Postcolonialism

Debate over Definitions

There have been significant debates over the term postcolonialism. In general, however, the term post- colonialism refers to ongoing effects of historical racism, as well as the changing forms of oppression embedded in contemporary international relations, following the national liberation movements of various majority world countries. Postcolonialism is used to indicate the end of colonialism, but new forms of colonialism, as well as new challenges to the legacies of colonialism, are also examined within this area. In this sense, postcolonial criticism is understood as examining the relations of domination between and within nations, races, or cultures, recognizing the historical roots of such practices within colonialism.

In postcolonial studies, colonialism is not conceived simply in terms of military and economic expansion. It has important social, cultural, and religious dimensions as well. For instance, the export of cricket to colonial outposts by the British is a classic example of the way sport can be an element of colonialism.

Postcolonial studies also tend to be aware of Eurocentric assumptions within language and practice. For instance, postcolonial scholarship tends to avoid the use of the phrase “developing country” because it might be taken to imply that they are in some ways behind the “more advanced” countries in the West. Such language is problematic because it does not validate the economic, social, or political development of countries on their own terms and also seems to imply the ethnocentric assumption that the Western pattern of development is somehow superior to all others.

Colonialism's Effects on the Psyche

The effect of colonialism on the human psyche was the subject of a number of books by Fanon. Whether writing about his own experiences growing up in Martinique, examining the effect of racism on the choice of sexual partners by women of color, or discussing the effects of the Algerian war of independence, Fanon consistently emphasized the damaging effects of racism and colonialism on the self-image and psyche of both colonizers and colonized people. However, he did not believe that people of color were destined to experience the same dehumanization as previous generations. As Fanon comments in Black Skin, White Masks (1991, p. 230), “I am not the slave of the Slavery that dehumanized my ancestors.”

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