Postcolonial Research Articles

Who is the Blame for the Russia-Ukraine war? Feminist and Postcolonial Perspectives on 'Real Politics'

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has widely been narrated as having epochal significance with far-reaching implications. For leading historians of Eastern Europe, such as Timothy Snyder (2022) and Serhii Plokhy (2015), what we are seeing is an existential threat to democratic norms. While discussing phenomena of the political world, drawing on a variety of lenses is advantageous; in the case of the Russian-Ukrainian war it is a necessity. This article engages with a combination of lenses provided by feminist and postcolonial theories to critically reflect on the logic, as articulated by Russia's political elites, behind the invasion of Ukraine. It focuses on the role of gender and racialisation in normalising one’s place in the social hierarchy and its ‘appropriate’ behaviour, excusing occupational, violent and genocidal policies under the abstract term of ‘real politics’. This article attempts to trace the way social structures empower gendered and racialised politics, allowing invasions to be justified. Russia-led wars in Ukraine will be discussed as an example of the consequences of such a structure and ideology. This article will firstly underline a feminist and postcolonial approach that addresses the necessity of social hierarchy analysis to reveal the causes of war. Further sections will focus on unpacking Russia’s claims of the legitimacy of its colonial/great-power state project to incorporate Ukraine. I will conclude with a reflection on how the notion of the nation-state, rooted in the ideologies of social hierarchy and colonial domination, can be seen as having fuelled the ongoing war.

Decolonizing the Academic Study of Science and Religion? Engaging Wynter’s Epistemic Disobedience

With roots in the early 1960s, decoloniality as a sub-sect of postcolonial studies made successful attempts at redefining and unearthing essentially Western conceptualizations of knowledge and knowledge formation across different fields of endeavor. Many academic disciplines have benefited from decolonial studies’ self-reflective theories and deconstructive approaches, and religion and science should not be an exception. Within religion and science as an academic field, Western and European intellectual frames have been overwhelmingly presented as definitive of globalized perspectives and knowledge, especially the definition of “religion” and “science” within the academic field. The subtle but evident impact of adopting Western epistemology as ‘the’ definitive reference frame for all peoples and cultures is the transposition of colonial and overtly Eurocentric conceptualizations and definitions of what religion and science mean as perfunctory for what religion and science should mean within non-Western frames as well as a disregard for the latter. This has led to the presentation (or overrepresentation, according to Sylvia Wynter) of a single homogenized perspective for meaning-making and interpretation of topics and themes within the field, a decision which has not only significantly impacted the field, in terms of ongoing dialectics about the relationship between religion and science, but which has also seen the exclusion of other forms of beneficial epistemic reference frames, which have been viewed as subaltern. Drawing from Wynter’s epistemic disobedience, this paper highlights decolonial approaches for engaging in the academic study of science and religion, and which will advance the path towards delinking the field from Euro-Western conceptualizations. This will unravel the rich epistemic formation within non-Western knowledge frames and the inclusion of which will greatly enrich and redefine the academic study of religion and science in the days ahead.

Queering Tropically: Sexuality, Indigeneity, Decoloniality, Spatiality

This is the second collection of papers in a two-part issue on the theme of Queering the Tropics. This second issue begins by delving into the notion of “Queering Tropically,” in other words, queering in a tropical manner or in the manner of the tropics. The term queering tropically simultaneously alludes to queering through tropes (figurative and performative), and queering through tropical materiality (climate, elements, nature). This issue asserts that the tropics has always been a space where queerness lives, not a place where queerness has arrived post colonialism; queerness was and is often recognized as part of nature in the tropics. This assertion is evident in discussions of Sexuality, Queer Indigeneity, and Decoloniality. Furthermore, Queering the Tropics in attending to the queer across the worldly zone of the tropics is inherently a spatial practice. The tropics, as the Other of the temperate zone, has been subjected to waves of colonialisms and their patriarchal and heteronormative power structures. Yet, the tropics subverts and inverts the structures and strictures of the temperate zone, and this Tropical Queer Spatiality opens up to myriad ways of queer being and becoming. Thus, the papers collected together in this special issue offers a richness that furthers queer studies.

