Thinking activity : Postcolonial literature : Ania Loomba's colonialism/Postcolonialism

 Hello friends,

        Welcome to my blog. This is my academic writing. This blog is about Ania Loomba's book, COLONIALISM/POSTCOLONIALISM.  It was published in his thinking activity as part of my postcolonial paper.

       Let's begin with what is the meaning of postcolonial. Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the human consequences of the control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands.

            The book is divided into three main chapters, and a new Conclusion. 

- Situating colonial and postcolonial studies 

- Colonial and postcolonial identities Challenging colonialism 

- Conclusion: The future of postcolonial studies

Introduction of colonialism and Postcolonialism in this book : 

            The first chapter discusses the different meanings of terms such as colonialism, imperialism and postcolonialism, and the controversies surrounding them. It connects colonial discourse studies to key debates on ideology, subjectivity and language, showing why both a new terminology and a new reaching across disciplinary boundaries became necessary in the study of colonialism. This chapter will introduce readers to aspects of post-structuralist, Marxist, feminist and postmodern thought which have become important or controversial in relation to postcolonial studies. The last section of the chapter discusses the innovations, as well as the problems, that have been generated by the literary inception and inflection of colonial discourse studies. It was an interesting book with it's different kinds of aspects.  SO in the introduction of the book we find that she mentioned various critics and their thoughts. Here we also finds that

Terry Eagleton (1994) made a point that within ‘postcolonial thought’ one should be 

 ‘allowed to talk about cultural differences, but not —or not much —about economic exploitation’. 

              Here Ania Loomba makes a point that Eagleton’s use of the term ‘postcolonial thought’ to designate only a very particular academic trend in the West seemed unsatisfactory to me. She also mentioned that Many writers and academics, especially those working in once-colonized countries, do write extensively about economic exploitation in relation to colonialism and its aftermath, but their work is often not included within what has become institutionalised as ‘post-colonial studies’. " 

SITUATING COLONIAL AND

POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES :

             In the beginning of the first chapter we can see the meaning of the word colonialism from the Oxford English Dictionary. Anoa Loomba discussed that with critical argument. She also discussed what is missed out in the definition.

        Ania Loomba also mentioned that britishers ruled in a different and the significantly And they were different from other ruler like Mughal etc: She also talked about European travels ushered in new and different kinds of

colonial practices which altered the whole globe in a way that previous colonialisms did not.

 

 She raised several questions like :

- How can we understand these differences? 

- Was it that Europeans established empires far away from their own shores? 

- Were they more violent or more ruthless?

- Were they better organised? Or a superior race?

These are very interesting questions.

          Here in this chapter we also find what about present Colonialism. Modern colonialism is more than extracting tribute, goods and wealth from the countries that it conquered—it restructured the economies of the latter, drawing them into a complex relationship with their own.

       Now time reading capitalism is becoming more important. In a way now there is no Empire but imperialism is there. Now we can say that in imperialism the ruler was controlled by the market. In a way there is one question like Is imperialism is political control or economical control.  In several ways we remain colonized.

              V. I. Lenin and Karl Kautz gave a new meaning to the word ‘imperialism’ by linking it to a particular stage of the development of capitalism. In Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1947), Lenin argued that the growth of ‘finance-capitalism’ and industry in the Western countries had created ‘an enormous superabundance of capital’.

There are references to Shakespeare's Othello. The hero of the play who is black one. But how european look at that. There is also reference to Shakespeare's another play The Tempest.

           In short, I would like to say that while writing this blog I am confused about what to write and what to leave out because each and every paragraph gives something new and unique. 

References :

Eagleton, T. (1991) Ideology: An Introduction, London and New York: Verso.——(1994) ‘Goodbye to the Enlightenment’, The Guardian, 5 May.

Thinking activity on Aime Cesaire's A Tempest

 Hello Readers,

       Welcome to my blog. This blog is part of my academic writing. This blog is the part of a post- colonial paper. In our department every year various expert lecture arrenge by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. But this year 2020 because of the Corona pandemic, we are not able to gather at the department. But where their will there's a way. As we know that Shakespeare used it in Henry IV, “Play out the play”.

 "... No matter what happens, the show must go on”

               Barad sir proved this sentence. We have an expert lecture on the post colonial paper on a virtual platform by Balaji Ranganathan sir. The expert lecturer is Balaji Ranganathan sir from Central University of Gujarat. It was a great opportunity for us to learn from him. It was an amazing experience with him. Sir was cleared of all the things with  exact and interesting examples and sir also related the situation with present situations.

      So here I am talking about Aime Cesaire's  A Tempest  from the point of view post colonial book. That is originally written in French language ( Une Tempête ) . It was published in 1969. And also it was a adaptation from Shakespeare's  The Tempest from a postcolonial perspective.

           So as we know that this is the adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. So first of all we have to know what is the story of the play. And why does Cesaire want to rewrite this play ? So let's go through Shakespeare's The Tempest…..

      

             If we ask someone who (doesn't study English literature) ask what is the English literature is, then  we might get the answer 'William Shakespeare' . So that though I want to say that it's not an easy task for Aime Cesaire to rewrite his play.

     The Tempest is considered as his last writing. And also we come to know that the play was quite different from what normally Shakespearean play is.  Atlast in the play we can find the character of a prospero who forgives his brother and also a very significant scene when he was breaking his magic stick. Through that is the different types of play by Shakespeare. We can see the tempest as the play of reconciliation.  It was also a very disturbing play in postcoloniality.

