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Journal articles on the topic 'Postcolonial narratives'
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Deepak, Dhananjayan E. "Re-visioning History and Visualising Caste: A Postcolonial Reading of Bhimayana and A Gardener in the Wasteland." Shanlax International Journal of Arts, Science and Humanities 11, S2 (2024): 41–46. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12606194.
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The early graphic narratives from India, like the Amar Chitra Kata, focus on proliferating the sense of nationhood by representing mythical stories and historical events in the graphic narrative form. These graphic narratives are considered postcolonial in their attempt to counter colonial influence by invoking the nation’s past glory. This paper problematises categorising a graphic narrative as postcolonial solely based on the coloniser and the colonised dichotomy. In his essay Postcolonial Remains, Robert JC Young proposes a shift within postcolonial theory by concerning itself with the subaltern within postcolonial societies. The graphic narratives Bhimayana and A Gardener in the Wasteland demonstrate that shift through the visualisation of caste in history. The idea of nationhood and a glorious past is questioned by constructing history from below. The visualisation of caste is at the centre of reconstructing or re-visioning history in both graphic narratives. In that process of deconstruction and reconstruction (re-vision) of history, a new visual aesthetic is produced, along with a shift in the postcolonial graphic narrative scene.
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Dr., Auradkar Sarika Pradiprao. "INVESTIGATING THE WAYS IN WHICH POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE CHALLENGES DOMINANT NARRATIVES." International Journal of Education & Applied Sciences Research 12, no. 1 (2025): 35–42. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15271282.
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<strong>ABSTRACT</strong> Postcolonial literature serves as a powerful tool for confronting and deconstructing the colonial legacy. It challenges the dominant narratives that were constructed by colonial powers, which often portrayed indigenous cultures as primitive, backward, and in need of "civilizing." Through a variety of narrative techniques, postcolonial authors confront these Eurocentric ideologies, providing a multifaceted understanding of colonization and its aftermath. This research paper examines the ways postcolonial literature actively engages with and challenges dominant colonial narratives. Drawing from key texts such as Chinua Achebe’s <em>Things Fall Apart</em>, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o’s <em>Petals of Blood</em>, Jean Rhys’s <em>Wide Sargasso Sea</em>, and Arundhati Roy’s <em>The God of Small Things</em>, the paper explores how postcolonial writers use language, themes, character development, and symbolism to subvert colonial discourse. The study highlights how these authors not only contest the historical and cultural narratives imposed by colonial powers but also create spaces for marginalized voices, emphasizing the importance of identity, power, and resistance in postcolonial contexts. By examining the narrative strategies used by these writers, the paper aims to show how postcolonial literature fosters a more inclusive, nuanced, and multifaceted understanding of history, culture, and identity. <strong>Keywords: </strong>Postcolonial literature, dominant narratives, decolonization, identity, resistance, power, Chinua Achebe, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Jean Rhys, Arundhati Roy, colonialism, gender, race, class, hybridity, subaltern.
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Piyush, V. Dhale. "Reclaiming Voices: The Role of Postcolonial and Decolonial Narratives in Modern Literature." International Journal of Advance and Applied Research S6, no. 18 (2025): 148–51. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15255021.
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<em>This paper explores postcolonial and decolonial narratives in contemporary literature, analyzing how these narratives challenge Eurocentric perspectives and reclaim indigenous and postcolonial identities. The study examines the historical roots of postcolonial theory, key themes in modern literature, and how contemporary authors resist colonial legacies. By focusing on selected works from global literature, this paper highlights the shift toward more inclusive storytelling that gives voice to historically marginalized communities. Furthermore, it discusses the role of literature as a form of cultural resistance and knowledge production, illustrating how contemporary authors use narrative strategies to subvert colonial ideologies and assert alternative worldviews. This research underscores the intersection between literature, history, and activism, demonstrating how postcolonial and decolonial narratives continue to shape global discourse on identity, power, and representation.</em>
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Mr., V. Temuzion Kumuja, and Roshan Jameer MD Ms. "Reimagining Narratives: Evolving Contexts in English Literature and Cultural Discourse." Context 12, no. 3 (2025): 44–58. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15544811.
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The paper extensively surveys the changing tides in English literature and cultural discourse, investigating how more contemporary scholars have re-read or re-interpreted earlier narratives based on changing socio-political technologies and postcolonial outlooks. Drawing on perspectives from postmodernism, cultural studies, postcolonial theory, and digital humanities, the research looks at how narratives are being re-constituted by globalization, identity politics, and recent digital media accident turnover. The findings provide that there are three modes of narrative evolution: postcolonial re-imaginings that overturn Eurocentric history, the postmodern fragmentation of narrative form, and the trans/media-tion of narrative when originally in print into digital spaces, which establishes a different relationship with the reader. The paper ends by suggesting new interesting avenues for literary analysis in an age of algorithmic storytelling capabilities and AI models. More generally, the paper asserts that literary analyses require more fluid methodologies to account for these shifts. <strong>Keywords</strong><em>:</em><strong> </strong>Narrative theory; cultural discourse; postmodern literature’ postcolonial
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Sivasankaran, Anagha, and Sayant Vijay. "Mimicry as a Decolonial Praxis: Exploring Colonial Representations in On the Banks of the Mayyazhi." World Journal of English Language 15, no. 5 (2025): 254. https://doi.org/10.5430/wjel.v15n5p254.
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The relationship between the colonizer and the colonized is characterized by complex interactions of power, spatial dynamics, and social structures. Literary narratives function as critical instruments for exposing the underlying discourses of colonialism that permeate everyday social exchanges. While some narratives tacitly acknowledge colonial hegemony, others strive to subvert it in pursuit of a postcolonial stance. However, Indian writers and critics have long neglected the imperative of decolonial readings in narratives addressing colonisation and westernisation themes. Yet, M. Mukundan's novel, On the Banks of the Mayyazhi, uniquely integrates colonial, postcolonial, and decolonial dimensions of social relations, fostering a nuanced understanding of contemporary social dynamics. This paper employs Homi K. Bhabha's concept of Mimicry to trace the discourses of colonial control within the narrative. Mukundan vividly portrays the colonisation of Mahe by the French alongside the local freedom struggle, facilitating an exploration of mimicry's multifaceted implications and its potential transcendence into mockery as a means to surpass subjugation. Furthermore, the paper underscores the inconsistencies inherent in postcolonial efforts to dismantle colonial boundaries even after their physical dissolution. Such postcolonial narrative analyses are relevant in navigating individual existence amidst the complexities of daily social relations in a neo-colonial milieu.