Othering Nature in Arundhati Roy’s 'The God of Small Things': A Postcolonial Ecocritical Study

By mainly referring to Huggan and Tiffin (2010) on postcolonial ecocriticism, the study aims to explore how Arundhati Roy’s novel The God of Small Things (1997) contributes new perspectives on the intertwining between postcolonial studies and ecocriticism. In addition, it explores how the anthropocentric attitude of human beings ruins their natural environment. The selected text is analyzed by utilizing the techniques of content analysis. Human beings are involved to ‘other’ natural environments for their economic gains in the name of development. It is the way of justifying their colonizing attitudes and manipulation of nature. The research finds out that the humans’ desires for economic development are materialized through putting aside the traditional ways of agriculture, building dams, clearing forests, and adopting modern ways of living which destroy the balance of their ecosystem. These factors eventually lead towards the ‘othering’ of nature and the natives in the hands of the colonizers, having some hidden economic and political agendas. Though, Roy’s selected text (1997) has been explored through different postcolonial perspectives but, the colonizers’ attitude towards nature and lands of the colonized is ignored. So, the study is an effort to fill this research gap.

Contemporary fellow travellers: Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists and the theory and political practice of Marxism

Within academic discourses of postcolonial theory, much has been written on whether and how Marxism can be drawn on to understand the ‘postcolonial world’ and, in this regard, what the relations between Eurocentrism and Marxism are. In practice, Marxism remains a core analytical framework for many emancipatory movements from the Global South, as is the case for Egyptian organisation of Revolutionary Socialists, whose popularity grew during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. The following paper is based on anthropological research with Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists in exile and the political underground. It showcases that many academic postcolonial debates sideline the agency of Marxist social actors from the Global South, their theoretical and practical endeavours, and their own modes of knowledge production. It is through the agency of Revolutionary Socialist social actors that Marxism travels from below, is translated, (re)read, debated, and materialises itself in given contexts. I highlight how Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists utilise Marxism as a living theory in their contemporary political practice and argue that their practice in exile as fellow travellers can be understood as a reconfiguration of the concept of travelling theory into travelling theory from below. Herein the centrality of social actors’ practice in grasping theory manifests itself.

The Interplay of Poverty, Hardship, And Exploitation in Postcolonial Nigeria in Kaine Agary’s Yellow Yellow

This study analyzes Kaine Agary’s Yellow Yellow through the lens of postcolonial theory, examining the socio-economic, environmental, and gendered issues in postcolonial Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta. The novel reflects the region’s ongoing struggles with neocolonial exploitation, environmental degradation, and identity conflict, intensified by global capitalism and patriarchal structures. A gap exists in analyzing how these dynamics intertwine with postcolonial legacies in Nigerian literature. Using textual analysis, the study explores how Agary critiques these neocolonial forces, illustrating their devastating impact on both people and the environment. Key findings include the portrayal of economic exploitation, environmental degradation, and the marginalization of women, with Zilayefa, the protagonist, embodying the hybrid identity struggling for self-definition. The study recommends further exploration of gendered oppression within postcolonial frameworks and the development of policies to address resource control, environmental justice, and gender equality in postcolonial Nigeria.

Attempting to Break Binary Oppositions of East and West: Hanan Al-Shaykh’s “I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops”

Abstract Hanan Al-Shaykh’s, “I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops”, calls for cross-cultural dialogue between different cultures. The text explores the cultural tensions that shape an individual’s identity within the postcolonial context. This article examines an encounter in the text between the Moroccan protagonist and her English boyfriend, his sister and his friends in London. Engaging in dialogue between multiple postcolonial theories such as Frantz Fanon’s concept of “absolute depersonalization”, Edward Said’s Orientalism and “contrapuntal consciousness” – Mary Louise Pratt’s theory of transculturation and Homi Bhabha’s notion of “hybridity”, this research studies how the processes of transculturation and hybridity can act to transcend cultural clashes and East–West divisions. The author resorts to using colonial tropes or Orientalist stereotypes to eventually subvert these problems but, at times, this causes ambiguity and contradictions in her text. The female protagonist follows a non-linear trajectory, experiencing various stages before she reaches a hybrid state; these stages involve a fascination with London, cultural clashes, self-assertion and integration, incorporating cultural crossing and hybridity. The female protagonist slips back and forth from one stage to another with all her experiences contributing towards the attainment of cultural dialogue.

Black identity from the Afro-American and British African perspectives in selected novels by Toni Morrison and Caryl Phillips

The aim of this study is to explore how Black identity is portrayed in the novels by Morrison and Phillips. It seeks to understand the thematic concerns, narrative strategies, and character development employed by both novelists to articulate the Black experience. The article is a comparative qualitative study that employs a textual analysis methodology. The selected novels are meticulously examined focusing on themes such as racial consciousness, cultural heritage, oppression, and resilience. The article draws on post-colonial theory, feminism, critical race theory, and diaspora to provide a strong analytical framework. The comparative approach is essential, as it facilitates the understanding of the differences and similarities in the depiction of Black identity by an Afro-American author and a British-African author. The findings suggest that the narratives of Morrison and Phillips diverge in the portrayal of communal versus individual struggles, the impact of colonial history, and the role of memory and storytelling. Morrison’s work emphasizes community ties and historical trauma, whereas Philips often explores the fluidity and hybridity of identity in a post-colonial British context. In conclusion, this comparative study illuminates the distinct yet interconnected ways in which Afro-American and British-African authors navigate the complexities of race and identity.

