Postcolonialism: a Brief Introduction
| Author | Eve Darian-Smith |
| DOI | 10.1177/096466399600500301 |
| Published date | 01 September 1996 |
| Date | 01 September 1996 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
POSTCOLONIALISM: A
BRIEF
INTRODUCTION
EVE DARIAN-SMITH
University of California, Santa Barbara
OSTCOLONIALISM
IS A
TERM
with multiple meanings and politi-
caul associations, cutting across and implicated within theories of
JL imperialism, modernity, racism, ethnicity, cultural geography and post-
modernism. In this brief introduction, it is impossible to do justice to the com-
plexity of intellectual debate that surrounds postcolonialism’s rapid elevation
within academia over the past decade. There already exist numerous intro-
ductory texts that seek to grapple with its definitional ambiguities and par-
ameters (see, e.g., Williams and Chrisman, 1994; Ahmad, 1995; Rajan and
Mohanram, 1995). Yet it is possible to tease out some of the basic premises
and concerns that have shaped postcolonialism as an intellectual movement
and to show why it continues to be of critical relevance in understanding the
historical continuities that shape, among other things, alternative and emer-
gent modernities, the ongoing mimetic doubling between the West and the
non-West, and how postcolonialism intersects with processes of global
capitalism in imperial and contemporary worlds.
This special volume on law and postcolonialism follows another on the
same
theme (Darian-Smith and Fitzpatrick, 1995). Together, these collections
of essays seek to highlight and explore how legal rationalities implicated in the
mythology of modern western law deepen an understanding of the ways post-
colonialism connects to government and governmentality (Fitzpatrick, 1992;
Foucault, 1991). This focus is implicit in each contributor’s interest in the links
between historical and currently volatile relations of law and concepts of
statehood, nationalism and the unfolding of international and global political
291-
292
and social arenas. How
legal issues relate to the new conditions informing cul-
tural politics and ethnic identities at national, subnational and transnational
levels is an underlying theme. Thus as a collection, the articles underscore the
significance of legal perspectives and dimensions in examining the ongoing
associations and mutual dependencies between the West and non-West, in
turn widening debate to incorporate law within postcolonial theory.
Postcolonialism is used most obviously and simplistically to demarcate the
transition from colonialism to self-determination among formerly colonized
nations. In this sense, postcolonialism operates as a chronological marker and
method of periodization. It optimistically suggests the transcendence of nine-
teenth-century imperialism, and a greater balancing of respective political and
economic power between the West and developing countries. This temporal
approach to postcolonialism is explicitly political since it involves contested
interpretations of what it does and does not represent. Some scholars view
postcolonialism as symbolic of a liberating emancipation for new nations,
despite these new states’ participation in the trappings of western modernity
by institutionalizing such things as citizenship, nationalism, legal codes and
cooperation in international bodies such as the United Nations. But for many
subaltern and neo-Marxist scholars, postcolonial rhetoric has become
emblematic of continuing, and often veiled, oppression by the West over the
rest of the world. For these critics, postcolonialism and its associated dis-
courses of nationalism offer a false and unsubstantiated hope. These conflict-
ing perspectives help explain why the rhetoric of postcolonialism has
triggered a flurry of impassioned critiques as to its cause, consequence and
implications. Embedded in this rhetoric are the competing claims and vested
interests of a number of intellectuals who claim a unique, authentic and
unadulterated non-West subjectivity deemed necessary to legitimize a
capacity to speak for peoples formerly colonized (see Ahmad, 1992; Spivak,
1988; Prakash, 1990, 1992a, 1992b; Young, 1990; McClintock, 1992;
O’Hanlon and Washbrook, 1992).
Rather than focusing on ideological controversies over ’Who now has the
power to speak for whom and with what authority’, the contributors to this
issue interpret postcolonialism more broadly in order to reconceptualize the
processes of western modernity as they relate to the formation of the West
through Europe’s Others. Postcolonial perspectives, according to Homi
Bhabha, ’Intervene in those ideological discourses of modernity that attempt
to give hegemonic &dquo;normality&dquo; to the uneven development and the differen-
tial, often disadvantaged, histories of nations, races, communities and peoples’
(Bhabha,1994:171 ). Hence by this reckoning postcolonialism does not imply
that imperialism is a thing of the past, but rather that today colonialism’s con-
figurations and methods of insinuated domination are reproduced in differ-
ent ways, often along different cleavages of asymmetry. Thus while
postcolonialism can be considered a critique of modern forms of domination,
its insight lies in understanding how the past informs the present. As a result,
postcolonial rhetoric necessarily denotes a long historical sweep of both old
and new forms of colonialism. In this volume, this is reflected in the essays
293
which range from Antony Anghie’s discussion of the early colonial origins of
international law in the sixteenth century, Roshan De Silva Wijeyeratne’s
uncovering of Buddhist ideology informing the Sri Lankan constitution of the
1970s, Paul Passavant’s analysis of John Stuart Mill’s use of a ’moral geogra-
phy’ to instantiate a western right of free speech, Alan Norrie’s critique of a
Weberian understanding of alternative legalities, Dianne Otto’s projections
about the future of global democracies and Jeannine Purdy’s...
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