Lecture george fempostcolonial
- 1. Literary (Cultural) Theory Feminism & Postcolonialism
- 3. Theory • Nothing “right” or “wrong” about different theories • Ways of looking at the world – Ways of reinterpreting the human experience – Lenses through which to view cultural artifacts • Theories borrow from each other – Rarely does a scholar use only one theory
- 4. Feminism
- 5. Feminism • Main concern – cultural context of texts and cultures – male/female power struggle in texts and cultures – othering • Trends – study of difference – study of power relationships – study of female experience
- 6. Key Concepts in Feminism • Antrocentrism: attitudes, practices or social organizations based on assumption that men are the model of being • Gynocriticism: trend examining distinctive characteristics of the female experience • Misogyny: hatred of women • Patriarchy: Social system headed and directed by a male
- 8. Postcolonialism • Main concern – Study of cultures formerly (or currently) colonized – Power struggle between cultures – Intersection of cultures • Trends – Study of colonizing process – Study of colonization fallout – Study of new colonizing efforts
- 9. Key Concepts in Postcolonialism • Colonialism – the subjection of one population by another • often violent • Cultural colonization • subjugation of colonized culture in all respects • imposition of colonizer’s culture on colonized
- 10. Key Concepts in Postcolonialism • Othering: the assumption that those who are different from oneself are inferior • Demonic other: view that those who are different from oneself are not only backward but also savage, even evil • Exotic other: view that those who are different from oneself possess an inherent dignity and beauty, perhaps because of their more undeveloped, natural state of being
- 11. Key Concepts in Postcolonialism • Double vision/double consciousness: sense of being part of both colonized and colonizing cultures • Eurocentrism: view that European (including American) ideals and experiences are the standard • Hybridity/syncretism: quality of cultures that have characteristics of both the colonizers and the colonized • Neocolonialism: domination of a developing nation by international corporations attracted by cheap labor and manipulable political and legal systems.
- 12. Key Concepts in Postcolonialism • Mimicry: imitation of the dress, manners, and language of the dominant culture by the oppressed • Subalterns: people of inferior status • Unhomeliness: the sense of being culturally displaced, of being caught between two cultures and not “at home” in either. • Universalism: belief that a great work of literature deals with certain themes and characters that are common in European literature--Eurocentric in nature.