POST-COLONIALISM

An Annotated Bibliography
by Roza Puspita/186332026
Postcolonial criticism exposes the biased representation of cultures and shows the
interested and exploitative ends of such representation. Postcolonial theory emerged in the
1990s. “One significant effect of postcolonial criticism is to further undermine the
universalist claims once made on behalf of literature by liberal humanist critics. The claim of
that great literature has a timeless and universal significance thereby demote or disregard
cultural, social, regional, and national differences in experience and outlook, preferring
instead to judge all literature by a single, supposedly ‘universal’, standard”. It is identified
that post-structuralism and deconstructionism as allies for postcolonialism, particularly in
the sense that the former two theories address shifting identity and ideology. It also
identified that the developmental stages of postcolonialism parallel feminism in that each
field developed in rebellion against a single universal stereotype and seeks both to criticize
the limitations set forth by that stereotype and prove the validity of other options. Next,
both feminism and postcolonialism turned inward and embarked on a phase of self-
celebration and self-discovery. Postcolonial criticism demonstrates the limitations of the
classic Western canon of literature, sheds light on its silence in regard to other regions and
cultures and reveals its biases and inabilities to accept and celebrate cultural/ethnic
difference. It also addresses questions of cultural diversity, celebrates difference, cross-
culturalism and multiculturalism, and uses stereotypical perspectives or perspectives of
marginality or “otherness” as vehicles for change.

Having this theory of criticism has advantage and disadvantage of seeing the way
colonizer and colonized in the real life. The advantage of this theory is we can see that
actually through literature, it can enlighten people that actually there are some of the doxa
has been invented by the colonizer through literature. We can see that colonizer is not only
enslaving the colonized country but also invented that the right one is them in term of the
culture, race and civilization. The disadvantage of this theory is that is that we tend to critics
only the colonizer without considering why actually the colonizer can colonize the country.

I am interested on post-colonial feminism. I am going to write my thesis on this area.

In fact, there are some statements that said this even weaken the feminism makes me want
to write my thesis on this area. Not only understanding about post-colonialism but also I
need to understand better the feminism theory and I can relate both the theories in order
to seek the equality of the women in the that era. Therefore to guide me in writing my
thesis I need to understand both of the theories. Hopefully by understanding the basic
understanding of the post-colonialism and feminism will guide me to faithfully write a
postcolonial thesis in the end of this program.

Bibliography
Barry, Peter. (2002). Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory.
Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press