In my group we are discussing the topic of postcolonialism. We decided that our Literary Criticism book written by Charles E. Bressler had a lot of important information that was detailed in postcolonialism. The piece we chose discusses the theory of postcolonialism in the terms that it looks into the historical background, assumptions, and methodology. When focusing on the history it shows how Western Europeans were biologically superior to any other race, which made them think that they dominated the colonies. Some important assumptions to focus on are
1) European colonialism did occur
2) The British Empire was at the center of colonialism
3) The conquerors not only dominated the physical land but also the hegemony or ideology of the colonized peoples.
And when looking into the methodology it is important to know the key questions.
1) Who am I?
2) How did I develop into the person I am?
3) To what country or countries or to what cultures am I forever linked?
If a story can answer these three questions then you are most likely looking at a postcolonial story. My group has chosen a couple different stories that answers these questions and looks at the other theories that postcolonialism offers.
Great post! I was kind of hoping our group would get the topic of postcolonialism but what can ya do? The literary piece that you chose to was very similar to ours in content, a lot of analysis and history presented. The questions regarding assumptions and methodology that you posed are really good and really made me think. Especially the ones regarding methodology, they are really introspective. Who am I? How did I develop into the person I am? To what country or countries or to what cultures am I forever linked? Questions like these aren’t brought up very often except in classes like this. I think that its cool your group is doing a couple different stories, I’m sure you guys will do a great job. Very good post!
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