Identity Discourse: Having given a concise idea about the French colonial ideology, we will examine the French colonial ideology from another perspective which is identity. Ideology here is similar to discourse in terms of conception as it was discussed by Stuart Hall, a Jamaican-British cultural theorist and sociologist, who he compared ideology to discourse; “A discourse is similar to what sociologists call an "ideology", it is a set of statements or beliefs which produce knowledge that serves the interests of a particular group or class.” in the other hand, Hall deals with identity as a very complex issue, which intervened by other aspects. So when we deal with the colonized identities we automatically evoke the European (colonizer). However, Stuart Hall also distinguished between three very different conceptions of identity: Enlightenment subject, sociological subject, and …show more content…
Frantz Fanon, one of the prominent postcolonial theorists, discussed the duality, self/other, whose origins are found in Hegelian’s dichotomy, and developed the term “other”, and represented it as the colonizer and the colonized, however, the other by definition, is one who lacks identity, propriety, purity, literality. he is the unacceptable one, unfamiliar, uncanny, unauthorized, inappropriate, and the improper. All negative adjectives are gathered in the “Other”, of course, always from the European perspective represented as the “Self”. However, there are also other synonyms that shared the same meaning such as; Master/slave, civilized/savage, human/subhuman ... Fanon deals with that binary from gender perspective, but it has another dimension, which we can adapt to our subject identity discourse. For instance, this binary helps us to assimilate the idea of identity within the colonial gaze, which is basically a sort of negation, and annihilation of the others culture and
In Brent Hayes Edwards essay, “ The Use of Diaspora”, the term “African Diaspora” is critically explored for its intellectual history of the word. Edward’s reason for investigating the “intellectual history of the term” rather than a general history is because the term “is taken up at a particular conjecture in black scholarly discourse to do a particular kind of epistemological work” (Edwards 9). At the beginning of his essay Edwards mentions the problem with the term, in terms of how it is loosely it is being used which he brings confusion to many scholars. As an intellectual Edwards understands “the confusing multiplicity” the term has been associated with by the works of other intellectuals who either used the coined or used the term African diaspora. As an articulate scholar, Edwards hopes to “excavate a historicized and politicized sense of diaspora” through his own work in which he focuses “on a black cultural politics in the interwar, particularly in the transnational circuits of exchange between the Harlem Renaissance and pre-Negritude Fran cophone activity in the France and West Africa”(8). Throughout his essay Edwards logically attacks the problem giving an informative insight of the works that other scholars have contributed to the term Edwards traces back to the intellectual history of the African diaspora in an eloquent manner.
Post-colonialism is a discourse draped in history. In one point in time or another, European colonialism dominated most non-European lands since the end of the Renaissance. Naturally, colonialists depicted the cultures of non-Europeans incorrectly and inferior. Traditionally, the canon has misappropriated and misrepresented these cultures, but also the Western academia has yet to teach us the valuable and basic lessons that allow true representations to develop. Partly in response, Post-colonialism arose. Though this term is a broad one, Post-colonialists generally agree on certain key principles. They understand that colonialism exploits the dominated people or country in one way or another, evoking inequalities. Examples of past inequalities include “genocide, economic exploitation, cultural decimation and political exclusion…” (Loomba 9-10). They abhor traditional colonialism but also believe that every people, through the context of their own cultures, have something to contribute to our understanding of human nature (Loomba 1-20). This is the theme that Lewis prescribes in his, self described, “satirical fantasy”, Out of the Silent Planet (Of Other 77).
Colonial ideology is the idea of racial and cultural hierarchy. In Aimé Césaire, A Tempest, the introduction defines colonial ideology as “how the circulation of colonial ideology-an ideology of racial and cultural hierarchy” (Kelley xi). Colonial ideology is the belief that the white man society and culture is dominant to all others. Colonial ideology is a way to put one set of a beliefs on a pedestal, while debunking and degrading others.
Looking at the three Declarations from America, France, and Haiti, a common theme of liberty, equality, and popular sovereignty arises that directly sprung from France. So contagious were the ideas that even though the Thirteen Colonies previously warred with France it could not stop the revelation caused by Enlightenment thought. Nationalism on a worldwide scale began with France’s conquest for domination under Napoleon. As Napoleon physically “freed” the countries he conquered from their previous rules, he simultaneously freed them intellectually by the exchange of Enlightenment thought. As a result, nations around Europe reunited amongst themselves with new national identity as freemen. Even France’s colonies clamored for reform as Haiti rose to newly defining a free black man. At the end of it all, these physical marks that stained the earth 's geography all originated with a quill and ink pad in
The beginnings of colonialism, allowed Europeans to travel the world and meet different kinds of people. Their first encounter with the New World and these new peoples, created the opening ideas of inequality. These new people were called indigenous people and alien like. Europeans began to question if these people were really human and had the same intellectual capacity as Europeans did. “Alternative ideas about the origins and identities of indigenous peoples also began to appear early in the 16th century...