The Diversity of Voices in Universities: A Critical Reflection on Representation Based on Two University Projects in Iceland and Germany

ABSTRACTBackgroundUniversities are deeply rooted in a tradition of exclusivity. However, for the past several years, they have been called upon to develop in an inclusive and socially responsible manner that does justice to the plurality of society. This has led to the emergence of diverse practices and projects around the world that are intended to open up universities to previously excluded and marginalised groups of people. At the same time, findings from postcolonial studies, such as Spivak's discussions on the topic of representation, show that such processes of change must always be accompanied by critical reflection. This article offers a reflexive analysis of two university projects—one in Iceland and one in Germany—where people with learning difficulties are employed as academic staff, engaged in both teaching and research.MethodsThis article is a result of a collaboration between three nondisabled lecturers and three lecturers with learning disabilities, co‐written across three languages—German, Icelandic and English. The authors worked together to explore theories of representation, ensuring that their discussions and writing were accessible to all members, regardless of language or disability. The article discusses two projects from Iceland and Germany.FindingsThe article shows that inclusive higher education developments are necessary. The projects presented in the article have created work opportunities for people with learning disabilities in the previously exclusive setting of the university. The article provides descriptions of the exemplary life paths of the three lecturers with learning disabilities who co‐authored this article. They have had to navigate the precarious balance between being reduced to mere representatives of their disability and contributing valuable academic knowledge. The findings suggest that an inclusive university can foster equitable academic environments, contributing to the transformation of higher education by reflecting diverse viewpoints and experiences.ConclusionsInitiatives in Iceland and Germany highlight significant progress towards more inclusive universities by integrating individuals with learning disabilities into academic roles, challenging traditional power dynamics. Spivak's (2008) concept of representation emphasises the need to include marginalised voices in academic discourse, ensuring they are genuinely reflected. While these efforts are crucial, continuous critical reflection is necessary to avoid reinforcing inequalities. Moving forward, universities must embed inclusion into all aspects of their structures, creating meaningful opportunities for marginalised groups to influence decision‐making. This approach will ensure that representation is transformative and drives genuine social change.

Harmonizing Africa’s linguistic symphony: navigating the complexities of translating African literature using a postcolonial theory

Harmonizing Africa’s linguistic symphony: navigating the complexities of translating African literature using a postcolonial theory

The Metamorphoses of a North African City: Colonisation and Decolonisation of Médéa (1842–1962)

Médéa, (Algeria) was (re)founded by the Zirid governor Bologhin Ibn Ziri on an ancient fortress in the 10th century. In 1842, it was conquered by the French army and underwent major modifications for military purposes and enlarged to accommodate the successive waves of European settlers, during the 132 years of occupation. In 1962, the city was reclaimed by the local population from the Europeans who had fled the country, and underwent a new era of changes and readaptation. The article retraces the spatial changes during the three periods of its urban history and provides physical evidence in the light of post-colonialism theory.

OTHERNESS REPRESENTATION: A POSTCOLONIAL ANALYSIS OF TARZAN OF THE APES

This paper investigates the question of representation in Burrough’s Tarzan of the Apes. It probes into the representation of otherness, with focus on the signification of race, religion, and gender. Written against the backdrop of postcolonialism, the paper contends that the construction of the black other, religious discrimination, and female inferiority by western imperialists and patriarchy prefigure persistent domination in the new world order. In this qualitative descriptive study that is based on textual analysis as a research method, the primary data were collected from the novel Tarzan of the Apes. Concerning secondary data, articles and books pertinent to postcolonial studies and popular literature were consulted. It was discovered that blacks are represented as the ‘unorthodox’ religious other embodying evil, darkness, ignorance, and primitive sensualism. Moreover, the black woman is pushed to the periphery and represented as a subject of barbarous polygamy, uncontrolled birth, and toys to satisfy men’s desires. Furthermore, blacks are represented as hairless apes that are incapable of civilization. Finally, we discovered that, the issue of the black other in particular, was not a mistake by imperialists, but a well-planned scheme to concretize all the different forms of domination listed above, including the colonial agenda.

