Introduction to Postcolonialism: blog tasks

 1) Look at the first page. What is colonialism - also known as cultural imperialism? 

i From the 16th century onwards, European countries effectively got into a race to see how many undiscovered lands they could conquer first, and by ‘undiscovered’ I mean, ‘countries where the indigenous population didn’t have good enough weapons to fight back’. Countries like France, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal and Britain effectively turned into the seagulls from Finding Nemo, zipping around, shouting ‘MINE’ at every new piece of land they discovered. They fought and conquered the native populations and raiding their villages and city's for resources and often fought each other for the rights to those lands. With that came attitudes that are now collectively known as ‘cultural imperialism’ or ‘colonialism’ – the belief that native people were intellectually inferior, and that white colonizers had a moral right to subjugate the local populace as they were ‘civilizing’ them: in other words, trying to make them more like Western European society.

2) Now look at the second page. What is postcolonialism? 

Postcolonialism, like postmodernism, refers less to a time period and more to a critiquing of a school of thought that came before it. Postcolonialism exists to question white patriarchal views with a particular reference to how they relate to race.

3) How does Paul Gilroy suggest postcolonialism influences British culture?

 Paul Gilroy in his 2005 book Postcolonial Melancholia suggested that Britain had not quite faced up to its colonial past, that the national psyche had not quite come to terms with no longer being a global superpower, and this had resulted in the desire to still subjugate those from different races, particularly immigrants.

4) What is 'othering'?

Paul Gilroy suggests non-white representations are constructed as a ‘racial other’ in contrast to white Western ideals.

Dating back to 1950s Windrush immigration, the idea of othering  is when we state something is different or alien  and not understanding  it weather  on a   local or societal level. 

5) What examples of 'othering' are provided by the article?

Nigel Farage and his 'leave' campaign  is a prime site of Othering. Othering based on race has existed in mainstream media for as long a while form top boy, blue story, power, Man Like Mobeen and snowfall,

6) What is 'double consciousness'? 

This  is when people  have  confusion in identity, particularly for people from ethnic minorities living

in the west  as they don't feel like they fit in their new country as  they  have foreign background   but their old country because they have been westernized  by that new country and don't belong in their previous  recognized home.

7) What are 'racial hierarchies'?

It is the idea that some races are superior to other ones  most common example is white supremacy. 

8) What examples from recent media products challenge the idea of racial hierarchies? 

 Brooklyn Nine- Nine’s ‘Moo Moo’ episode from its fourth season, where Lt. Terry Jeffords is racially profiled by another cop. Some shows choose to largely ignore the character’s ethnicity and its impact on their role, such as Nick Fury’s role as director of SHIELD in the Marvel films, striving for a time when a person’s ethnicity doesn’t make a difference to anyone.