Colonial Discourse Research Articles

Plantations Beyond Monocrops: Cannabis Ecologies From Colonial Angola to São Tomé

São Tomé, a small island in the Gulf of Guinea and a former Portuguese colony, is an exemplary place to analyze the development of plantation “cropscapes.” These cropscapes emerged around sugar in the sixteenth century, evolved with coffee in the 1850s and consolidated with cocoa from the 1880s onwards. While is impossible to ignore the monocultural nature of São Tomé plantations and the centrality of specific plants for these plantation ecologies, there were other human/plant assemblages, that sustained, subverted or ran parallel to plantation goals of production, profit and power. This article zooms into cannabis to explore different relations between plantation working peoples and plantation environments, between suffering, healing, and violence, between labor, pleasure, and power. It will examine how cannabis was part and parcel of the lives of peoples from Angola recruited to São Tomé and, consequently, of the island's plantation worlds in the late nineteenth century. It will also discuss how colonial discourses on cannabis obscured and silenced the presence of this plant in contemporary plantation histories, regardless of its traces in the archive. Cannabis histories are in fact important ones: they counter imperial master narratives by showing how, even under conditions of exploitation, laboring communities and plants co-produced spaces of autonomy, care and leisure.

The myth of the Others: Western representations of the Dan people and boat clusters in the island city of Guangzhou, China (1842–1900)

Abstract This article studies Western (primarily Anglophone) representations of the Dan people (boat people) and the boat clusters on which they lived, relative to the mainland, in the island city of Guangzhou, focusing on 1842–1900. A change occurred over time, as the Dan went from being in close interaction with Westerners prior to the Opium Wars to being peripheral to Western interests and activities. This shift is evident in Western writings, and negative representations of the Dan came to dominate in the late nineteenth century. This mirrored changing sociospatial power relations between Westerners and the terrestrial Chinese, as Westerners increasingly gained access to the onshore city of Guangzhou itself, in part from the colonial island enclave of Shamian. Changing crosscultural interactions affected how the Chinese Others were perceived and ultimately how the Chinese whole was intertextually constructed in Western colonial discourse.

Colonial discourse in the history of Marburg university collections

Four collections that originated in the context of formal or informal colonialism served as hosts for the workshop on “Decolonizing academic disciplines and collections” at the University of Marburg: the pharmacognostic, anatomical, and ethnographic collection and the Museum of Religions. Historically, the related academic disciplines had grown based on the study of items often appropriated against the will of source communities. Decolonizing has to go beyond the material aspect of negotiating the future treatment of collections, by examining the role of colonial injustice and transcending Eurocentric taxonomies of academic knowledge as well as pursuing ways of advocacy for the communities of origin. This opening article sets the scene of academic collections within which the rest of the discussions are conducted.

Leave Her Alone, She Speaks the Truth

Most feminist debates, including Western Feminism and postcolonial strands of feminism such as African Feminisms, place emphasis on religion – specifically Christianity – as an oppressive structure dominating women, and justifiably so. Within feminist and colonial discourses, however, Christianity occupies complex, ambiguous spaces. In considering Christianity’s positioning within colonialism and feminism, an African feminist position should seek to recognize the contradictions inherent in Christianity and, by extension, facilitate the nuanced experiences women in postcolonial, global South contexts have with Christianity. While some women might find Christianity oppressive, others may find it deeply fulfilling and others still may experience these dichotomies simultaneously. This article presents an African feminist reading of Katori Hall’s play, Our Lady of Kibeho (2018). Inspired by real-life events and centering Christianity (specifically Catholicism), Hall’s play tells the story of three Rwandan convent high-school girls – Alphonsine, Anathalie, and Marie-Claire – whose Marian apparitions garnered widespread attention. Through a textual analysis of, primarily, Alphonsine, who reportedly had the first and most frequent visitations, Christianity is proffered as a site of concurrent oppression and liberation. This article does not engage in the specificities of Catholic doctrine, but rather offers a discussion of varied encounters with Christianity.

