A Post-Colonialist

             COMPARE and CONTRAST the ways in which any TWO
             POST-COLONIAL theorists have depicted THE RELATIONSHIP between COLONIAL CULTURE and the EXCERSISE of POWER using textual examples
             Ooronoko, published in the year of the glorious revolution, 1688, was written by Aphra Behn in a time of prolific expansion of the empire. The rate that the English; and by 1707; the British Empire, swarmed over the rest of the world is still astounding. In 1800 Western powers claimed 55% (but actually held 35%) of the earths surface. Increasing this expansion by roughly 83,000 square miles per year and accelerating even on this, by 1914 Europe held roughly 85% of the earth as colonies. Though the majority of colonies have now been relinquished by Western powers, the phenomenon of colonialization is still very much prevailent in the uncomfortably pernicious forms of imperial culturization and global branding. Post-colonial criticism and theory offers an array of answers to the conceptual, philisophical, social, moral and economic problems of colonialization. I will be using Behn's key text on the tragedy of an African prince imported to Surninam to work as a slave, to untangle and demystify two of the most famous theorists; Edward Said and Homi Bhabha. By concerntrating on this text alone I hope to firmly root my thesis and hopefully discover some of the merits and flaws in each.
             Said'sOrientalism? (1978) is structured on Foucault's notions of discourse and authority, Orientalism, Said feels, is a discourse of power created by the West (or the Occiden)t to control and manipulate the East (or the Orient). European culture gains in strength by defining itself against the Orient, it's weaker half. In the narrators first description of the English colony of Surinam we can see this form of strengthening by difference:
             then for little parakeetos, great parrots, macaws and a thousand other birds and beasts of wonderful and surprising forms, shapes and co...

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A Post-Colonialist. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 10:38, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/95679.html