Fixers, Fieldwork, and Precarity: The Postcoloniality of Western Fieldwork on ISIS in Kurdistan

After the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2014 and the fight of both Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces as well as the Syrian Kurdish forces of the People's Protection Units (YPG, Yekîneyên Parastina Gel) and the Women's Protection Units (YPJ, Yekîneyên Parastina Jin) against them, Western journalists tried to gather information quickly. Locals were happy to share as much as possible, as ISIS was a great danger. As an often forgotten population under permanent occupation seeking visibility, the Kurds allow Westerners unparalleled access to the field and provide unpaid or underpaid labor, hoping that the world will see their struggle. This deepened the disparity between Kurdish journalists, academics, and writers and their Western counterparts. Using postcolonial theory on the mindset of colonialized peoples, this article shows how the fear of being forgotten, the material disparity between colonizers and colonized, and the coloniality of local political actors are obstacles for Kurdish professionals. Looking at a focus-group discussion and two interviews with Kurdish journalists, fixers, and translators from Iraq and Syria, the comparison shows that both autonomous regions are projects that sought to end decades of occupation and now face challenges that show similarities and differences.

Between Waste Studies and Postcolonial Theory: Wasted Lives, Necropolitics, and Environmental (In)Justice in Marcos Herrera’s La Mitad Mejor

ABSTRACT: This essay bridges a gap between Waste Theory, Postcolonial Studies, and Environmental Justice through a new reading of Marcos Herrera’s La mitad mejor (2009). Set in Buenos Aires’ clandestine underworld, the narrative stages acts of extreme cruelty that reduce its marginalized characters to ‘wasted lives’ (Zygmunt Bauman), ‘living dead’ (Achille Mbembe), and ‘less than human beings’ (Maria Lugones). Attending to Herrera’s ‘unplots’, racialized ‘uncharacters’, and wasted settings, I argue that violence flows deeper than these spectacular acts, and read La mitad mejor as a fictionalized response to Rob Nixon’s pressing question: how to narrate the ‘slow violence’ of environmental injustice.

The illusion of home and belongingness: a representation and (dis)location of home in Tabish Khair’s novels

ABSTRACT This paper foregrounds Khair’s two novels, The Bus Stopped and Filming: A Love Story, examining the concepts of home, representation, (dis)locations and its non-belongingness, focusing on the discourses of Indian nationalism and national identity. There is a massive gap between the living styles of rural and urban people in India. How people live in a country is vital to a modern nation and its nationalism. Khair says, ‘houses do not make homes’ because the concept of home varies according to the socio-economic conditions. Many poor people in India do not have a permanent home and constantly migrate from one place to another. They mostly make a temporary one-night stand for home, but unfortunately, their journey becomes a permanent home. That makes their existence neither inside nor outside society, creating a different kind of third space, but far more precarious than Bhabha’s notion of a third space. In Khair’s novels, the concept of third space is far less empowering than Bhabha’s notion of third space in postcolonial studies. Khair also shows that home is an illusion, not a permanent place that constantly changes like a dream and never gets concretised.

Geopolitics of Inter-subaltern Colonialism and Gender: Challenging Methodological Dualism through the “Woman, Life, Freedom” Journey from Kurdistan to Iran

By challenging postcolonial theory's “methodological dualism,” this article explores non-Western intersocietal encounters and interactions that facilitated the vanguard role of the Kurdish region of Iran (Rojhelat) in the country's “woman, life, freedom” revolutionary movement. The neglect of inter-subaltern interactions within the framework of methodological dualism has rendered it incapable of explaining the agential entanglement of “inter-subaltern colonialism” and gender in the non-Western nation-building process and its subsequent impact on the affected groups. Addressing this limitation, the author argues that Rojhelat's vanguard position arises from the strategic deployment of patriarchal gender norms in Iran's nation-building process characterized by “inter-subaltern colonialism” before and after the 1979 revolution. Anti-patriarchal tendencies within the left faction of the Kurdish national movement in Rojhelat emerged in response to this context, rendering it receptive to the slogan “woman, life, freedom,” which originally emerged through the Kurdish freedom movement in Turkey and Syria. Furthermore, the centrality of gender in the Islamic Republic of Iran's exceptionalist geopolitical discourses has made the slogan a powerful tool for expressing opposition to the state and mobilizing multiple oppressed groups.

