Introduction to Postcolonialism

 Introduction to Postcolonialism

Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Postcolonialism blog tasks'. Read ‘The Theory Drop: Postcolonialism and Paul Gilroy’ in MM75  (p28). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access.

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) Look at the first page. What is colonialism - also known as cultural imperialism? 

Colonialism is the belief that native people were intellectually inferior, and that white colonisers had a moral right to subjugate the local populace as they were ‘civilising’ them: in other words, trying to make them more like Western European society.

2) Now look at the second page. What is postcolonialism? 

Postcolonialism, like postmodernism, refers less to a time period and more to a critiquing of a school of thought that came before it. Postcolonialism exists to question white patriarchal views with a particular reference to how they relate to race.

3) How does Paul Gilroy suggest postcolonialism influences British culture?

Paul Gilroy in his 2005 book Postcolonial Melancholia suggested that Britain had not quite faced up to its colonial past, that the national psyche had not quite come to terms with no longer being a global superpower, and this had resulted in the desire to still subjugate those from different races, particularly immigrants.

4) What is 'othering'?

Othering is the phenomenon whereby we identify something as being different from, or alien to our social identity. If something is ‘other’ it is different to ‘us’; it doesn’t fit well within the confines of our society. 

5) What examples of 'othering' are provided by the article?

People are reduced to labels such as ‘illegal immigrant’ or ‘asylum seeker’.

6) What is 'double consciousness'? 

Double consciousness is when people struggle to reconcile two nationalities or identities.

7) What are 'racial hierarchies'?

Racial hierarchies is the idea that some races are superior to other ones.

8) What examples from recent media products challenge the idea of racial hierarchies? 

• Paul Gilroy recounted an anecdote on Russell Brand’s Under The Skin podcast
• "She was an older white woman and she says; ‘you’re with us now’ and she goes on about the blacks are alright because we’ve all been together for a long time but it’s Muslims now who are a problem"
• Here Gilroy indicates the idea of a shifting inclusivity in the minds of people that perpetuate racial hierarchies. 
• He suggests hat people who would have been opposed to Black people immigrating to Britain in the 1970s, now feel a greater sense of connection to them, due to the shared language, religion and culture that they do not feel they have with the Asian population.