Editor’s note: The authors Ruben Müller and Alistair Allan are students of English at the University of Education Karlsruhe and took a keen interest in postcolonial theories in my seminar “Postcolonial Theories and Literatures” in separate semesters. Indepently of each other, each wrote about some of the first theorists in the field, which we merged into article no. 5 for the series “Decolonise Your Mind“.

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Postcolonial Theory
3. Frantz Fanon
4. Michel Foucault
5. Jaques Derrida
6. Edward Said
7. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
8. Homi K. Bhabha
9. Conclusion

Introduction

When a person socialized in the Global North thinks about the end of colonization, they might think that the process of decolonisation was like pressing a reset button; that the countries and their people were free to just build their own states and societies once the colonizers had retreated or been expelled. However, this thought is far from reality. Centuries and decades of foreign rule over another culture and its people inevitably leave a lasting imprint on institutional frameworks, social structures, and every other facet of life. It cannot simply be undone by the signing of a declaration of independence.

In formerly colonized countries, the question arose how to deal with the ongoing legacy of colonialism. How can a people reclaim their identity when another has been imposed upon them for as long as they can remember? Addressing this question gave ground for Postcolonial Theory. This article aims to introduce some of the ground-breaking postcolonial theories and their founders: Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Jaques Derrida, Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Homi K. Bhabha.

As the term “Postcolonial Theory” (or “Theories”) suggests, this field emerged in the context of decolonization and the end of Western colonial rule in the mid-20th century. Later postcolonial thinkers and decolonial theorists have drawn or built on the ideas of scholars who did not directly postulate “Postcolonial Theory” but laid the groundwork with their concepts. This article features analyses by the first international theorists, by which we aim to introduce new readers to their thoughts and to suggest that their theories should be received more widely across geopolitical borders.

More recently, Southern epistemologies and Decoloniality have gained significant ground, which we foregrounded at the international 60th anniversary conference “Language Awareness, Education & Power” that we – the English Department of the University of Education Karlsruhe (Germany) – hosted for the “Association for Language Awareness” (ALA) in July 2024. Some 180 scholars from 26 countries facilitated discourse across binaries and boundaries, and we will keep up the momentum through our next projects and publications. We begin with a glance back to the origins.

Postcolonial Theory

Frantz Fanon

Franz Fanon (commons.wikipedia.org)

Frantz Fanon (1925 – 1961) was an Afro-Carribean psychiatrist born in the French colony of Martinique. In retrospect, he is considered to be a major pioneer in the postcolonial discourse as he worked before the emergence of the postcolonial field but contributed to it (Fanon, 1963). In his work, he examines the psychological and social effects of colonialism on the colonized, in particular people of African descent. His central point is to expose the effects of racism and colonization on the psyche and identity of Black people, focusing on the internalized oppression and self-alienation experienced by those who live in a White-dominated society (Fanon, 1967a).

Colonization, according to Fanon, happens in three stages: occupation, assimilation, and decolonization (Fanon, 1963). The first stage involves the physical takeover of a territory by a colonizing power. It often includes military conquest and the establishment of control over the land and its resources. The colonizers impose their governance and systems, eroding the local culture and social structures.

In the second phase, assimilation, colonizers seek to integrate the colonized population into their culture, mainly through education, language, and religion. The goal is to make the colonized people adopt the values and norms of the colonizers, which can lead to internalized oppression and a loss of indigenous identity (Fanon, 1967a).

The third and final phase, decolonization, represents the struggle of the colonized people to reclaim their identity, culture, and autonomy. It often involves resistance movements, the assertion of national identity, and the rejection of colonial rule. Fanon emphasizes the importance of violence in this process as a means of reclaiming agency and sovereignty (Fanon, 1963).

Fanon argues that colonialism perpetuates a system of racial hierarchy, where Black people are systematically subjected to discrimination and inferiority. He further states that this system does not only operate on a structural and institutional but also on the psychological level (Fanon, 1967b). His work has to be understood in the context of his time when efforts were made to attribute a biologically inherent inferiority complex to people of African descent. In this context he rejects the idea of race as a fixed biological category and instead highlights its socially constructed nature, shaped by the power dynamics and ideologies of the colonizer (Fanon, 1967a). As a Black man himself, Fanon reflects on the ways in which people of African descent are conditioned to aspire to white norms. He further argues that this internalized racism creates a fragmented sense of self, where Black individuals feel compelled to conform to White cultural expectations and ultimately alienate themselves from their own heritage (Fanon, 1967a).

Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault (commons.wikipedia.org)

Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984) was a French philosopher who would later in his life take up a chair at the prestigious Collège de France. Foucault explores the complex relationship between power and knowledge, arguing that power is not merely repressive but productive, actively shaping social realities through institutions and practices that regulate norms and behaviours. He asserts that knowledge is deeply entwined with power dynamics, influenced by historical, social, and cultural contexts (Foucault, 1980).

In Discipline and Punishment, Foucault examines social control through the Panopticon, a prison designed by Jeremy Bentham featuring a central watchtower that allows a guard to observe inmates without them knowing whether they are being watched. This uncertainty fosters self-regulation among inmates (Foucault, 1975).

