Introduction to Postcolonialism

 Questions on the media magazine "The Theory Drop: Postcolonialism and Paul Gilroy"

 

1) Look at the first page. What is colonialism - also known as cultural imperialism? 

 

Colonialism is the belif that native people were intellectually inferior whereas the white colonisers reigned in superiority, more over it suggests that white colonisers had the moral right to subjugate the local populace as they were 'civilising' them ie trying to make natives adop western European traits.

2) Now look at the second page. What is postcolonialism? 

 

Postcolonialism refers to a time period where many peoples judgement (the colonisers) where questioned. Moreover, it also refers to the process of decolonisation in the 20th century and where coloniast attitudes where challenged.

3) How does Paul Gilroy suggest postcolonialism influences British culture?

 

Gilroy in his book Postcolonial Melancholia (released in 2005) revealled that as a result of postcolonialism Britains became more melancholic and therefore a rise in the criminalisation of immigrants became to emerge.

4) What is 'othering'?

Othering is the idea that we identify something as alien or foreign to us if we are different to the person/object/identity.

5) What examples of 'othering' are provided by the article?

People are reduced to labels such as 'illegal immigrant' or 'asylum seeker' but one example would be the seventies sitcom Love Thy Neighbour which is about a black family living next door to a white family with a bigot for a man of the house.

6) What is 'double consciousness'? 

 

Double consciousness is when people struggle to reconcile two nationalities or identities ie acting different in different scenarios or settings or portraying a different nationality in a certain environment.

7) What are 'racial hierarchies'?

A racial hierarchy is a system which is based on the belief that some racial groups are superior to other racial groups.

8) What examples from recent media products challenge the idea of racial hierarchies? 

One example would be in Brooklyn Nine Nine's 'Moo Moo' episode from its fourth season where a character (Lt. Terry Jeffords) is racially profiled by another cop. Shows likle this chose to ignore the characters ethnicity but rather chose to focus on the impact of their role. Another example would be Nick Fury's role as director of SHIELD in the marvel films.