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Mbaabu, Alfred, Oscar Maina, and Yuvenalis Mwairumba. "The Nexus Between Magical Realism and The Post-Colonial Discourse." East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences 8, no. 2 (2025): 327–38. https://doi.org/10.37284/eajass.8.2.3100.
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The study examines the nexus between magical realism and the postcolonial discourse in Ben Okri’s Infinite Riches and The Famished Road. The study relies on the postcolonial theory as formulated by Frantz Fanon. Ben Okri’s two novels, The Famished Road and Infinite Riches which form the basis for this study, form the basis for this study and also help to explore and understand the connection between Magical realism and the Postcolonial discourse. Using the postcolonial theory, the study examines how the postcolonial narrative is portrayed using magical realism. The study employs close reading and interpretation of both the primary and secondary data sources. The study establishes that magical realism aids the rendition of a postcolonial narrative. Magical realism is also employed in the two postcolonial narratives as a way of resistance and as a dominant voice of the colonial encounter
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Gavristova, Tatiana. "Postcolonial Narratives: Literature of Migritude." ISTORIYA 13, no. 3 (113) (2022): 0. http://dx.doi.org/10.18254/s207987840020227-8.
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The article is dedicated to the history of migritude, a phenomenon that arose among the African intellectual emigration at the beginning of the 21st century. Its origin is associated with the name of the Kenyan writer of Indian origin Shailja Patel, the author of poetical show (2006) and the poem under the title “Migritude” (2010). As a result, a literary movement of the same name was formed, the bias of which is connected, on the one hand, with the renewal of the format of post-colonial narratives and their themes, and, on the other hand, with the tectonic changes that have taken place on the world stage in the context of globalization. The author of the article focuses on the ego-story of Shailja Patel and its transformation, primarily due to content, into the history of an entire generation living in the era, which coincided in time with the situations of postcoloniality and postmodernity. Addressing the issues of colonialism and post-colonialism, racism, segregation and migration is not new. Eventually women joined the discussion and set themselves the task of answering the question posed by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in her essay “Can Subaltern Speak?” They radically changed the range of topics proposed for discussion by addressing the ideas of gender equality and the fight against stereotypes, focusing on the problems of social and professional identity without regard to ethnicity and race. The article identifies a number of the most famous authors of migritude (Fatou Diome, Christina Ali Farah, Igiaba Scego, researchers of their works Augusta Irele and Ashna Ali, etc.) and the topics they refer to. Particular emphasis is placed on their interpretation of the problem of identity in the context of the strategy of interculturalism in conjunction with the processes of globalization, liberalization, democratization and digitalization. The author comes to the conclusion that in recent years the discursive field of migritude has been forming with its own borders (within the Diaspora) and practices (primarily adaptative), terminology, intellectual and social communities, activists and sympathizers. In conditions when migration has become a marker of the modern world order migritude has become a norm for them as an opportunity to realize a number of their most important intentions, including self-realization, obtaining a profession, and achieving success.
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Netzer, Orly Lael. "Postcolonial life narratives: testimonial transactions." Postcolonial Studies 20, no. 4 (2017): 527–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2017.1368361.
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Bower, Rachel. "Postcolonial life narratives: testimonial transactions." Journal of Postcolonial Writing 52, no. 4 (2015): 525. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2015.1110365.
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Hayes, Patrick. "Postcolonial life narratives: testimonial transactions." Prose Studies 39, no. 1 (2017): 73–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01440357.2017.1397982.
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Pradhan, Jajati K. "Postcolonial Life Narratives: Testimonial Transactions." Life Writing 14, no. 4 (2016): 561–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14484528.2016.1147330.
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Dharmaputra, Radityo. "Non-Western responses to Russia's war in Ukraine: Learning from Indonesia." Journal of Regional Security, no. 00 (2023): 11. http://dx.doi.org/10.5937/jrs18-41779.
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Using Indonesia, one of the leading voices in the so-called Global South, I trace the diverse narratives of non-Western elites on interpreting the war in Ukraine, the relationship between Russia and the "non-Western" world, and the NATO factors. The lack of knowledge about Russia and Ukraine, coupled with the strong anti-Western sentiment, has created a more pro-Russian sentiment in the Indonesian narratives about the war. This tendency was made stronger by the postcolonial thinking in Indonesian elite discourse, creating an 'understander' narrative rooted in the local postcolonial history instead of being driven by external, material factors.
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Kaplan, Kenneth. "The African medical intermediary figure in two narrative films depicting the colonial medical encounter." Journal of African Cinemas 15, no. 1 (2023): 57–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jac_00089_1.
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Scholarly work on medical-themed screen narratives has hitherto favoured film emanating from the Global North. By considering two feature films by filmmakers from Africa, this article seeks partially to redress this imbalance. Applying postcolonial theory from influential African scholars, the article redirects attention from the dramatized persona of Dr Albert Schweitzer, the protagonist in the selected films, to the narrative construction of the African medical intermediary. The comparative analysis considers this figure in a new light and attempts to understand its importance within the cinematic imagining of African colonial and postcolonial encounters. The article delineates and discusses a unique and significant set of characteristics that configure the medical intermediary at critical junctures in both film narratives.
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Sen, Bikramjit. "The Ghostly Echoes of the Past: A Postcolonial Reading of Hullaballoo." Praxis International Journal of Social Science and Literature 7, no. 12 (2025): 6–8. https://doi.org/10.51879/pijssl/071202.
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Kiran Desai's ‘Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard’ is a poignant exploration of postcolonial India. It delves into the intricate interplay of memory, history, and colonialism's enduring legacy. Through a unique blend of magical realism and historical fiction, Desai constructs a narrative that critiques the distortions of historical narratives, the burden of the past on the present, and the search for authentic identity in a nation grappling with its colonial past. The novel's setting, the fictional town of Shahkot, serves as a microcosm of India's broader societal and political landscape. Desai employs magical realism to challenge linear narratives and conventional historical accounts, highlighting the subjective nature of memory and the fluidity of time. By blurring the lines between the real and the fantasy, the author invites readers to question the veracity of historical records and to consider alternative perspectives.
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Szakács, Simona. "Postcolonial readings of Romanian identity narratives." National Identities 21, no. 2 (2018): 214–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14608944.2017.1422649.
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Kinnvall, Catarina. "Ontological Insecurities and Postcolonial Imaginaries." Humanity & Society 42, no. 4 (2018): 523–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0160597618802646.