Суверенитет и территориальная целостность. К дискурсу о российском влиянии на финскую государственность

Introduction: paradigms of modern statehood have specific features that reflect the historical, philosophical, legal values of a particular country. Sovereign statehood is largely formed under the political, economic, sociocultural influence of bordering countries, due to geographical predetermination being neighbors throughout all the history of their existence. The territories of these states are often subject to changes in their political and legal belonging. At the same time, the common history of neighboring countries necessitates a search for models of mutual coexistence based on the principles of respect for their value foundations. The study of modern Russian‐Finnish relations determines the politico‐legal discussion about Russia’s influence on the formation of sovereign Finnish statehood, which in recent years has gained newfound relevance in the light of the ongoing transition from a bipolar world order to a multipolar one. Purpose: basing on historical facts, to develop approaches to the understanding of the significant Russian influence on the creation of modern Suomi statehood. Objective: to study the foundations of Finnish statehood in terms of its sovereignty and territorial integrity as reflected in legal documents. Methods: formal legal, comparative legal, historical legal. Results: the paper substantiates the thesis about the unconditional influence of Russia on the formation of modern sovereign Finnish statehood and its territorial integrity. Conclusions: contrary to the point of view, persistently imposed in recent years within colonial discourse, about the tough position of imperial Russia in relation to Finland, the creation of statehood of this country was predetermined by the influence that Russia had exerted over many centuries.

Old Epistemic Vices and Islamophobia in Martha Nussbaum's The New Religious Intolerance

AbstractMartha Nussbaum in her The New Religious Intolerance (2012) commits several old forms of epistemic vice including exclusion, orientalism, and colonial discourse. Unsurprisingly, as a result, her text contributes to the production of ignorance about Muslims and Muslim women despite her intention of combating Islamophobia. In this article, I specifically critique Nussbaum's anti-burqa-ban arguments and her pro-airport-profiling stance. To do so, I draw on the work of Audre Lorde and other feminist scholars and scholars of color to express the harms of excluding Muslim voices and misusing Western/white voices in their place. Recalling Edward Said, Marilyn Frye, and María Lugones, I argue that Nussbaum's text is a classic example of orientalism and various forms of colonial discourse.

Comparing Racist Colonial Discourse in the Tamil Canadian Protests and the Idle No More Movement

Comparing Racist Colonial Discourse in the Tamil Canadian Protests and the Idle No More Movement

Чернокожая воительница в сценической миниатюре Любови Столицы «Зеркало девственниц» (1917): гендер и раса в театре кабаре

The paper considers how the heroic, romanticized, often tragic image of the warrior woman received parodic coverage in the “Mirror of Virgins” (1917), a miniature play by Lyubov Stolitsa. The comic representation of the female warrior in this play is an exceptional instance in the realm of Russian Modernist literature. In addition, to the author’s knowledge, it is the only image of a black female warrior and the only one found in a text written for the cabaret theater. The hypothesis of this paper is that it is in relation to the black heroine and within the framework of the cabaret culture that the comic and degrading representation of the high image occurs. Russian culture had no specific colonial discourse towards black people, typical of England, France, and the United States. However, it has been found that black people were perceived as savages, obeying only natural laws close to primitiveness. Additionally, the review of miniature plays by Potemkin, Agnivtsev, Chuzh-Chuzhenin, and others, including the “One Sheer Nonsense,” a “harlequinade” by Shershenevich, has revealed that cabaret plays characterized by their inevitable parodic perspective exacerbated this perception. Given this background, it is obvious that Stolitsa portrays her black woman, albeit somewhat comically, but with much more reverence than other authors of cabaret plays. Moreover, it is worth noting that all the elements that “diminish” the image of the black heroine are given from the perspective of the caliph, a character who proves himself an object of ridicule.

Malaysian Literature in English as Literature of Reconciliation

Malaysia has become one of the epitomes of multiculturalism in Southeast Asia due to its richness of diversity. Colonised by multiple European countries and Japan for centuries, the country, formerly known as Malaya, achieved its independence on 31st August 1957. The emergence of inspiring words by Malaya writers and poets during the colonial era became the beacons of hope amongst the Malaya people in forging a new future for their newly independent country. Furthermore, the revival of Malaysian literature in English in the postcolonial era can strengthen the trust, understanding, acceptance, and peace between different races and cultures in Malaysia. Thus, this paper aims to analyse how Malaysian literature in English plays the role of reconciliation in the multicultural communities in Malaysia. For the purpose of this research, a Malaysian English literary novel, This End of The Rainbow (2008), written by Adibah Amin will be analysed by using the concept of reconciliation by Fadillah Merican. Pertinence to the study, the novel managed to encapsulate the concept’s elements of diversity and the preoccupation with bleak scenarios. The results highlight the importance of reconciling amidst the differences in a multicultural society in Malaysia that fosters unity and resists colonial discourse.

