Mongo Beti's Narrative in 'The Poor Christ of Bomba' is the Nativity of Postcolonialism

Colonialism is the action of taking away a country’s people, political and economical power. In Jamaica Kincaid’s essay “On Seeing England for the First Time”, she uses numbers of rhetorical strategies to show her bitterness towards England, whose oppressive, pervasive influence took over her country’s identity, culture, and minds of nature. Kincaid uses repetition, symbols, and her tone to convey her attitude towards England.

The reader gets a rare and exotic understanding of a totally foreign and ancient culture experiencing the growing pains of colonial expansion during the British domination

European’s have had a dismissive attitude towards African’s accomplishments and activities. They 1) generally refused to allow the study of any knowledge that they do not control (Asante). 2) A number of white scholars tend to be limited in their interest to subjects that are valuable to the European project of self-glorification and triumphalism (Asante). Finally, to view Africa as a subject in history or as the starting place for an examination of anything is anathema to those who have always ignored the role of Africa (Asante). The Afrocentric school of thought has fought to combat these boundaries by giving the permission to investigate all aspects of Africa’s presence and involvement in the world.

It therefore becomes difficult to integrate a country’s ‘independence’ and post-colonialism. On one hand post-colonialism is used to refer to the following periods after independence gained by the colonized nation and on the other hand post-colonialism is associated with opposing and resistance moves against colonial rule by the colonized nation. In this case, independence is only used to refer to the setup of a free government by the local people without the influence of the imperial power. It is however argued that even though the period of obtaining independence for a country is considered as a post-colonialism historic movement, it does not necessarily imply full independence from the influence of colonial rule (Ashcroft et al.,116). This takes into consideration that currently some countries even after obtaining independence in terms of the time period, they still rely on their colonial masters mainly for financial aid.

Some topics that pertain to postcolonialism can oftentimes be somewhat difficult to grasp because of complexity that is required to describe them. Rudyard Kipling makes understanding a topic a whole lot easier because of his ability to write short stories and connect them to any postcolonial topics that he so chooses. For example, his short stories “Haunted Subalterns” and “The Mark of the Beast” have allowed me to better get a hold on the idea of the postcolonial topic of the subaltern. Along with them, I have found a few scholarly articles that have also contributed to improving my knowledge and understanding of what the subaltern really is. Ultimately, the question that I would like to grapple with is: Can the subaltern theme in Mark of the Beast be compared to that in Haunted Subalterns? The postcolonial definition of the subaltern from a postcolonial lens is the subordination of native people to the point where they are left powerless and without a voice. The subaltern in postcolonial studies is a very interesting topic because it can be intriguing how a native person can be stripped of the credibility that their words have and the power that every human being should be granted due to the way that colonizers can make them feel. Throughout the paper I will include an in depth description of what the subaltern means and other ways that it can be interpreted. Also, as I previously stated, I will analyze two of Rudyard Kipling’s short stories and connect

For this essay I have chosen to use the identity lens for the postcolonial theory review. There are three literary works I will be analyzing: The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Tempest, and The Heart of Darkness. Each of these literary works introduces us to characters dealing with struggles impacting identities. The identity lens will show the connection between the colonizers and colonized and better define the struggles of the colonizer.

Through research, you can learn that postcolonial discourse is an “academic discipline that analyzes the cultural legacies of colonialism and of imperialism.” It is made up of theories found amongst “history anthropology, philosophy, linguistics, film, political science, architecture, human geography, sociology, Marxist theory, feminism, religious and theological studies, and literature.” An understanding of postcolonial discourse could be what colonized societies handed down to succeeding generations after them that has become significant to their culture.

The six texts that I have chosen for this anthology link to colonisation and show how race and power can take shape in different forms. When thinking of race and power in relation to colonialism, the obvious form it takes is the white European power of the colonisers over the non-white natives of the lands that are being colonised.

Colonialism is defined as “the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically” (Google). It was a practice demonstrated in the 1700s and the people that experienced this type of control were mostly individuals that came from other countries such as Africa and were brought to the colonies. By taking individuals from their homes back and transforming them into something that is “civilized” and “normal” to the colonies standards were apparent with two writers by the name of Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley. These two African individuals took in what they were being taught by their captors and infused with their writings. This demonstrates that colonialism is a way of erasing ones true background and integrating teachings of something they can truly never be a part of. The two texts to support this thesis will be Olaudah Equiano’s text The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself and “On Being Brought from Africa to America” & other select poems by Phillis Wheatley.

However, to solely conceptualize colonialism as a set of governance projects based on the dispossession of indigenous peoples from their spaces for the purposes of installing settlements and extracting resources would be a gross simplification of colonialism. To do so would be to ignore how the colonization of indigenous territories by European settlers was an ideologically and culturally contested process as much as it was a material one. As explained by Said (1995), imperialism and colonialism were both supported by ideological formations that were comprised of notions that indigenous peoples and territories require and beseech domination (p. 9). Expanding on this analysis, Jacobs (1996) discusses how racialized notions of the Self and the Other were the building blocks for the hierarchies of power under colonialism, as negative constructions of the

In the late 1800s, third world countries, primarily Africa, were infiltrated by European colonizers. In Things Fall Apart, Heart of Darkness, and “Shooting an Elephant”, we see the direct impact of the colonizers on the beliefs of the natives. Post-colonial literature centres mainly around how beliefs are questioned and eventually altered; a transformation that can manifest in numerous ways as it is not fixed. In each of the stories, a different form of colonization is elucidated. In Things Fall Apart, the curiosity of the natives with regards to the culture of the europeans leads to colonization. The oppression of the natives exerted by the europeans in Heart of Darkness leads to colonization as well. Finally, in “Shooting an Elephant”, the roles of the colonizers and the colonized are reversed as it is the natives who take on the position of the oppressors.

Postcolonial Caribbean society is not able to address and enhance the expectations of the colonized people after its emancipation but lingers on and sustains in the older residues of colonial project. Emancipation does not offer a new structure, power relations and hierarchies but leaves the gaps and complications for more dangerous clashes and differences.

The desire to conquer land that was previously unexplored has existed throughout history. This desire forced many indigenous societies, who were usually dominated technologically, to adapt to the teachings and overall system of the ‘superior’ conqueror nation with destruction as the only alternative. This causes a major impact on how a certain society functions, even after seeking independence from the foreigners. The rise and fall of indigenous societies can be analyzed through various media. Chinua Achebe is a novelist specializing in African literature, and this essay deals with the themes regarding colonialism in one of his many novels. In

The book takes place in the Umuofia and Mbanta villages around the 1900s. During the 1900s the rise of European Imperialism in Africa becomes very much prevalent between 1881 and 1914.

The novel wrote by Ferdinand Oyono’s, titled Houseboy speaks about issues relating to colonialism and imperialism. These communications took place in Africa. The novel allows the audience to obtain some awareness as to how the people of the African culture changed, how they were trying to live, and be like their colonizers. Within this era, the book illustrates how a young African boy from Cameroon suffered cruelty and abuse in the home. The discoveries of physical abuse from his father caused the boy to run away. When Toundi ran away, he acknowledged and understood that he have to leave behind his tribal, values, and cultural ties. Toundi hopes that he never has to face his family again. He began to change his life by going into the colonial