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In this article, I address the particular narratives and discourses that respond to increased feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, and fear, so-called ontological insecurities, and their connections to the postcolonial imaginaries of populist politics. Recent focus on post-truth politics and alternative facts point to some underlying questions concerning the emotional appeal of particular social imaginaries, such as the appeal and resonance of certain discourses and narratives, as well as the ways in which specific discourses and narratives grip and take an emotional hold of a subject. Of particular importance in terms of populist politics is why specific imaginaries ultimately come together in the imagined object of the other—in this case, the immigrant and/or the refugee other. To understand how power works through emotional discourses and narratives, I discuss how they come to naturalize colonial fears and postcolonial melancholia, played out in myths about “the nation,” “the people,” “the establishment,” and “the immigrant others,” but also how such myths justify the imagined ills of Western society and how they constitute both remedies to and origins of ontological insecurities.
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Sherstyukov, S. A. "The Narratives of Muslim Women of Central Asia about "Liberation": the Voice of the Subaltern? (1920s-1930s)." Izvestiya of Altai State University, no. 5(115) (November 30, 2020): 57–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.14258/izvasu(2020)5-08.
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This article examines the narratives of Muslim women in Central Asia about their experience of their emancipation. Gender issues occupy an important place in postcolonial studies which have progressed rapidly in recent decades. Can the analytical language and approaches develop within the framework of postcolonial studies be applied to the study of Soviet history? This issue continues to be the subject of discussion among Russian and Western authors. However, it is obvious that when studying some aspects of the life of Soviet society, it is impossible to ignore the experience of studying colonial and postcolonial societies. The author, repeating the question posed by postcolonial researchers about whether the Subaltern can speak, tries to answer it by focusing on the narratives of Muslim women in Central Asia about “liberation”. These narratives were an important part of the Soviet discourse on the emancipation of women. Muslim women's gaining a voice (individual and collective) was seen as an important indicator of the success of policies aimed at "liberating" women. Analysis of Muslim women's narratives about "liberation" provided an opportunity to see the similarity of their structure, as well as how the structure of narratives changed in the 1930s.
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Rajiv. "Global Perspectives on Climate Crisis in Postcolonial Literature: Decolonizing Ecological Narratives." RESEARCH REVIEW International Journal of Multidisciplinary 9, no. 4 (2024): 245–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2024.v09.n04.029.
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This paper explores the intersection of postcolonial literature and global perspectives on the climate crisis, focusing on how literary narratives decolonize ecological discourse and advocate for environmental justice. Postcolonial literature, emerging from regions formerly colonized by Western powers, offers unique perspectives on environmental issues, challenging dominant Western narratives and proposing alternative frameworks rooted in cultural and historical contexts. Through a comparative and thematic analysis of selected texts, this research examines how postcolonial authors critique colonial legacies, highlight environmental degradation’s disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, and envision sustainable futures grounded in cultural resilience and ecological stewardship.
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Dwivedi, Akhilesh Kumar, and Brajesh Verma. "Postmodern Themes in Arundhati Roy's and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's Novels." International Journal of Research 12, no. 3 (2025): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14962068.
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<em>This essay analyzes the postmodern elements in the works of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Arundhati Roy, examining how both authors reflect the intricacies of postcolonial societies. Despite differences in their settings and writing styles, their narratives incorporate postmodern techniques such as non-linear structures, fragmentation, and a challenge to grand narratives, enabling them to explore issues related to history, power, and identity in postcolonial contexts. One key postmodern theme in both authors’ works is hybridity, which highlights the dynamic and often contradictory identities shaped by postcolonial realities. Through fragmented storytelling, Roy and Jhabvala portray characters navigating the complex interplay of cultural, social, and historical forces, questioning rigid notions of identity. Displacement is another significant theme, examined both psychologically and physically, as characters struggle with feelings of alienation and belonging. This emotional and cultural dislocation critiques dominant historical and national narratives, offering a more individualized, fragmented view of postcolonial existence. Both authors also use intertextuality, blending references to various traditions and emphasizing the diverse perspectives within postcolonial societies. By employing these postmodern techniques, Roy and Jhabvala provide insightful critiques of colonial legacies and the ongoing processes of identity formation and historical re-imagination in postcolonial settings. </em>
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Liu, Yilin. "Language and Liberation: A Study of J.M. Coetzee's Postcolonial Writing." Communications in Humanities Research 62, no. 1 (2025): None. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7064/2025.20906.
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This paper explores postcolonialism in the works of J.M. Coetzee, analyzing his critique of imperial discourse, narrative multiculturalism, and the pursuit of individual liberation. As a South African author profoundly influenced by apartheid and multiculturalism, Coetzee's major worksDisgrace, Waiting for the Barbarians, and Life & Times of Michael Killustrate the lingering trauma of colonial history and resist the authority of imperial discourse. Through an examination of Coetzee's writings, this study analyzes his critique of imperial centrism and proposes the possibility of reexamining human dignity and freedom within a postcolonial context. By approaching the interplay between discourse and power, this paper investigates how Coetzee deconstructs grand narratives and constructs pluralistic discourses to challenge authority. Through allegorical storytelling and classical rewritings, Coetzee blurs the boundaries between history and fiction, exposing the hypocrisy and oppression embedded in colonial history. Furthermore, Coetzee amplifies marginalized voices through polyphonic and multiperspectival narratives. His liberal ideology and diasporic aesthetics explore individual resistance in postcolonial societies. By decentralizing narratives and embracing multicultural perspectives, Coetzee rejects monolithic collective authority and advocates for true freedom beyond power systems. As a diasporic intellectual, Coetzee constructs globally conscious literary narratives that transcend racial and regional boundaries, offering significant insights into cultural diversity and human dignity within the context of globalization.
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Modiri, Joel. "Narrating Constitutional Dis/Order in Post-1994 South Africa: A Critical Response to Theunis Roux." Verfassung in Recht und Übersee 57, no. 1 (2024): 82–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-2024-1-82.
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This comment takes up the invitation to critically engage Theunis Roux’s paper “Grand Narratives of Transition and the Quest for Democratic Constitutionalism in India and South Africa”, focusing only on the latter of his two subject countries. Like Roux, I am interested in examining the impending collapse or fading of liberal constitutionalism as an emancipatory horizon for postcolonial futurity and regard this predicament as one of the major questions for legal, political and social theory today. As both the promises and premises of the South African constitution sustain deep fractures under the pressure of the intractable afterlife of colonial-apartheid and growing dissent against the founding myths of the post-apartheid legal order, we enter a problem-space that demands reckoning. Roux’s approach to this question is to stage an interlocution between what he regards as the two prominent competing grand narratives of postcolonial transition and democratic constitutionalism, which he respectively names the “liberal progressive” (mainstream) narrative (“LPN”) and the “culturalist” or “decolonial” (critical) narrative (“CGN”).
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Pulami, Manish Jung. "(De) Construction of State Identity through Postcolonial Examination of Geography: A Case Study of Nepal." Tasambo Journal of Language, Literature, and Culture 1, no. 01 (2023): 43–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2023.v01i01.006.