Foucault uses the Panopticon as a metaphor for modern society, where power operates through knowledge and surveillance rather than force. Power becomes decentralized as individuals internalize disciplinary measures and align their actions with societal norms. This interplay highlights how those in authority define normalcy, maintaining control through embedded mechanisms of social control that encourage compliance and self-regulation (Foucault, 1975, 1980).

Foucault did not develop a postcolonial theory himself, but his ideas made significant contributions to postcolonial theories, particularly in understanding the ways in which power operates in colonial and postcolonial contexts. This concept is fundamental to Edward Said’s work Orientalism (Said, 1978), explained below.

Jaques Derrida

Jacques Derrida (commons.wikipedia.org)

Jaques Derrida (1930 – 2004) was an Algerian-French philosopher. He developed an approach of Deconstruction, which aims to expose the limits of traditional Western philosophical and linguistic systems by highlighting the ways in which they rely on binary oppositions, hierarchies, and exclusionary structures (Derrida, 1976, 1978).

Binary oppositions are pairs of contrasting terms (e.g. light/dark, good/evil) that are used to structure thought and language (Derrida, 1976). These pairs establish a hierarchy, where one term is viewed as superior to the other. For instance, in patriarchal societies, the terms “male” and “female” can reflect this hierarchy, with “male” seen as dominant. This structure can lead to the exclusion or marginalization of certain groups or ideas, which is why Derrida refers to them as exclusionary structures (Derrida, 1981).

Derrida argues that binary oppositions are not fixed or stable categories, but rather linguistic constructs that rely on a hierarchical relationship between the two terms. He points out that these binary oppositions typically establish a dominant term as the norm against which the other term is defined as its opposite or “Other” (Derrida, 1978). This privileging of one term leads to the marginalization of the other, reinforcing hierarchies and power imbalances. In colonial discourses, binary oppositions such as “civilized/savage” or colonizer/colonized were used to assert the superiority of the colonizer and justify the subjugation of the colonized (Derrida, 1981).

By deconstructing established categories and binary oppositions, Derrida challenges dominant narratives and seeks to open up new ways of understanding and engaging with texts, ideas, and social systems (Derrida, 1978).

Edward Said

Edward Said (commons.wikipedia.org)

Edward Said (1935 – 2003) is considered to have laid the foundation for later postcolonial theories with his influential work Orientalism. Said was born in 1935 in Jerusalem under mandatory rule to Palestinian parents, but grew up in Cairo. His father gained American citizenship for the family when he joined the American Expedition Forces in Palestine in World War I and became a war veteran (Said, 1999). Said attended British schools and was educated in the Western canon (a curriculum focused on Western ideas, values, and narratives, centering male authors and Eurocentric perspectives).  When he was 16, his parents sent him to the United States to finish school. After his school degree he studied English literature, attained a doctorate title in it and became a professor. His personal experiences as a Palestinian American laid the basis for his groundbreaking work Orientalism (Said, 1978).

Said’s approach involved a critical examination of texts such as academic literature, travelogues, novels, and other artistic works in order to identify underlying assumptions and biases and how they contribute to maintaining established power dynamics (Said, 1978). In 1978, Said published Orientalism, in which he argues that the Western monopoly on knowledge production has over time constructed an idea of the Orient as an inferior entity, opposed to the supposedly superior Occident. This draws from Derrida’s ideas of binary oppositions (Orient/Occident), their hierarchy and the exclusionary structures inherent in this worldview (Said, 1978; Derrida, 1976).

Said’s main argument is that the West positions itself as the gold standard¹ of civilization, rationality, and progress while presenting the East as an object of study and fascination. According to Said, the term “Orient” itself is a creation of the West and aims to create a sharp binary distinction of “Occident” and “Orient”. This distinction allows the Orientalists to highlight and fixate differences, and to present the Orient as an intellectually and morally inferior and exotic “Other” that is subordinate to the superior Western world (Said, 1978).

Orientalism plays a significant role in establishing and maintaining Western superiority by creating a hierarchical relationship between the West and the East. It reinforces Western dominance by justifying interventions and shaping knowledge and representations of the East. This portrayal often depicts the East as backward, serving as a rationale for colonization, and, even after the formal end of colonial rule, for seemingly benign Western interventions (Said, 1978). Additionally, Said argues that the work of Orientalists significantly influences Western perceptions of the East across various fields, including popular culture, arts, and science. This creates a cycle that perpetuates and reinforces these beliefs (Said, 1978).

Said’s work strongly influenced Homi K. Bhabha.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (commons.wikipedia.org)

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, a prominent postcolonial theorist, was born in 1942 in Kolkata (formerly “Calcutta”), India. She is a renowned scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic who has been instrumental in bringing feminist perspectives into postcolonial theory (Spivak, 1988). Her most influential essay, Can the Subaltern Speak? (1988), explores the intersections of race, gender, and social class, forming the cornerstone of her theoretical contributions.

