Lawrence Sedgwick UCA/Television Production: Contextual Studies Notes 23/10/14

POSTCOLONIALISM: Orientalism and Beyond.

‘Post’ - is what comes after
In many works of literature, specifically those coming out of Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent, we meet characters that are struggling with their identities in the wake of colonization, or the establishment of colonies in another nation. For example, the British had a colonial presence in India from the 1700s until India gained its independence in 1947. As you can imagine, the people of India as well as the characters in Indian novels must deal with the economic, political, and emotional effects that the British brought and left behind. This is true for literature that comes out of any colonized nation. In many cases, the literature stemming from these events is both emotional and political.

Edward Said

Said's book 'Orientalism' (1978) is considered the foundational work on which post-colonial theory developed. Said, then, could be considered the 'father' of post-colonialism. His work, including 'Orientalism', focused on exploring and questioning the artificial boundaries, or the stereotypical boundaries, that have been drawn between the East and West, specifically as they relate to the Middle East. In doing this, Said focused specifically on our stereotypes of Middle-Easterners; however, these same ideas can be extended to include how we view all 'others.' This is the 'we'-'other' mentality that many colonizers take with them into a new country. Such simple generalizations lead to misconceptions and miscommunications, which are often the basis of post-colonial analysis.
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/post-colonialism-in-literature-definition-theory-examples.html - lesson
Image: Tayfun Serttas – ‘Figurative Essays on Post colonialism’. Mixed media on the mechanic pedestal, 160x300x100cm İstanbul, 2011

Image: Pablo Picasso – ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ marks a radical break from traditional composition and perspective in painting. It depicts five naked women with figures composed of flat, splintered planes and faces inspired by Iberian sculpture and African masks.

Image: Ram Kinker Baji – ‘Summer Noon’ . The assimilation of another culture.

The Stranger King theory offers a framework to understand global colonialism. It seeks to explain the apparent ease whereby many indigenous peoples subjugated themselves to an alien colonial power and places state formation by colonial powers within the continuum of earlier, similar but indigenous processes.
Key influential Theoreticians of Discourse on Post Colonialism.
EDWARD SAID: Novels in the text ‘Orientalism’ 1978
FRANTX FANNON: Black Skin White Mask
R.SIVA KUMAR: Santiniketan
GAYATRA CHAKRAVORTY SPIVAK: Can Subaltern Speak?
Image: Film Clip – ‘The Thief of Bagdad’ 1924.

Image: Stills from ‘Pepe le Moko’ by Julien Duviver 1937.

Image: Film Still – ‘Black Narcissus’ – Powell & Pressburger. (Allowing the culture of another place to drive you mad. Tension between religion and going native.)