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Postcolonialism on geographical studies encompasses scholarships that draw on postcolonial perspectives to challenge forms of colonial and imperial domination of geographical narratives. The studies within and beyond geography have construed how colonial discourse and discrimination have distinctive spatial dimensions and special effects on the (de)construction of the identity of the states. Thus, applying postcolonial lenses and examining colonial and Eurocentric geographical narratives, the paper aims to deconstruct the state identity. First, the paper introduces postcolonial studies to geography by way of a review of the literature. Then, the paper reviews the Eurocentric geographical architecture to establish modern geography as a western or colonial creation. Additionally, the paper provides a colonial justification for those geographical constructs and paves the way for de-mapping the Eurocentric geographies. Notably, the paper takes a unique case study of Nepal and examines the colonial geographical frameworks the British East India Company constructed during colonisation in the Indian subcontinent. Likewise, the paper outlines the consequential colonial geographical narratives formed due to the colonial discourses and the postcolonial explanation of Nepal’s identity. In the end, the paper presents Nepal’s native geographical identity by comparing Divya Upadesh with that of the colonial narratives. In conclusion, the paper emphasises the Eurocentric and colonial geographical penetration into the knowledge system to construct a state identity and postcolonial approach as the method of deconstructing those identities of the state.
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Swanson, Lucy. "(Re-)Framing the Midwife: Rewriting Archival and Postcolonial Intertexts in Rosalie l’infâme." Journal of Haitian Studies 28, no. 2 (2022): 142–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jhs.2022.a901947.
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Abstract: This article examines how Évelyne Trouillot’s 2003 novel Rosalie l’infâme rewrites the narratives of two historical figures, the prerevolutionary hero Makandal and an Arada midwife who committed infanticide to spare children from a life of enslavement. Close readings contrast Rosalie ’s representation of the legal trials against these figures with the accounts given in colonial source texts and prior postcolonial rewritings. This comparison reveals how Trouillot reimagines these narratives to restore their emotional weight, and uses the celebrated Makandal legend to frame the midwife’s more taboo acts of resistance. Trouillot dismantles the colonial archives’ transformation of legitimate acts of resistance into crimes, but she also undermines triumphant postcolonial narratives of the fight against enslavement. Ultimately, this article argues that while, historically, rewriting has been used to distort enslaved persons’ affective realities, Rosalie seeks to restore the original emotions to these archival narratives and, by extension, to restore the complexity of the motivations behind these violent acts of resistance—if only through fiction. Résumé: Cet article étudie la réécriture des récits des figures historiques de Makandal et de la sage-femme Arada qui aurait tué des enfants pour les sauver d’une vie esclavagée dans le roman Rosalie l’infâme (2003) d’Évelyne Trouillot. Rosalie nous livre une représentation des procès à contre de ces personnages, qui contraste avec celles qu’en ont fait les archives coloniales et les réécritures postcoloniales antérieures. Ces différences révèlent la manière dont Trouillot réimagine ces récits pour restituer leur poids affectif ainsi que les stratégies employées par l’auteure qui exploite la légende célèbre de Makandal afin de mettre en lumière les actes de résistance plus tabous de la sage-femme. Trouillot remet en question la transformation, par les archives coloniales, d’actes de résistance en actes criminels, tout en interrogeant également des récits postcoloniaux triomphants sur la lutte contre l’esclavage. L’objet de cet article est de démontrer que malgré le fait que la réécriture a souvent été utilisée pour déformer les réalités affectives de personnes esclavagées, Rosalie cherche, au contraire, à restituer les émotions originelles des personnes esclavagées, pour compléter les récits des archives et, par conséquent, rétablir la complexité des motivations derrière ces actes violents de résistance, même si ce n’est possible qu’à travers la fiction.
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Vukotić, Sara, and Darko Ilin. "Decolonizing Literary Studies: Unveiling Postcolonial Narratives in Post-Yugoslav Academic Curricula*." Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia 52 (August 12, 2024): 191–209. http://dx.doi.org/10.15388/actpaed.2024.52.12.
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This paper explores the presence and integration of postcolonial studies in literature education within the faculties of philology in the capitals of the former Yugoslav countries. Focusing on the emerging field of critical curriculum studies, the research delves into the nuanced landscape of literature education, particularly at higher levels, specifically emphasizing literary students’ specialized education. The study contextualizes postcolonial studies as a hybrid space for theoretical discourse, tracing its roots to anticolonial critique and contemporary Western theories. Drawing on the anticolonial heritage of socialist Yugoslavia and its involvement in the Non-Aligned Movement, the paper navigates the complexities of (post)colonial dynamics in the Balkans. This paper investigates the presence, or absence, of postcolonial theory in literature curricula within humanities faculties in the former Yugoslav countries’ capital cities. This research is based on the close interconnection of literature and postcolonial theory, whose origins lie within the literary representation of colonization relations. The primary objective is to discern the extent to which postcolonial studies are integrated into literary education and what implications this holds within the national context. Through an examination of course programs and content at various academic levels, the research aims to illuminate the role of postcolonial theory in shaping the narrative of literature education in the context of the former Yugoslavia.
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Schleck, Julia. "“Plain Broad Narratives of Substantial Facts”: Credibility, Narrative, and Hakluyt’s Principall Navigations*." Renaissance Quarterly 59, no. 3 (2006): 768–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/ren.2008.0431.
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This article compares voyage narratives printed in Richard Hakluyt’s 1589 Principall Navigations to contemporaneous travel histories in an effort to contextualize the epistemological status of each group of texts and debunk the former’s reputation for greater factuality. It critiques the use commonly made of Hakluyt’s narratives in literary studies, arguing that the privileging of these texts over other sources results in postcolonial studies that ironically valorize a type of writing which promoted the colonial mindset these studies seek to expose.
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Balkenhol, Markus. "Canonizing De Kom." Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism 27, no. 1 (2023): 59–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/07990537-10461828.
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How did Anton de Kom become national heritage? This essay argues that De Kom’s successful canonization is owed in significant part to his sacralization. It shows that in De Kom’s case, the sacralizing power of heritage has three dimensions: his narrative framing, his image, and his status as ancestor. Highlighting these processes of sacralization allows a critical rereading of how De Kom is inscribed in postcolonial politics of memory in the Netherlands. The focus by postcolonial historians on historical accuracy and reading archives against or “along the grain” is crucial, but a secular perspective does not fully answer what makes certain historical narratives persuasive to particular audiences. Paying closer attention to this sacralizing power of heritage can provide new insights into workings of postcolonial memory and heritage.
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Lumintang, Merlin Brenda Angeline. "Forgotten Souls." Theologia in Loco 4, no. 1 (2022): 75–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.55935/thilo.v4i1.247.