REVISITING W.E.D. DU BOIS’S LEGACY IN THE HISTORIC STRUGGLE FOR RACIAL EMANCIPATION IN AMERICA OF THE 20TH CENTURY

This article explores William Edward Burghardt Du Bois’s legacy in the historical fight for African Americans’ emancipation in the United States of America. The study aims to delve into the contemporary relevance of Du Bois’s ideology in the quest for more racial equity and its impacts on Black people. His philosophy continues to shape discussions on race inequality and social justice since the perpetuation of racism and stereotypes against African Americans. His intellectual contributions, activism, and scholarship mark the hardest periods of racial segregation and discrimination. Actually, the struggle for the oppressed people’s intellectual prosperity is Du Bois’s most efficient alternatives for Blacks’ emancipation. In this process, he initiates the Niagara Movement in 1905 which merely fails. In 1909, the movement of N.A.A.C.P. is founded out of the inspiration from the previous one. In this regard, the current investigation utilizes the postcolonial theory to analyze and interpret his works and any documents related to Blacks’ activism. As main methodological framework, the qualitative approach allows to collect the textual data. As a result, the analysis has shown that Du Bois’s thoughts and convictions are timeless in the sense that his philosophy have positively impacted the interracial landscape in the American society

Identity Crises and the Impact of 9/11: A Post-Colonial Study of the Reluctant Fundamentalist and Khuda Kay Lye

The current study explores the devastating aftershocks and identity crises caused by 9/11. It furthermore, presents the upheavals through two different forms of literature: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid and the cinematic film Khuda Kay Liye by Shoaib Mansoor. The study employs a post-colonial lens, utilizing the concept of marginality to examine identity crises and the traumatic aftermath of 9/11. In addition, the study highlights the main characters of both the literary forms: novel and film, demonstrating how they face marginalization at various levels—cultural, religious, and international. The background of the study encompasses the Afghan-Russian war in 1979 and the 9/11 attacks, which profoundly affected Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, fueling terrorism and raising questions about identity. Religious figures, as the research uncovers through the character of Changez in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, were often labeled as terrorists. On the other hand, Mansoor, Maryam, and Sarmad are marginalized in Khuda Kay Liye. Mansoor faces racial prejudice in the USA, while Sarmad and Maryam encounter religious extremism in Pakistan. While weaving together the theme of identity crises, the study adopts the framework of marginality, a significant aspect of post-colonial literature. With a clear understanding of the issues, the study utilizes post-colonial theory, using Edward Said's seminal work, Orientalism. Additionally, the researcher recognizes the significance of marginality, which is central to both the genre fiction and the films The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Khuda Kay Liye.

“The Brunt of the Colonial Yoke Continues to Weigh on Us”: Understanding Africa’s Geopolitics as a Decolonial Struggle

ABSTRACT The escalation of tensions in the global political arena is hardly a recent development. Presently, there’s a notable shift toward acknowledging the enduring impact of historical traumas such as slavery, World Wars, and colonialism on humans and nations. Colonialism dealt a significant blow to Africa, with the effects manifesting as trauma. Despite its colonial tragedy, a substantial body of literature recognizes the increasing agency of Africa. Thus, this study examines Africa’s evolving economic, political, and security tensions in light of its colonial history. It applies Postcolonial Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as theoretical and analytical lenses to examine the speeches of twelve (12) African leaders who participated in the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit. I explore the pattern of issues discussed by these leaders in terms of their indicative nature of postcolonial trauma and examine how the speeches demonstrate Africa’s agency within the international political landscape. The findings reveal that African leaders tie their current political, economic, and security situations in their country to the remnants of colonialism and imperialism. Fueled with resentments, these leaders are more inclined to distrust the West but maintain trust in Russia and its “strategic” partnership. Therefore, in asserting to their agency, the analysis indicates a shift toward Africa’s interdependency and desired participation in big power politics with “sincere” support from Russia. This study highlights a significant trend in Africa’s geopolitical landscape, examining how colonialism has shaped the region’s political dynamics and impacted its diplomatic aspirations in today’s multipolar world.

Das Medium barbarisieren

Abstract This article analyses the peculiar writing processes of Tomer Gardi in his novel Broken German as a broken mediality. Through the interaction of theoretical tools proper to Media Studies with perspectives of so-called Betroffenheitsliteratur and postcolonial theory, I claim that the novel can be seen as example of how the affection (Betroffenheit) of migrants facing discrimination due to their broken language can be not only picked out as a central theme of postmigrant narrations, but also performed through the medium itself. Here, through its own body, language actually becomes capable of performing what it is talking about. My reasoning starts from Dewey’s reflections on the role of medium in the aesthetic experience, from the concepts of Automedialität and Mikropolitik der Betroffenheit, as theorized by Jörg Dünne, Christian Moser and Andrea Seier, researching how individual and collective subjectivities are constituted through their cultural, linguistic and medial genealogies, in the wake of theorists like Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida, Butler and Spivak.I argue that Gardi’s case shows that the dynamic constitution of the writing subject always implicates a radical and violent transformation of the medium, in a process of mutual breaking and becoming-each-other.