Is a Woman a Better Refugee Than a Man? Gender Representations of Refugees in the Polish Public Debate

Within the framework of global mobility regimes, some bodies are encouraged to move while others are pushed back. Nation-states create control mechanisms to block those who are “undesirable”. Apart from political utility, the colour of the bodies is indicated by the critics as the main criterion of division. However, one more important dimension that intersects with race here is the gender of these bodies. A woman fits the figure of an ideal victim better due to the nationalist patterns of femininity: she is vulnerable, submissive, and deprived of agency. Contrary to a man: his duty in the context of war is to remain in his homeland and fight for it. A man who does not do that, seeking asylum in Europe, is morally doubtful: he is a migrant posing a threat to “our” prosperity and security. This is how people crossing the Polish-Belarusian border are presented to public opinion and contrasted with female Ukrainian refugees. The article offers a critical analysis of gender representations of refugees in the Polish public debate through the prism of postcolonial theory, demonstrating that gendered and racialised colonial discourses underpin rationalisations about who has and who does not have a right to be a refugee.

На краю ойкумены: советский писатель о Древнем Египте

The paper analyses the origin of ideas and historical material in the early historical stories authored by Ivan Efremov, the prominent Soviet writer. Also, the influence of the historical dilogy “The Great Arc” on the perception of ancient history in Soviet culture is traced. In general terms, this dilogy can be attributed to historical novels while also considering the specifics of the Stalinist historical novel. Three types of sources have been revealed: prerevolutionary historical research, Soviet historiography, and European colonial discourse. The text analysis indicates that the writer was hardly familiar with the contemporary Soviet historiography of Egypt, which may have caused some criticism of his work by historians. At the same time, Efremov’s ideas were based on the works and translations of Boris Turaev. Thus, the prerevolutionary studies provided a general background, with the European colonial discourse partially overcome but still maintaining the adventurous spirit of the narrative. Overall, Efremov’s image coincided with the Soviet image of ancient Egypt as a slave-holding society. However, the focus of his narrative was not on slavery but on the difference between despotic Egypt and freedom-loving Hellas. The study indicates that the notion of the “Great Arc” served as a unifying thread, connecting these three contradictory paths and symbolizing the intercultural unity and the forthcoming oneness of humanity, thus bridging Efremov’s narratives with Mechnikov’s concepts. These were connected with the values of European culture rather than with Soviet socialist realism.

Relationship between Chinese Men and Indigenous Women in Gowok (1929): Postcolonial Feminist Studies

This study aims to analyse how a Chinese-Indonesia descent male author represented indigenous women in Novel Gowok (1929). Gowok is a novel written by Liem Khing Hoo, depicting a relationship of race and gender under colonial discourse. To pursue the aim of this study, postcolonial feminist approach was used to reveal the quality of ideological and political relation under colonial discourse. The data collected were focussed on the relationship of women and race in this novel, the social group consciousness of the author, and colonial discourse. The results showed two points. First, the narrative of the indigenous women in this novel reflected the voice of Chinese-Indonesia descents from the moderate social group based on racial and gender relation. Second, the relationship of the indigenous women and the Chinese-Indonesia descents could be considered as political and ideological relation to realize tradition or culture nationalism concept in colonial contexts. In conclusion, this concept brings ambiguity characters.

Making of the Other: Critiquing Baloch Historiography

Orientalism is the critique of the European perspective about the creation of colonial discourse and this approach advocates that European colonialism has created a concept of “othering". The Occident and the Orient is a pure European construct, and it would see another world from the lens of Europe and give a verdict of being inferior about all those concepts, cultures and ideologies which are not in conformity with European perceptions. The present work is based on the colonial construction of the history of Balochistan, and colonial scholars had provided the landmark of historiography in Balochistan. These colonial scholars had derived their concepts of the cultures and histories of the indigenous people based on the official documents provided by the colonial masters. So, the primary premise of the colonial discourse was not to do academic research rather it was to control the indigenous people. This premise of colonial historiography was bequeathed after partition as the post-partition and indigenous scholars had followed the footsteps of colonial scholars especial in the theories of ethnic origins. The present work is a historiographical critique of colonial and post-independence historiography into Balochistan, and it has been endeavored to provide main themes of oriental historiography and its counter-narrative which based on a post-colonial perspective derived from primary and secondary sources. The paper is an attempt in opening of new debates in the historiography of peripheral regions like Balochistan and its an effort to shed light on the areas on which there is a historical silence.