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The stories of the western male missionary are commonly and widely known in mission history. This article, however, reclaims the widely forgotten stories of women missionaries as authentic mission narratives relevant to the contemporary mission preaching conducted in the local Indonesian churches such as the Evangelical Christian Church in Minahasa. This article uses a feminist postcolonial perspective to argue that women missionaries are postcolonial subjects. It further uses their narratives to shape the local church's sermon as a "counter-testimony" to the grand Christian mission narratives that often forget women missionaries' voices and roles.
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Sethuparvathy, S., and Smita Jha. "Decolonising the Map Through Literary Cartography in Select Malayalam Novels." Southeast Asian Review of English 61, no. 2 (2024): 27–45. https://doi.org/10.22452/sare.vol61no2.3.
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Using select indigenous novels translated from the Malayalam language, this paper will study how fictional spaces created by writers of Indian regional languages become a counter-narrative for colonial history and decolonise narrative and physical spaces. The paper will examine how postcolonial texts become ethnographic and social commentaries on colonial binaries and become resistance narratives to the hegemonic powers. Questions like how regional writers decolonise occidental maps, how the authors write alternative histories, how different versions of postcolonial communities are portrayed, how a postcolonial nation-state is built through literature, how communities that were left out in colonial discourses are brought back to the folds; how the history of a place influences power and identity of people; how Malayali writers locate an imagined space within actual geographic space through cartography; what determines the boundaries of these spaces- economically, culturally, historically, and politically, etc. will be addressed.
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Wallart, Kerry-Jane. "Gillian Whitlock, Postcolonial Life Narratives: Testimonial Transactions." Commonwealth Essays and Studies 38, no. 2 (2016): 141–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/ces.5669.
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McLeod, John. "Rev. of Postcolonial Life Narratives: Testimonial Transactions." a/b: Auto/Biography Studies 33, no. 3 (2018): 744–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08989575.2018.1499567.
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James, E. "Postcolonial Green: Environmental Politics and World Narratives." Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 18, no. 4 (2011): 891–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/isle/isr092.
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Fali, Wafaa. "Diasporic Voices: Cultural Dislocation and Search for Home in Diana Abu-Jabers’s Arabian Jazz and Laila Halaby’s West of the Jordan." Traduction et Langues 14, no. 2 (2015): 30–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.52919/translang.v14i2.745.
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his paper is concerned with literary and postcolonial facets of resistance and identity negotiation as concepts through which to approach representations of postcolonial conflicts in contemporary Arab-American women’s writings. These concepts operate at various levels of narratives and open new ways for remembering, narrating, and reading experiences via problematizing the discourses of Arab women’s experiences in diaspora. This paper aims to posit negotiation as a concept of writing and reading which actively engages events, discourses which implies pluralistic conception of social, political, and cultural agency. More specifically, the study explores the ways in which novelists descending from Arab origins, Diana Abu-Jaber and Laila Halaby, deploy negotiation and resistance as tools for aesthetic and socio-political engagement in postcolonial narratives to escape hegemonization. It is a reflection on the notion of hybrid identities and varied cultural provenance of non-native writings. Through its negotiated and interdisciplinary approach to narratives of alienation along with multi-consciousness of identity, this paper does not only engage with multiple discourses derived from postcolonial studies. It also intervenes into the conceptions of nation, memory, and accountability.
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Joseph, Dr Denny, and Dr Sini Jose. "Reinventing Histories: A Postcolonial Revisiting of Colonial Historiography." International Journal of English Language, Education and Literature Studies (IJEEL) 4, no. 3 (2025): 1–6. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijeel.4.3.1.
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Colonial historiography systematically portrayed colonized societies as inferior to justify Western dominance, framing them as backward "Others" in need of civilizing. Postcolonial theory, following the trails of Edward Said’s Orientalism, challenges these narratives, exposing their role in reinforcing imperial power structures. Key scholars like Frantz Fanon, Homi Bhabha, and Leela Gandhi argue that reclaiming and rewriting history is essential to dismantling colonial legacies. Resistance to Eurocentric histories involves interrogating biased representations and centering marginalized voices. The critique extends to colonial policies of James Mill and Thomas Macaulay, particularly the imposition of English, which marginalized indigenous knowledge systems. Debates within postcolonial studies highlight tensions between Western frameworks and decolonial approaches, emphasizing the need for epistemologies rooted in local contexts. The struggle to decolonize history persists, as even postcolonial narratives sometimes inadvertently replicate colonial paradigms. Postcolonial historiography seeks to disrupt dominant narratives by prioritizing subaltern perspectives and challenging enduring power imbalances. This transformative approach underscores the political nature of history-writing and advocates for inclusive, pluralistic accounts of the past.
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Hegde, Radha S. "Speaking Miscommunication: Bridging a Postcolonial Abyss." Media Theory 5, no. 2 (2022): 207–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.70064/mt.v5i2.921.
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The dualistic view of communication as both disease and cure, raised by John Durham Peters in Speaking into the Air, continues to gain traction globally. This view of communication has followed the itineraries of the neoliberal economy and its expectations. Communication today is the site where individual aspirations, market expectations and national interests meet and collide. Taking a cue from Peters of thinking with the past, this essay follows the dualistic narrative in the complex linguistic terrain of India today where the English language and communication serve as a space for defining failure and promoting the remedy of self-development. Engaging with postcolonial examples, the discussion illustrates how narratives of miscommunication are integrated and reinforced in the entrepreneurial space of communication skills training.
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Ștefanovici, Smaranda, and Georgeta Matei. "Modernist Engagements in Postcolonial Literature." Caietele Echinox 47 (December 1, 2024): 405–20. https://doi.org/10.24193/cechinox.2024.47.25.
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This article delves into the often- neglected nexus of postcolonial literature and Modernism, addressing a critical research gap in literary studies. The primary goal of this paper is to elucidate how Salman Rushdie and J. M. Coetzee ingeniously incorporate and contest the legacy of modernism into their literary works. The findings of this research unveil the impact of modernism on postcolonial narratives, offering a nuanced understanding of how these authors utilize experimental tendencies to interrogate colonial legacies and redefine cultural identities in a transnational context. The article demonstrates that the fusion of distinct literary movements, along with the authors’ cultural hybridity, yields unique narratives that challenge conventional categorizations, enriching the discourse on postcolonial literature.
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Mutashar, Hussein Zaboon. "Reclaiming African Identity: Analyzing Issues of Postcolonial-ism in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart"." International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics 3, no. 3 (2024): 71–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.51699/ijllal.v3i3.93.
