaying agency, autonomy and aesthetic judgment during decades when careers, particularly after marriage, were often denied in film and other professions. Research across Britain on films in private hands and specialist archives, interviews and extensive study of the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers (IAC's) collections enable the authors to reposition an activity once thought of as overwhelmingly male and middle class.

On the specfics of postcolonial research in the conetmporary Ukrainian literary studies

2019 ◽  
pp. 446-461
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Baydalova
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Science Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modus Vivendi ◽  
Ambivalent Attitude

The postcolonial studies have been under discussion in the Ukrainian historiography, social science, culture studies and literary criticism since 1990 years. They have originated from American, European, and Australian academic studies and became more and more popular in modern Ukrainian culture recently. The nation and the nationalism, Orientalism, multicultural and ambivalent individuality self-presentation, the search of cultural identity, the problem of ambivalent attitude to the past are in the paradigm of postcolonial studies. The problems of national identity, the totalitarian past, the interactions with neighboring countries especially Russia and Poland, the instable Ukrainian society’s condition are analyzed under the postcolonial ideas in the Ukrainian intellectual discourse. The postcolonial theory has become the main interpretative strategy of the Ukrainian researchers lately. Nevertheless, there is no unconditional modus vivendi in the Ukrainian academia about postcolonial conceptions, strategies and principles. One of the most important unsolved issues is the question of correlation of postcolonial and postmodern components of the Ukrainian national literature. The inclusion of the studies of trauma and anticolonial and posttotalitarian discourses into the framework of the postcolonial studies is the most distinguishing feature of postcolonial studies in the Ukraine.

scholarly journals Gender and Migrant Roles in Italian Neorealist and New Migrant Films: Cinema as an Apparatus of Reconfiguration of National Identity and ‘Otherness’

Humanities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Marianna Charitonidou
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Urban Studies ◽  
Italian Cinema ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Narrative Strategies ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Relationship

The article examines an ensemble of gender and migrant roles in post-war Neorealist and New Migrant Italian films. Its main objective is to analyze gender and placemaking practices in an ensemble of films, addressing these practices on a symbolic level. The main argument of the article is that the way gender and migrant roles were conceived in the Italian Neorealist and New Migrant Cinema was based on the intention to challenge certain stereotypes characterizing the understanding of national identity and ‘otherness’. The article presents how the roles of borgatari and women function as devices of reconceptualization of Italy’s identity, providing a fertile terrain for problematizing the relationship between migration studies, urban studies and gender studies. Special attention is paid to how migrants are related to the reconceptualization of Italy’s national narrations. The Neorealist model is understood here as a precursor of the narrative strategies that one encounters in numerous films belonging to the New Migrant cinema in Italy. The article also explores how certain aspects of more contemporary studies of migrant cinema in Italy could illuminate our understanding of Neorealist cinema and its relation to national narratives. To connect gender representation and migrant roles in Italian cinema, the article focuses on the analysis of the status of certain roles of women, paying particular attention to Anna Magnagi’s roles.

scholarly journals THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND WOMEN’S POLITICAL REPRESENTATION: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S EXPERIENCE IN FORMAL POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN TURKEY FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVE

2021 ◽  
pp. 118-129
Author(s):  
Ayşe GÖNÜLLÜ ATAKAN
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Women And Gender ◽  
Gender Perspective ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Women And Gender Studies ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Developed Countries

Today, the necessity of addressing development not only with its economic dimension but also with its social and environmental dimensions has been accepted by the international community. Alternative Women and Development approaches that emerged in the 1970s also emphasized that the idea of development without women would not be possible, and that the main development is possible with the empowerment of women as important actors of development. It is a dominant view that is agreed in the literature on women and gender studies that one of the most important tools for achieving empowerment, which is conceptualized as “gaining the ability of women to make strategic life choices”, is their participation in decision-making mechanisms. In this context, it is vital for women to participate in formal politics with their own perspective in order to solve their own problems based on their own gendered experiences. In this study, inadequate political representation of women in Turkey, as a candidate to be among the developed countries, is discussed from a gender perspective in terms of reasons, results and solutions. Keywords: Political participation, gender, women and development, empowerment.

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