Construction, Deconstruction, and the Question of Authorship in Magical Realist Narratives

Colonial discourse in particular has constructed fixed frames and grids in which to place and separate individuals according to their class, race, gender, culture, nationality and ethnic models of unified and stereotypical representation of otherness and difference which postcolonial writers challenge. Writers from across the globe have adopted and adapted magical realism to fit their own cultures and within their own frame of reference. As a dominant literary mode, it can be considered as a decolonizing agent in a postmodern context. What the narrative mode offers is a way to discuss alternative approaches to reality to that of Western philosophy, expressed in contemporary fiction. Specifically, this paper argues how magical realism is positioned in relation to the two contrasting operations of construction and deconstruction. What is its capacity to affect either or both of these outcomes? A prominent view has developed which understands the mode as one that structures an exclusively deconstructive narratology. I explore the narratives of Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirit, Tony Morrison’s Beloved and Hashem Garaibeh’s The Cat Who Taught Me How To Fly that reiterate realist narrative conventions subversively to critique the effects of colonialism as a decolonizing device in the contemporary literary scholarship. This study utilizes the ideas from Stephen Slemon’s “resistance to colonialism,” Theo D’haen’s “decenter privileged centers,”, Wendy B. Faris’s “Questioning the colonial subjugation,” and Christopher Warnes’s ‘deconstructive notions of subjectivity” and “recover and affirm identities.” Thus, the narratives in opposition to the notion of absolute history emphasize the possibility of simultaneous existence of multiple truths and plural meanings.

The Divine Mandate of Colonialism: Orientalism in Wilkie Collins’s 'The Black Robe'

In postcolonial studies, the missionary is inevitably associated with colonialism. This is explained by the fact that the missionaries’ main task was to spread Christianity by preaching the “blessings of civilisation” and implementing “the white man's burden”. This study adopts Edward W. Said's Orientalist discourse to critique the construct of the representation of indigenous peoples in Wilkie Collins's (1824-1889) The Black Robe (1881). Said's ideas are particularly instrumental in critically analysing the Western (mis)representation of Native Americans as savages who need to be civilised. The Black Robe is a partly epistolary novel revolving around a series of unfortunate events by Lewis Romayne, whose remorse for the accidental murder of a young man haunts him for the rest of his life. This research reveals inconsistencies regarding the author's religious views in the novel. It is argued that while Collins's anti-Catholic sarcasm aims to expose the corruption of religious orders, this attitude does not apply to colonial discourse. Rather, Catholicism is purposefully used as a divisive imperialist tool in the novel, and therefore the missionaries serve as colonial agents who “bless” discriminatory acts of British imperial policy, hence the image of the black robe that represents the colonial legacy consolidating the influence of British imperial power through religion. In The Black Robe, indigenous peoples are described as “bloodthirsty savages” and it is believed that their souls can be saved under the influence of Christianity. This enforcement also represents colonial hegemony, through which American Indians are subjected to social and cultural assimilation. The ideology of white racial supremacy manifests itself in the justification of the colonial missions, which claim that they have legitimate and religious rights over the land and culture of the natives.

Hand in hand? Documentary film and the paradox of a Belgo-Congolese union at Expo 58

The 1958 World’s Fair, held in Brussels and known as Expo 58, was an apotheosis of Belgian colonial cinema and propaganda. Simultaneously, it harboured a paradox at the core of late colonial Belgium. In various ways, Belgium developed a dubious reconstruction of the past in an attempt to uphold a strong connection between metropole and colony in the burgeoning Atomic Age. This article explores how the idea of a Belgo-Congolese union was constructed and represented in documentary films screened at Expo 58, and how discussions about documentary cinema challenged that idea in a complex encounter of politics and poetics. In analysing the inextricable interweaving of ideas and representations, this article employs archival research as well as close reading of film and written texts. Through its multifaceted approach, this article shows how the paternalistic tone of colonial films Tokèndé (Gérard De Boe, 1958), Main dans la main (Inforcongo, 1958) and Pour un monde plus humain (Georges Baudouin, 1957), and the discourse in which they thrived, ran contrary to the progressive humanism the World’s Fair wanted to display. This ‘progressist’ stance clashed with the global process of decolonisation (including in Congo), which was largely neglected during the World’s Fair. At the ‘Rencontres Internationales. Le Cinéma et l’Afrique subsaharienne’ conference, held at Expo 58 to evaluate film production about and destined for Africa, the paradoxes of paternalistic colonial filmmaking were very much present. Developments in ethnographic filmmaking, however, challenged the colonial discourse that promoted a one-sided Eurafrican community and the colonial cinema that advanced this idea. Though not beyond criticism, cineastes-ethnologists Luc de Heusch and Jean Rouch defended a more participatory and reflexive approach to ethnographic filmmaking, expressed in Rouch’s Moi, un noir (1958). By specifically focusing on a hand in hand metaphor, this article demonstrates how film documentaries created, as well as challenged, the myths that rewrite history

