scholarly journals T. E. Lawrence's Misrepresentation of the Arabs in Seven Pillars of Wisdom

2020 ◽  
pp. 20-31
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Bani Taha
Keyword(s):  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Negative Representation

Adopting postcolonial theory, this article investigates T. E. Lawrence's depiction of the Arabs in his Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926). I argue that Lawrence displays a Western colonial discourse in which he represents the Arabs as the silent uncivilized "Other." Part of this colonial discourse is Lawrence’s presentation of himself as superior, prophet, leader and inspirer of the Arab Revolt. Arab leaders and tribes are depicted, in Lawrence's discourse, as an inferior "Other" who need the English to help them achieve their independence. In addition, I argue that Lawrence’s negative representation of the Arabs is an ideology that justifies Western domination over the East. Lawrence’s misrepresentation addresses Arab feuds, nature and atmosphere, Arabic language, Arab costume, and religion. Keywords: Arab Revolt, Colonial Discourse, Other, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence

scholarly journals Confronting the colonial: The (re)production of ‘African’ exceptionalism in critical security and military studies

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 57-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Eriksson Baaz ◽  
Judith Verweijen
Keyword(s):  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Military Studies ◽  
Theory Application

Drawing on postcolonial theory, this article queries into the ways in which the concepts of militarism/militarization and securitization are applied to ‘African’ contexts. We highlight the selective nature of such application and probe into the potential reasons for and effects of this selectiveness, focusing on its signifying work. As we argue, the current selective uses of securitization and militarism/militarization in ‘Africa’ scholarship tend to recreate troublesome distinctions between ‘developed’ versus ‘underdeveloped’ spaces within theory and methodology. In particular, they contribute to the reproduction of familiar colonially scripted imagery of a passive and traditional ‘Africa’, ruled by crude force and somehow devoid of ‘liberal’ ideas and modes of governing. Yet we do not suggest simply discarding ‘selectiveness’ or believe that there are any other easy remedies to the tensions between universalism and particularism in theory application. Recognizing the ambivalent workings of colonial discourse, we rather contend that any attempts to trace the colonial into the present use of the concepts of securitization and militarism/militarization need to acknowledge the problematic nature of both discourses of ‘African’ Otherness and those of universalism and sameness.

scholarly journals “Sing along with the Common People”: Politics, Postcolonialism, and other Figures

1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Common People ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
Recent Interest ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship

Recent interest amongst critical human geographers in postcolonial theory has been framed by a concern for the relationship between ‘polities’ and ‘theory’. In this paper I address debates in the field of colonial discourse analysis in order to explore the connections between particular conceptions of language and particular models of politics to which oppositional academics consider themselves responsible, The rhetorical representation of empowerment and disempowerment through figures of ‘speech’ and ‘silence’, respectively, is critically examined in order to expose the limits of this representation of power relations. Through a reading of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's account of the dilemmas of subaltern representation, contrasted to that of Benita Parry, and staged via an account of their different interpretations of the exemplary postcolonial fictions of J M Coetzee, it is argued that the deconstruction of the conventional metaphories of speech and silence calls into view the irreducible textuality of the work of representation. This implies that questions about institutional positionality and academic authority be kept squarely in sight when discussing the problems of representing the struggles and agency of marginalised social groups. It is suggested that the continuing suspicion of literary and cultural theory amongst social scientists for being insufficiently ‘materialist’ and/or ‘political’ may serve to reproduce certain forms of institutionally sanctioned disciplinary authority.

Psychoanalytical Theory in Postcolonial Discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-140
Author(s):  
Audrius Beinorius ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Frantz Fanon ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
The Future ◽  
Postcolonial Discourse ◽  
Theoretical Project

This article deals with some earlier applications of psychology for the analysis of the colonial condition offered by three thinkers—Octave Mannoni, Frantz Fanon and recent applications of Freudian psychoanalytical theory in the poststructuralist approach of Homi K. Bhaba. An attempt is made to compare their standpoints and reflect more broadly on what their implications mean for the future of psychoanalysis’ place in postcolonial critique. Also to answer a vital question in the theoretical project of postcolonial studies: Is psychoanalysis a universally applicable theory for psychic disruption in the colonial context? What are differences in the application of psychological theory for studies of colonial discourse? The conclusion of the paper is: Despite the problematic inheritance of racializing thinking psychoanalysis has proved to be an important and reoccurring methodology in colonial critique and postcolonial theory. Nevertheless, it is necessary to recognize that psychoanalysis itself is a colonial discipline and must become an object of colonial discourse analysis.

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