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Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" stands as a seminal work in postcolonial literature, exploring the intricate dynamics between colonizers and the colonized in the context of European colonization's impact on African societies. This abstract delves into the novel's portrayal of postcolonial themes, focusing on the disruption of traditional Igbo culture, power dynamics between Europeans and indigenous peoples, and the psychological and emotional repercussions of colonization. Achebe was motivated to write the novel as a response to European portrayals of Africans in literature, particularly influenced by Joyce Cary's shallow depiction of Africa in "Mr. Johnson." Achebe's use of language, particularly his appropriation of English to convey African experiences, challenges Eurocentric narratives and offers a counter-narrative that centres African perspectives. Through meticulous depiction of pre-colonial Igbo society, Achebe reclaims African history and cultural identity, countering colonial misrepresentations and emphasizing the resilience and dignity of indigenous cultures. Additionally, the abstract discusses Achebe's critique of colonial ideologies, particularly Christianity, which undermines native traditions and fractures communal bonds within Igbo society. By contrasting "Things Fall Apart" with Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," Achebe challenges demeaning depictions of Africans in Western literature and asserts the importance of authentic representation in postcolonial discourse. Overall, "Things Fall Apart" remains a powerful testament to the enduring legacy of colonialism and the ongoing struggle for cultural autonomy and identity in the postcolonial world. By using a postcolonial framework, the study aims to shed light on the socio-political implications of Achebe's work and highlight the importance of diverse narratives and marginalized voices.
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Dawes, James. "Postcolonial Life Narratives: Testimonial Transactions, by Gillian Whitlock." Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees 32, no. 1 (2015): 83–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40393.
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Saima Yousaf Khan, Saman Salah, and Rubina Masum. "Ecocriticism and the Postcolonial Landscape: War, Displacement, and Environmental Devastation in Kamila Shamsie’s Burnt Shadows." Journal of Arts and Linguistics Studies 3, no. 1 (2025): 307–23. https://doi.org/10.71281/jals.v3i1.223.
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Emerging Through an ecocritical and postcolonial perspective this research studies how war together with colonialism and forced migration led to environmental destruction in Kamila Shamsie’s Burnt Shadows (2009). Through the linked historical narratives of Japan, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan the novel explores how nuclear warfare and imperial expansion, and geopolitical tensions continuously damage human lives together with natural geographical environments. The research explains how the novel displays war-devastated environments to illustrate how environmental destruction mirrors the traumatic movement experienced by its characters. Using perspectives from ecocriticism via Cheryll Glotfelty and Greg Garrard and postcolonial theory from Edward Said and Dipesh Chakrabarty this research examines how historical colonial practices affect natural destruction alongside human distress. The novel uses its characters' experiences of nuclear destruction mixed with deforestation alongside war-caused population displacement to demonstrate how human conflicts produce lasting environmental disasters in postcolonial regions. Through its narrative the text demonstrates that environmental devastation encompasses political events thereby demanding vital awareness about ecology in contemporary postcolonial writing. The analysis establishes that Shamsie achieves anti-war narrative goals through her presentation of enduring environmental degradation from colonial and military warfare.
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Kavinkumar, Mr P., and Dr M. Selvam. "Cultural Deconstruction in Abdulrazak Gurnahs Refugee Narratives: A Postcolonial Reading." International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology 13, no. 4 (2025): 1485–89. https://doi.org/10.22214/ijraset.2025.68580.
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This study explores the intricate process of cultural deconstruction in the refugee-centered narratives of Abdulrazak Gurnah, specifically focusing on By the Sea, Desertion, and Afterlives. Through a postcolonial lens, the paper examines how Gurnah dismantles fixed notions of cultural identity by portraying characters caught between memory, migration, and historical erasure. His refugee protagonists challenge the binaries of homeland versus exile, tradition versus modernity, and self-versus other. The paper argues that Gurnah’s fiction presents culture as a fluid and contested terrain, shaped by colonial histories and diasporic realities. By employing fragmented narrative techniques and hybridized language, Gurnah reclaims marginalized voices and reconstructs the cultural self in exile. This research contributes to broader conversations in postcolonial and refugee studies by highlighting how literature can become a site of cultural resistance and transformation
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Wahad Kalil Hashem. "THE SELF-ALIENATION AND DESTRUCTION OF IDENTITY: A POSTCOLONIAL STUDY OF TONI MORRISON'S BELOVED." European Journal of Learning on History and Social Sciences 1, no. 6 (2024): 1–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.61796/ejlhss.v1i6.582.
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This article analyzes Toni Morrison's novel Beloved from the viewpoints. postcolonial perspective of Edward Said. By deconstructing the archetype of slavery, Morrison challenges white stereotypes of enslaved individuals and explores their feelings of self-alienation and identity deconstruction. This postcolonial analysis also situates the novel within the historical and political realities of African Americans in the United States. Sethe's character reveals the double oppression black women suffer and their contradictory experiences. In addition, the narrative structure and fragmented language of "Beloved" reflect the fractured experiences of enslaved African people, challenging traditional historical narratives dominated by white perspectives Morrison highlighted the intergenerational trauma caused by slavery and the ongoing systemic oppression and racism faced by African Americans. Analyzing the novel through Said's postcolonial lens also illuminates the intersectional constructions of power, culture, and identity and reveals the continuing impact of colonialism.
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Oparnica, Željka, and Jonathan Hirsch. "The Decline of the West and the Rise of the East: Rewriting Jewish Pasts for the Eight Hundredth Maimonides Anniversary in Sarajevo and Cairo." AJS Review: The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies 49, no. 1 (2025): 109–35. https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2025.a958079.
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Abstract: In spring 1935 the Jewish world celebrated the eight hundredth anniversary of Moses Maimonides's birth with public events, newspaper articles, and academic publications. At the time, the dominant historical narrative tied Rambam with Western Wissenschaft des Judentums , while the trope of Sephardic decline after the Spanish expulsion in the fifteenth century dominated narratives for eastern Mediterranean Jewry. This article argues that the initial attempt to dismiss the linear telling of eastern Mediterranean Jewish history came from the communities themselves already in the 1920s and peaked in the mid-1930s. While the 1930s unearthed deep anxieties in the Jewish world, this decade also saw a significant impulse within eastern Mediterranean communities to insert their own political and cultural stands. On the examples of Sarajevo and Cairo, this article historicizes the attempt to revise and amend Jewish historiographical narratives—long before postnationalist narratives and postcolonial revisionist histories entered modern Jewish studies. Abstract: In spring 1935 the Jewish world celebrated the eight hundredth anniversary of Moses Maimonides's birth with public events, newspaper articles, and academic publications. At the time, the dominant historical narrative tied Rambam with Western Wissenschaft des Judentums, while the trope of Sephardic decline after the Spanish expulsion in the fifteenth century dominated narratives for eastern Mediterranean Jewry. This article argues that the initial attempt to dismiss the linear telling of eastern Mediterranean Jewish history came from the communities themselves already in the 1920s and peaked in the mid-1930s. While the 1930s unearthed deep anxieties in the Jewish world, this decade also saw a significant impulse within eastern Mediterranean communities to insert their own political and cultural stands. On the examples of Sarajevo and Cairo, this article historicizes the attempt to revise and amend Jewish historiographical narratives—long before postnationalist narratives and postcolonial revisionist histories entered modern Jewish studies.
