Post colonialism in practice

Worksheet: Postcolonialism




What is Post-colonialism: 

• Postcolonialism or postcolonial studies is an academic discipline that analyzes, explains, and responds to the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism. Postcolonialism speaks about the human consequences of external control and the economic exploitation of native people and their lands. (Wikipedia)
• Postcolonialism, the historical period or state of affairs representing the aftermath of Western colonialism; the term can also be used to describe the concurrent project to reclaim and rethink the history and agency of people subordinated under various forms of imperialism.

Here is some post-colonial terms and concepts...

Colonialism:

• the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.
• Colonialism occurs when a country or a nation takes control of other lands, regions, or territories outside of its borders (boundaries of the country) by turning those other lands, regions, or territories into a colony. Usually, it is a more powerful, richer country that takes control of a smaller, less powerful region or territory. (Wikipedia)

Euro-centrism/Worlding: 

• the process by which a person, family, culture, or people is brought into the dominant Eurocentric/Western global society.

Racism:

• The division and classification of human beings by physical and biological characteristics. Race often is used by various groups to either maintain power or to stress solidarity. In the 18th and19th centuries, it was often used as a pretext by European colonial powers for slavery and/or the "white man's burden."

Orientalism:

• The Orient signifies a system of representations framed by political forces that brought the Orient into Western learning, Western consciousness, and Western empire. The Orient exists for the West and is constructed by and in relation to the West. It is a mirror image of what is inferior and alien (‘Other‘) to the West.

Students are supposed to
1. Choose any work of literature/film/art
2. Choose one or more concepts explained above and 
3. Apply them to the work of art. Analyze how it represents the concept(s).