Child's Article on Post-Colonial Theory

    What was interesting to me about this article was how much debate and discussion can be had on a single term and phrase. It seemed obvious that to discuss and study 'post-colonial' works, it is crucial to understand the context of what this means and where/when this work comes from. In Child's article, it is discussed how the generally accepted and overarching definition of this term has changed with time and historical contexts and how some scholars and researchers have differing opinions on what it means. While simply it means the "literary analysis of literature written in English in formerly colonized countries," this does not necessarily mean every single formerly colonized country. Like stated in the article, colonialism deals with "extreme unevenness - with different empires, different needs, different strategies, different trajectories of expansion or contraction, different levels of territorial penetration, control and exploitation." With this in mind, while post-colonial might be a catchall term, generalizing it without context may cause confusion. 

    Not only can the meaning of 'post-colonial' be hard to understand without proper context, but the historical time frame of this ever-moving period of time can be different for different groups of colonized people. For some, the post-colonial era might have began a century ago and for others, they might currently be living through their post-colonial times. As stated in the article, with, "both Selmon's and The Empire Writes Back's formulations, there are possible or actual conceptual gains, but also a variety of problems, losses or hostages to fortune in the move away from what is presumably regarded as an over-simple period-based model of post-colonialism." The idea of pinning down post-colonialism to a specific and set period of time, in dated years, for the entire world is not correct. After reading Child's article, I arrive at the conclusion that there might not really be a proper, fair way to define post-colonial for everyone. Instead, it is important that when studying, reading, or researching these pieces, you define and understand what the terms means for that particular work.

-cs

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 21, 2020 at 12:49 PM

    Great vocabulary! This text so far sounds good. Keep up the good work.

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  2. BryceF112August 21, 2020 at 12:49 PM

    Very insightful thoughts and i like how you distinguished the different empires, needs, and strategies. This process of post colonial works can be difficult to understand by historical accounts due to the different time periods values and needs. The trajectory that these British people began to colonize from can be seen from our point of view now as harsh and brutal. As we analyze the literary accounts we can understand that the overarching framework changed over the time periods.

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