post-colonialism
After empire theory
Post-colonialism is an intellectual framework examining the cultural, political, and economic legacies of colonialism after formal colonial rule ends.
It analyzes how colonized peoples reckon with imposed languages, borders, and institutions, and how colonial power dynamics persist in new forms.
The term describes both a historical period and an academic field: post-colonial literature, post-colonial theory.
Also spelled postcolonialism.
Freedom from external control
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
- liberationRelease from constraint
- nation-buildingConstructing governmental institutions
repatriation · restitution · indigenization · land back · cultural revival · anti-imperialism · reclamation · power transfer
Mixed-origin quality
- creolizationPidgin maturing into mother tongue
- syncretismFusion of different beliefs
- double consciousnessAwareness of conflicting identities
- cultural fusionBlending of different traditions
in-betweenness · diaspora · displacement · exile · belonging · rootlessness · biculturalism · code-switching
- orientalismInterest in Eastern aesthetics
- cultural hegemonyDominant group's normalized beliefs
- otheringViewing as fundamentally different
- hybridityMixed-origin quality
mimicry · ambivalence · epistemic violence · representation · deconstruction · post-structuralism · critical theory · postmodernism
Junior commissioned officer
- marginalizedPushed to society's edges
- voicelessHaving no voice
- oppressedTreated with cruel control
- subjugatedBrought under control
dispossessed · grassroots · counter-narrative · indigenous rights · land rights · reparations · solidarity · activism
Extending dominion over others
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- extractionAct of removing
- dependencyState of needing support
- underdevelopmentInadequate economic or social progress
foreign debt · brain drain · resource curse · borders · partition · missionary · white savior · development
independence
Freedom from external control
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
- liberationRelease from constraint
nation-building · repatriation · restitution · indigenization · land back · cultural revival · anti-imperialism · reclamation · power transfer · self-governance
hybridity
Mixed-origin quality
- creolizationPidgin maturing into mother tongue
- syncretismFusion of different beliefs
- double consciousnessAwareness of conflicting identities
cultural fusion · in-betweenness · diaspora · displacement · exile · belonging · rootlessness · biculturalism · code-switching · native tongue
Gayatri Spivak
- orientalismInterest in Eastern aesthetics
- cultural hegemonyDominant group's normalized beliefs
- otheringViewing as fundamentally different
hybridity · mimicry · ambivalence · epistemic violence · representation · deconstruction · post-structuralism · critical theory · postmodernism · Chinua Achebe
subaltern
Junior commissioned officer
- marginalizedPushed to society's edges
- voicelessHaving no voice
- oppressedTreated with cruel control
subjugated · dispossessed · grassroots · counter-narrative · indigenous rights · land rights · reparations · solidarity · activism · protest
imperialism
Extending dominion over others
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- extractionAct of removing
- dependencyState of needing support
underdevelopment · foreign debt · brain drain · resource curse · borders · partition · missionary · white savior · development · modernization
- ismscapitalism, socialism, communism, anarchism, racism
- anthropologyanthropology, fieldwork, ethnography, social anthropology, cultural anthropology
- identity studiesethnic studies, racial identity, ethnic identity, identity politics, identity formation
- social theoriesfunctionalism, Marxism, feminism, structuralism, postmodernism
- globalizationglobalization, free trade, global village, global trade, multinationals
post-colonialismcolonialism
Domination through foreign settlement
imperialism · white man's burden · civilizing mission · neo-colonialism · settler colonialism
post-colonialismcolonialism
Domination through foreign settlement
colonial era · colonial period · colonial rule · pre-independence · scramble for Africa
post-colonialismEurocentrism
Bias toward Western perspectives
cultural imperialism · universalism · primitivism · exoticism · white supremacy