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Namdeo, Vikash, and Vinod Sharma. "Intersectional Approaches in Postcolonial Feminist Literary Criticism in Global Narratives." Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education 21, no. 5 (2024): 863–72. https://doi.org/10.29070/vwhabs57.
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The purpose of providing a framework for understanding development problems in a postcolonial environment, the purpose of this research is to investigate the ways in which postmodernism and postcolonialism interact with one another. The focus of the study is on the development of postcolonial feminist literary criticism, which involves analyzing global narratives through the lens of gender, racism, and social class. Through the perspective of the South, this research investigates feminist postcolonial critical views, bringing to light the ways in which intersectionality influences development discourse. The work investigates the ways in which the feminization of employment and resource allocation influences the multiplicative effects of gender discrimination, subjection of women, and women's agency. Rather than the additive effects, the multiplicative effects are more prevalent. Furthermore, it underlines how important intersectional techniques are for appreciating these issues in the social and territorial South, as well as in the North as a whole, where problems of racial and social marginalization continue to exist as a result of migration, slavery, and other factors. In the last half of the paper, the author emphasizes the significance of intersectionality in feminist postcolonial literary criticism. This is done in order to present a full assessment of global narratives.
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Scott, David. "The Tragic Vision in Postcolonial Time." Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 129, no. 4 (2014): 799–808. http://dx.doi.org/10.1632/pmla.2014.129.4.799.
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I have been arguing, over some years, that thinking about the postcolonial condition in relation to tragedy or, rather, through a critical perspective informed by the idea of the tragic is especially useful in a historical conjuncture in which the triumphalist narratives of national liberation, anti-imperialism, and socialism have become exhausted, if not extinct (Scott, Conscripts and Omens). Romance, it seems to me, is the predominant mode of emplotment of the anticolonial and radical postcolonial imaginarles. This is because the salient questions animating the critique of the colonial past have turned, understandably enough, on the identification of the disabling repressive harms of colonial power and the construction of the justificatory narrative of resistance that, at length, overcomes the perceived obstacles to a postcolonial state without these sources of (moral, political, cultural, economic) dissatisfaction. These are narratives of longing and vindication that link past, present, and future in a steady rhythm of progressive (sometimes righteously exultant) redemption. But what if the futures anticipated in this story form come to be fundamentally thrown into doubt so that they lose the self-evidence that so long sustained them as an effective horizon of political desire and political action? What if the futures anticipated by the past are now themselves a part of the past? I have been arguing that, as a consequence of the collapse of the great social and political hopes that went into the anticolonial imagining and postcolonial making of national sovereignties, we do indeed inhabit a postcolonial present marked by such an irreversible transformation. I have been arguing that the problem about the former colonial worlds for the present is not the superficial one of finding better answers to existing questions but the more fundamental one of altering the questions concerning the relation between past and present that have organized our expectations of possible futures.
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García-Contreras, Guillermo. "Are Postcolonial Narratives useful in Al-Andalus Archaeology?." Anduli, no. 20 (2021): 179–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.12795/anduli.2021.i20.10.
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Archaeological investigations of al-Andalus has become increasingly important in medieval studies, but it has traditionally been left out of the research agenda of European medieval archaeology. This is due to its exoticism and not fitting in well with the construction of a European identity and Spanish national history based on Christian expansion and the “Reconquest” process. At the same time, due to the geographical location and geopolitical position of the Iberian Peninsula within the “West”, scholars working on Islamic archaeology have dedicated less attention to al-Andalus than to other territories. Several factors pose a challenge for current research: the possibility of confrontation with feudal societies; the increasing importance given to technological transfer all along al-Andalus; religious, economic and institutional differences within Christian territories; the importance given in recent years to the identity construction of alterity; and the strong impact that the Andalusi period had on the creation of current landscapes, especially due to irrigated agriculture. This paper tries to reflect on and analyze the historiographical marginality of al-Andalus in both European medieval archaeology and Islamic archaeology. The aim is to understand how we have built an international narrative of the marginality of a territory that is theoretically outside Europe and outside the environment in which classical Islam developed, based mainly on literature produced in English on this matter. In short, this paper poses the question of whether postcolonial theory is a valid category of analysis for al-Andalus.
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Cortés Gómez, Ismael. "El humanismo poscolonial como crítica del etnonacionalismo = Postcolonial humanism as a critique of ethnonationalism." UNIVERSITAS. Revista de Filosofía, Derecho y Política, no. 29 (December 13, 2018): 125. http://dx.doi.org/10.20318/universitas.2019.4512.
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RESUMEN: Aplicando una metodología hermenéutica intertextual, el artículo ofrece un análisis de diferentes momentos en la articulación del humanismo poscolonial, sistematizando los nexos conceptuales entre las propuestas de Fanon / Bhabha y Bhabha / Said. El artículo interpreta el humanismo poscolonial como una epistemología crítica que permite dilucidar los mecanismos de violencia cultural y epistémica inherentes a los proyectos y a las narrativas etno-nacionalistas, y plantea la posibilidad de un horizonte de ciudadanía intercultural en el contexto presente de crisis de la Unión Europea posBrexit.ABSTRACT: This article offers an analysis of different moments in the articulation of postcolonial humanism through a systematization of conceptual nexus among the proposals of Fanon / Bhabha and Bhabha / Said, the article highlights the contemporary dimensions of postcolonial humanism. By doing intertextual hermeneutic analysis, the article interprets postcolonial humanism as a critical epistemology that elucidates the mechanisms of cultural and epistemic violence inherent to ethno-nationalist narratives and strategies, in the current context of postBrexit EU crisis.PALABRAS CLAVE: interculturalidad; etno-nacionalismo; humanismo poscolonial; democracia; derechos universalesKEYWORDS: interculturality; ethno-nationalism; postcolonial humanism; democracy; universal rights
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Dr, Ajinkya Sudhir Deshpande. "Voices Unveiled: Exploring Postcolonial Experiences in Indian English Literature." International Journal of Advance and Applied Research 4, no. 19 (2023): 1–4. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8133604.