  

             In Shakespeare's day, much of the world was still being colonized by European Masters and settlers, and stories were coming back from the Americas, with myths about the Cannibals of the Caribbean, faraway Edens, and distant tropical Utopias. There is also a ship wrecked in the West Indies and that incident through Shakespeare got a material of this play. And he constructed a play. This new way of looking at the text explored the effect of the "coloniser" (Prospero) on the "colonised" (Ariel and Caliban). Although Ariel is often overlooked in these debates in favour of the more intriguing Caliban, he is nonetheless an essential component of them.

        Balaji sir mentioned in the beginning of the classroom that the way Joseph Conrad portrayed a black community. That is not well like Chinua Achebe and etc.  In his novel Heart of Darkness we find the description of black people and their land. 

( Click here to know more about The tempest )

     So here I am giving my ideas about the text A Tempest. And also I would like to mention the classroom discussion. And interesting thoughts shared by Balaji sir.

                Aime Cesaire was a Francophone and French poet, an Afro-Caribbean author and politician from the region of Martinique. He was "one of the founders of the négritude movement in Francophone literature".

       Aime Cesaire used all the characters from the Shakespeare's The Tempest but he specifies that

 - Prospero is a white master

- Ariel is a mulatto and 

- Caliban is a black slave.

       These characters are the focus of the play as Césaire foregrounds issues of race, power, and decolonization.

( Click here to read a summary of the play.)

      The majority of the action in The Tempest takes place on a small, remote island. In thehr play of Shakespeare we can see that the character of Caliban 's resistance is helpless. But here in the A Tempest we can see that the image of the Caliban is more strong against Prospero.

Caliban : … I’m telling you that from now on I won’t answer to the name Caliban.

Prospero : Where did you get that idea?

Caliban : Well, because Caliban isn’t my name. It’s as simple as that.

Prospero : Oh, I suppose it’s mine!

Caliban : It’s the name given me by your hatred, and everytime it’s spoken it’s an insult.

Prospero : My, aren’t getting sensitive! All right, suggest something else… I’ve got to cal

 to call you something. What will it be? Cannibal will suit you, but I’m sure 

 you wouldn’t like that, would you? …

Caliban : Call me X. That would be best. Like a man without a name. Or, to be more 

 precise, a man whose name has been stolen. You talk about history…well,

 that’s history, and everyone knows it! Every time you summon me it reminds

 me of a basic fact, the fact that you have stolen everything from me, even my

 identity! Uhuru! (He exits)

Here we can see that Aime Cesaire focused on the language problem. Caliban who refused the language of masters.

       There is  also one interesting symbol: the Game of chess In the final scene we find that the character of Ferdinand and Miranda both play chess. So we look at that thing at a deep level. So that we connect with prosparo's very shrewd mind.The object of chess is to capture the king. Prospero has caught the king Alonso and reprimanded him for his treachery. In doing so, Prospero has married Alonso’s son to his own daughter without the king’s knowledge, a deft political maneuver that assures Alonso’s support because Alonso will have no interest in upsetting a dukedom to which his own son is heir. This is the final move in Prospero’s plot, which began with the tempest.

             We can also say that   Prospero’s books are a symbol of his power.

 “Remember First to possess his books,” Caliban says to Stephano and Trinculo, “for without them He’s but a sot” (III.ii.86–88).

            Prospero fulfilled his dangerous desire through his knowledge of magic .  But also at last in the play we can see that he broke his magic stick and destroyed his books. And also the knowledge of books makes a devotion at last. It was his devotion to study that put him at the mercy of his ambitious brother. So here we can say that in order to return to the world where his knowledge means something more than power.

I prithee

Remember I have done thee worthy service,

Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served

Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou did promise

To bate me a full year. (I.ii.)

       Here we can see how Arial expresses his emotions. Here we can say that the mulluto identity is in danger in this world. We also come to think that he was not willingly working for Prospero but he was working for his freedom. But I think that is not a way to get freedom to work for masters.

                 Shakespeare primarily frames the action of The Tempest through Prospero’s point of view. No doubt he was giving  a voice to Caliban and Ariel but that is not so important. But in Aime Cesaire's A Tempest we can see that the strong voice given to Caliban.

       Cesaire was  different from Shakespeare :

( What Cesaire shows in his play

• Caliban who was the revolutionist character. He brings a revolution. Caliban refusing modern inventions.

• Prospero did not win at the end of the play.

• Shakespeare doesn't show a victory of Caliban.

• Shakespeare lacks to organize Caliban's ability to resist. 

           So in a way the play is very interesting one. The dialogue is Beautifully arranged. This play is written For the colonizer audience, Césaire wanted them to realize the impact that colonization has on the indigenous populations. The play ends in such a critical situation where a problem has clearly been pointed out and it is the problem of the challenge of governing the free nation where both black and white will live together. Himself a political leader,  Césaire anticipated the problem of administration in the future Martinique and the rest of the black independent nations because of the racial bias among the future leaders and administrators.

References :

• Césaire, Aimé (1969). Une tempête [A Tempest]. Collection Théâtre, 22 (in French). Paris, France: Éditions du Seuil. ISBN 9782020314312. OCLC 9435845.

• Ridge, Kelsey (November 2016). "'This Island's Mine': Ownership of the Island in The Tempest". Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism. 16 (2): 231–245. doi:10.1111/sena.12189.

Thank you…..