The Consequences Of Getting Unequal Systems, Bad Treatments, And Violence Triggering The Blacks To End Apartheid System In South Africa In Slovo’s Film Catch A Fire

This analysis is aimed to make the readers aware of being able to respect for the value of independence and all effort to struggle it during the Apartheid era which is long and painful. There are some problems which become the focus of this study, First is unequal systems, bad treatments, and violence done by the White to the Blacks, and their effects. Second the Black’s survival and struggle to achieve their independence during apartheid system. The writer chooses Post Colonialism approach to analyze this film because it has the nearest and strongest relationship with the message inside the film, The writer also focuses on the White’s colonialism to the Blacks and Blacks’ effort to abolish Apartheid system as one of colonialism discourse applied on their land.

Representation of the Moroccan Ruler, Tribe and Resistance in Travel Writing: A Postcolonial Study of Morocco That Was and In Morocco

Colonial travel writing performed ideological functions in North Africa during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The images, stories, and narratives composing its representation- created a distorted reality of the colonized lands to normalize and legitimize colonialism. This study contributes to offering a more literary account of how colonial writings about Morocco targeted social and political institutions or organizations as part of its imperial project in the region. To this end, this study examines two travel accounts (Morocco That Was and In Morocco) to identify how they represent the Moroccan ruler, tribe, and resistance during the colonial period. Based on postcolonial and critical discourse analysis perspectives, the findings of this research showed that representation of these aspects of Moroccan life during that period endorsed the colonial and imperial project in Morocco. In the meantime, the study recommended the integration of this colonial discourse earlier in Moroccan textbooks.

The afterlives of state failure: echoes and aftermaths of colonialism

This article offers a new perspective on the failed states agenda, and the reconfiguration of colonial discourse buttressing it, by theorising its afterlives. The concept of afterlives has mostly been discussed as a metaphor or in passing in the IR literature. Drawing from the post- and decolonial literature, we propose to define the concept simultaneously as echoes and aftermaths of the past. This conceptualisation of afterlives aims to contribute to the study of the persistence of colonial forms beyond notions of continuity and rupture. We develop the concept of afterlives through a discussion of the failed states agenda and its iterations. We discuss four specific iterations of the agenda: the genesis of the agenda in the decolonisation period; the consolidation of the agenda during the early 1990s; the crisis of the agenda and the rise of the resilience discussion; and finally the rise of the fragile city agenda as one of the afterlives of the failed states agenda. To illustrate our argument, we discuss two specific ‘fragments’ through which we can effectively grasp the echoes and aftermaths of coloniality: the pathologisation of fragile states and cities, operated through various twin figures (civilised/barbaric; strong/dysfunctional; resilient/vulnerable) and their practical repercussions; and the visualisation, mapping and colour-coding of fragile states and cities, exemplifying the durability and contradictions of the failed states agenda.

The "Colored American Asiatic Traveler": Peter K. L. Cole and American Empire in Japan

Abstract: This article examines African Americans' participation in US empire-building in the nineteenth-century Pacific World. It uses the life story of Peter K. L. Cole, a Black world traveler and a resident of Yokohama, Japan, to explore how notions of race, empire, modernity, and citizenship circulated around the Pacific Ocean from the 1850s to the 1870s. Cole deployed the intertwined discourses of Black settler colonialism and Black orientalism to stake claims to African American equality in the post-Civil War United States. His efforts to build equal citizenship on the basis of Black men's service to American empire abroad gained little traction as the white supremacist logics of the US settler state excluded Black people from national belonging and erased their participation in imperial expansion.