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Postcolonial English Literature is a body of literary works created in response to the colonial experience and its aftermath. This includes literature by authors from former colonial countries that deals with issues such as identity, culture, power relations and resistance. This literary movement gained momentum in it’s mid-twentieth century and remains a major field of study today. This paper provides an overview of postcolonial English literature, its principal authors, their contributions to the theory, key elements and themes. The article explores key elements and themes found in postcolonial Indian English literature, including the examination of colonial history and its impact, cultural identity and hybridity, nationalism and independence struggles, socio-political realities, the diaspora experience, language and storytelling experiments, and women's voices and gender issues. These elements collectively contribute to the diversity and richness of postcolonial Indian English literature, providing insightful perspectives on the historical, social, and cultural dimensions of postcolonial India. The contributions of various Indian authors to postcolonial literature are also discussed who have made significant contributions to postcolonial literature by examining various aspects of Indian society, history, and culture. Overall, the article highlights the significance of postcolonial English literature, particularly in the Indian context, in uncovering and amplifying marginalized voices, challenging dominant narratives, and providing a deeper understanding of the complexities of colonial heritage, identity, and the struggle for cultural revival. In short, the paper highlights the exploration of postcolonial experiences, specifically in Indian English literature, and emphasizes the notion of voices being unveiled. It signifies the uncovering of diverse narratives, perspectives, and elements within the literary works, which contribute to the broader discourse on postcolonial theory.
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Wilson, Rita. "Cultural mediation through translingual narrative." Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 23, no. 2 (2011): 235–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/target.23.2.05wil.
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Translingual writers, in attempting to navigate between languages and the associated social contexts, bring both linguistic and cultural translation into play as processes fostering encounter and transformation. This paper considers the thematic function of translation within recent translingual narrative, where it appears both as a literary topos and as an ideological subtext. It attempts to illustrate how, contrary to postcolonial writers whose narratives self-consciously engage with their own linguistic or cultural hybridity by thematizing the power relationships between different linguistic strands, the narratives of transnational/ translingual writers explore new identities by constructing new dialogic spaces in which language choice is located outside the oppositional model set up by the traditional binaries of postcolonial theorizing. Through a reading of the work of Amara Lakhous, a contemporary Italian writer, born and educated in Algiers and writing in both Arabic and Italian, it is argued that translingual works suggest an understanding of translation as not only something that happens after the story ends, but is a crucial part of the narrative itself; one that generates plot and meaning, and is indispensable to an understanding of the concrete processes of cultural translation that shape relationships, identities, and interactions globally.
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Verissimo, Comfort Olajumoke. "Traditional Poetics in a War Novel: Allegory as Form and Theory in Kole Omotoso’s The Combat." Comparative Literature Studies 62, no. 2 (2025): 184–204. https://doi.org/10.5325/complitstudies.62.2.0184.
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ABSTRACT This article examines Kole Omotoso’s The Combat as a unique contribution to Nigerian Civil War literature due to its allegorical approach. Analyzing the novel through the framework of war and allegory, it argues that allegory, a metaphorical device compelling readers to seek hidden meaning, is central to the text. Unlike realist war novels, The Combat employs symbolism and Yorùbá oral traditions to explore the war’s deeper meanings. The novel’s structure, characters, and use of proverbs contribute to its allegorical framework, providing a complex understanding of the conflict. This article argues that Omotoso’s allegorical approach is a deliberate strategy to circumvent censorship, explore colonialism’s effects, and challenge dominant war narratives. Drawing on Yorùbá oral traditions, he creates a distinctly African narrative form resonating with Nigerian readers. Examining the novel’s narrative structure, characterization, and use of proverbs, this article demonstrates their contribution to allegorical meaning, including its function as a national allegory for postcolonial Nigeria’s broader social struggles. Overall, this article argues that The Combat is significant in Nigerian-Biafra War literature, because its allegorical approach offers a fresh perspective, challenging conventional war narratives and prompting readers to reconsider colonialism’s impact on a postcolonial nation.
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Glyal, Mohanad Ghanim. "The Influence of Indigenous Oral Storytelling on Western Literary Forms: A Study of Joy Harjo's Poetic Narratives." Technium Education and Humanities 11 (February 9, 2025): 42–54. https://doi.org/10.47577/teh.v11i.12510.
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This postcolonial deconstructive analysis of American Indian literature builds on hard postcolonial theoretical work. However, it also places very much emphasis on the often-oral tradition of a large portion of American Indian literatures. The works of Joy Harjo are only a small part of this tradition, which separates it from other postcolonial literatures. My essay attempts to make new statements about the importance of American Indian storytelling, particularly as developed in Harjo's poetic narratives. I hope to provide some diverse and inspired reading of Harjo's poetry, looking at the influences that the organic fusion of the oral and written traditions has on postcolonial writing. As with much postcolonial writing, the difficulty with Harjo's varied poetry is that it is not glaringly postcolonial in the traditional sense or even, as critics concerned with postcolonial literatures show, in a wider presence of the other in mainstream literature. But it is perhaps such integrated cultural voices that will make the more political aspects of Harjo's writing more meaningful to others who might not be used to her postcolonial context. This essay focuses on the influence of oral storytelling traditions of Indigenous peoples on Western literary forms, with a particular focus on Joy Harjo's use of poetic narratives. It suggests that a blending or merging of approaches towards different modes of narration, as seen in Harjo's poetics, allows a possibility for new articulations of old stories to emanate. Such efforts facilitate the creation of a space that can voice the thoughts, feelings, and attitudes of the present.
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Bolfek-Radovani, Jasmina. "Memorial Traces as Tropes of Postcolonial Hauntings in Robert Lalonde’s Sept Lacs plus au Nord and Nina Bouraoui’s Mes mauvaises pensées." London Journal of Canadian Studies 33, no. 1 (2018): 94–110. http://dx.doi.org/10.14324/111.444.ljcs.2018v33.007.
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This article is a comparative analysis of the language of memory in two auto-fictional narratives by two postcolonial francophone authors of mixed background, belonging to the area of Québec (Robert Lalonde) and Algeria (Nina Bouraoui). It will be argued that both authors seek to deconstruct the binary relationship of the spaces and identities they each belong to (white-Amerindian for Robert Lalonde vs. Franco-Algerian for Nina Bouraoui) through a specific poetics of writing or language of memory. At the same time, they each return cyclically in their writing to the postcolonial spaces, memories and histories of their respective non-Western cultures, as if ‘haunted’ by these spaces. Using the method of close textual reading in a comparative postcolonial francophone context, the article aims to show how the language of memory is deployed in the two narratives chosen. It demonstrates that both authors use the figure of the memorial trace as a trope of haunting in order to construct that language. It concludes that the figures of memory identified in the two texts analyzed give rise to a series of ‘postcolonial hauntings’ producing a postcolonial discourse of ambiguity rather than resistance.