From: "Eric Dickens" <eric.dickens-AT-wxs.nl>
Subject: Whose empire writes back - and in what language?
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 21:44:40 +0200


21st April 2000

Dear Postcolonialists,

I have just joined the list, hoping to obtain both information and
inspiration. But first, a couple of fundamental questions, which I would be
most grateful if someone would answer:

1) ONLY BRITISH? Most of the websites, pages, searches, etc., concentrate on
countries where the British Empire had colonies. Even when conferences are
held in
Finland, it's still British culture, British Black literature, and so forth,
which are the focus. And the research itself is often done in Australia or
the United
States, where a British colonial past dominates, if subliminally. Whatever
happened
to all that input discussing Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, Belgian,
Russian, Swedish,
Danish, Roman, etc., etc., colonialism over the centuries? In which century,
and how widely, does postcolonialism begin to examine colonial phenomena in
detail?

2) ONLY THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE? Following on from 1), why is it that most of
the research into postcolonialism comes from countries where the language of
the British
Empire  - i.e. English in its various international forms - dominates as the
language of hegemony. No one is denying that it is immensely practical for
discussions to be held in one, universally spoken, language. But surely the
subject matter should not, almost exclusively, be restricted to countries
which were colonised in English, now mostly forming part of the
Commonwealth? Whatever happened to the discussion about Portuguese
colonialism in Africa and South America, Russian colonialism in Eastern
Europe and in Turkic-speaking Central Asia, Belgium (using the French
language) in Congo, the Germans in Namibia, the Italians in the Horn of
Africa, etc? Surely these areas all have their postcolonial literature,
politics and history, even though the colonists didn't speak English?
Does Bakhtin only count as a poco theorist when he has appeared
in the English language?

3) ONLY LITERATURE? Is postcolonialism still weighted towards examining
literature, or has it now booked successes in sociology, psychology,
political science, etc?
Surely there is more to postcolonialism than E.M. Forster and Conrad? Is
postcolonialism Eng Lit writ large? Is English literature so good and
influential, or so wicked and condescending, that postcolonial literature,
to all intents and purposes, means literature written by Anglo-Americans and
Antipodeans in English, plus those lucky few from developing countries who
manage to publish books in London, Oxbridge and New York?

I do not think I need elaborate on my big question-marks set against
postcolonialism. But has anyone any answers?

Best wishes,

Eric Dickens



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