Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 09:16:27 -0700
From: "Marlene R. Atleo" <maratleo-AT-island.net>
Subject: Re: defining postcolonial


"Marlene R. Atleo" <maratleo-AT-island.net>
Nadeem Omar Tarar <ntarar-AT-brain.net.pk> makes some critical points.  We are
so used to using modernizing/colonizing definitions that we lose sight of
the idea of delimiting that the project may be exposed in its
artificiality, that the categories can be examined and challenged, etc.
etc..  I know that this is a very difficult task, to hold the categories
tentatively and challenge them at the same time.  I really like what P.
Lather says about "studied ambivalence" being the way to do research.  Its
being in a whole other liminality and using a diachronic rather than a
synchronic perspective.  How liberating and refreshing, but, if occupying a
previledged position, how personally challenging it can be!

 At 11:12 PM 6/25/98 +0500, you wrote:
>The designation of a country as "post-colonial" is not a matter of
>convenience. It is a theoretical category which contextualises country's
Total history and offers conceptual and methodological tools to map the
colonial exploitation and decode its discourse. For someone like Gayatri
Spivak, unlike those who has made it an identity marker, the term
'postcolonial' like 'subaltern' is a term that has to be "displaced" and
not to be taken up as an accurate description of a country. 
Nevertheless, the term "post-colonial" is theoreticaly ambigious and its
very usefulness lies in its relative ambiguity which allows us to
venture into nature and process of colonialisms (no one monolithic
colonialism please!)
For the conceptual ambivalence of the term Postcolonial, please see
among many others:
McClintock, Anne (1992) 'Anglessss of Progress: Pitfalls of the term
"Post-Colonialissm"' Social Text, 31/2,84-98
and Shohaat, Ellah 'Notes on "Post-Colonial"' in ST,31/2,99-113
As far your particular question is concerned, I think, we should not
look for good for all purpose defination or description of colonialism, but
should look at the historical process that gave shape to specific forms of
colonial exploitation in each cases. Alas, there are no ready made answers. 
Please comment



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