In the words of Joseph Margulies, “National identity is not fixed, it is made.” Through the event of 9/11 our national identity has changed significantly. Before we dive into the now and the changed national identity, lets set a foundation of where national identity started. In the nineteenth century, Protestant Americans were incomparably dominate. It was argued that the Enlightenment and the Western intellectuals of the eighteenth century were still the foundation of national identity in the nineteenth century. However, from the writer, Samuel Huntington, the religious foundations of American society were based off the Anglo-Protestant heritage. (Page 24) On the other hand, in Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity, the author stated the American culture was dwindling Anglo-Protestant heritage. The original values were based off the Anglo-Protestant heritage included liberty, equality, individualism, democracy, and the rule of law under a constitution. Later in the nineteenth century, the European heritage grew and the ideas of individual freedom, political democracy, and human rights grew as well. (Page 19) The nineteenth century introduced the “well-being and integrity of the community and the virtuous citizen’s obligations to the community’s welfare (page 20).”
Thomas King’s “Borders” is a very interesting story to read on as it is written wonderfully well with interesting characters involved in the story having played interesting roles through-out one after the other making sure the reader will not get bored out and keep them hooked up by arousing curiosity in the reader’s mind about what fate is decided on the kid’s mom. Just like the title says “Borders”, it really does not only mean the physical border between U.S.A. and Canada but also the border between one’s identity and his/her nationality which is understood only once when it is read. King through the kid’s mom tries to show us that identity and roots is above all as she protests constantly with the guards patrolling at the border makes us really wonder what really happens to her next.
Klein, Martin A. “French West Indies.” Slavery and Colonial Role in French West Africa. Cambridge:
Fanon start off his argument with describing how colonialism and decolonization are violent affairs. He describes the colonized and colonizer as old adversaries whose first meeting was rooted in violence and continued relationship was sustained at the point of a gun (Fanon, p. 2). He goes on to state that the colonized person is a fabricated person created by the colonizer and that the colonizer validates themselves, via wealth, through the colonial relationship. Decolonization, therefore, is the destruction of these fabrications and the liberation of ...
In Stuart Hall’s “Ethnicity: Identity and Difference,” he claims that identity is a volatile social process through which one comes to see the self. Hall argues that identity is not a thing rather a process “…that happens over time, that is never absolutely stable, that is subject to the play of history, and the play of difference.” These factors are constantly entering the individual in a never-ending cycle, re-establishing and affirming who one is.
...e French influence that it has received, and is still getting through its departmentalization. In certain ways, Martinique looks a lot like the Westernized world and Europe; this can be seen in it’s economy, race relations, social welfare programs, and cultural norms. However, while colonization played a huge role in making Martinique what it is today, it’s native roots are still visible in much of the demographics of the country and the Creole presence within the department. Martinique is a unique Caribbean island in the sense that it never fought with its colonizers for independence, but it still has managed to blend the French, with the African, with the native, with the West Indian and has used different aspects of each of these cultures to ensure that no other place would be able to replicate Martinique in demographics, economy, culture, geography, or society.
The first section of Black Skin White Masks, Franon describes the phenomenon whereby French colonizers require individuals of African descent to live in two dimensions. Thus, demonstrating the social veil of racism that dawns on African American. Frantz Fanon pronounces in his writing, “The Black man possess two dimensions: one with fellow Blacks, the other with the Whites”. Franon describes these unique interactions of individuals of African descent when they’re around those of the race vs when they are around Whites. According to Fanon, there is “no doubt whatsoever that this fissiparousness is a direct consequence of colonial undertaking.”
The study of the (non-Western) “Other”, defined by Trouillot as the Savage Slot, commenced before Anthropology became a discipline. Thus, Anthropology did not fashion the concept of the “Savage” or “Other” (Trouillot 2003:28). Instead, it is initially associated with the accounts of travelers and explorers and literature of the sixteenth century and seventeenth centuries. In 1516, Thomas More composed a fictional account of the island Utopia, which became “the prototypical nowhere of the European imagination” (Trouillot 2003:14). The appeal of the “Elsewhere” to Europeans was fulfilled by travel accounts that portrayed the savage, such as those of Jean-Baptiste Du Tertr...
According to Ashcroft, Griffith, and Tiffin “Othering describes the various ways in which colonial discourse produces its subjects. In Spivak’s explanation, othering is a dialectical process because the colonizing other is established at the same time as its colonized others are produced as subjects” (156). According to Leino et al Otherness occurs or is enacted when the policies, practices, and/or culture of a dominant group habitually exclude, demoralize, debate or disfigure other groups in order to ensure the dominant group’s cohesiveness and identity” (100). Gingrich points out the influence of Spivak and suggests that Spivak’s influence on anthropological writing appears to have beenstronger than that of Bhaha.Spivak often points out the highly problematic nature of terms like “Third World,” “Orient” and “Indian”. For her, as for Said, these terms are essentialist categories whose meanings hinge on binary oppositions that are of dubious usefulness because of their history and arbitrary
Postcolonial authors use their literature and poetry to solidify, through criticism and celebration, an emerging national identity, which they have taken on the responsibility of representing. Surely, the reevaluation of national identity is an eventual and essential result of a country gaining independence from a colonial power, or a country emerging from a fledgling settler colony. However, to claim to be representative of that entire identity is a huge undertaking for an author trying to convey a postcolonial message. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique amalgamation of history, culture, language and tradition. Only by understanding and embracing the idea of cultural hybridity when attempting to explore the concept of national identity can any one individual, or nation, truly hope to understand or communicate the lasting effects of the colonial process.