Central to Spivak’s work is the concept of the subaltern, which refers to groups marginalized socially, politically, culturally, or geographically, existing outside dominant power structures (Spivak, 1988). For Spivak, these marginalized groups are the voiceless or silenced individuals excluded from discourse and caught between overlapping systems of oppression. In postcolonial India, she identifies women as a prime example of such a group. She illustrates this with the historical Hindu practice of Sati, in which a widow self-immolates (burns herself) on her husband’s funeral pyre. While British colonizers condemned the practice, largely male anti-colonialists defended it as an expression of cultural identity (Spivak, 1988).

Spivak’s argument highlights that the very group at the center of this cultural conflict – women – are systematically excluded from the discourse, rendered voiceless and marginalized. She concludes that the subaltern are doubly oppressed, as they are subject to both imperial and patriarchal ideologies, and notes that even within postcolonial discourse, male scholars often hold the decisive voice (Spivak, 1988). Spivak emphasizes the need to create space for the subaltern by amplifying silenced voices and critically examining the power dynamics involved in speaking for, or about, marginalized groups.

Homi K. Bhabha

Homi Kharshedji Bhabha (commons.wikipedia.org)

Homi K. Bhabha (b. 1949), an Indian-British scholar born in Mumbai, is one of the most influential postcolonial thinkers and a professor of the Humanities at Harvard University.

Building on Said’s theory of “Orientalism”, Bhabha presents three concepts that are relevant for postcolonial theories: Mimicry, Hybridity, and the Third Space (Bhabha, 1994).

1. Mimicry describes how colonized people often imitate the culture, language, or behaviour of the colonizers. This imitation, however, is rarely straightforward; it includes subtle differences that can subvert and destabilize colonial authority. While the colonizers may intend mimicry to reinforce their dominance by imposing their norms, Bhabha argues that this imitation often transforms these norms, making them “foreignized” and different from the original. This altered replication strips the original of its once singular authority, creating a version that is “almost the same but not quite.” Such mimicry exposes the contradictions in the colonizers’ power, and, as Bhabha suggests, reveals the colonizers’ desire for a “recognizable Other” that affirms their superiority, even as it undermines their authority (Bhabha, 1994, p. 86). By engaging in mimicry, the colonized assert agency, negotiate their identities, and expose the power dynamics embedded in the colonial system.
2. Hybridity refers to the cultural blending that emerges when colonizer and colonized cultures interact. Bhabha argues that these interactions lead to new, hybrid identities that challenge the binary opposition between colonizer and colonized. Hybridity dissolves the strict distinctions between “self” and “other” by highlighting the spaces where cultures intersect and blend (Bhabha, 1994). This concept reveals that cultural identities are not fixed but are continuously redefined in these in-between spaces.
3. The Third Space is Bhabha’s term for these in-between spaces where cultural encounters occur. He argues that even when Western structures like education or Christianity are imposed with the aim of reinforcing colonial power, they carry an inherent potential for subversion. For instance, colonizers’ teachings, such as Biblical stories, may invite alternative interpretations that question the presumed moral and cultural superiority of the colonizing power. Members of a previously polygamous society, for example, might be struck by the Biblical figure of King Solomon and his multiple wives, challenging the colonial imposition of monogamy and sparking reflection on the nature of cultural authority (Bhabha, 1994).

Through these concepts, Bhabha reveals how colonial systems are marked by contradictions and complexities that the colonized can exploit using mimicry, hybridity, and the Third Space to resist and transform imposed structures, and in doing so, reshape their own identities.

Conclusion

This article provides an introduction to some of the key contributors to postcolonial theory and their central ideas. Although Western thinkers like Michel Foucault may not immediately come to mind in the context of postcolonial studies, his influence on postcolonial theorists like Edward Said highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the field, warranting his inclusion here (Foucault, 1977; Said, 1978). Additionally, it is evident that many postcolonial theorists influenced one another, selectively integrating concepts from each other’s work to refine and expand their own ideas (Bhabha, 1994; Spivak, 1988).

Postcolonial Studies is an ever-evolving field within the humanities and social sciences, drawing on theories from other disciplines while also contributing to them.

It is important to note that this article offers only the briefest overview of some of the field’s foundational thinkers and their core concepts. These theorists represent a selection of voices in a much larger conversation. Hopefully, this introduction sparks curiosity and encourages further exploration into the rich and complex terrain of postcolonial theory, and Decoloniality.

Editor’s note: Our next student-author Jonas Nonnenmacher will take a closer look at some of these theories in post #6 in this series.

Text by Ruben Mueller & Alastair Allan

Photos taken from Wikipedia Commons

Note
¹ On the binaries of who sets which “standards”: “The common usage of the word developed implies that there is a gold-standard for ‘development’ overall, with a desirable (refined, superior) state of development at one end of the scale and an undesirable (‘raw’, unrefined, primitive, inferior) one at the other. The binary of ‘developed countries’ and ‘undeveloped’ or ‘underdeveloped countries’ is a value statement rooted in eurocentricism and colonialism; the criteria by which a country is deemed developed are chosen by those who deem themselves to be developed” (note by Isabel Martin, 1.3.2019).

References

Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.

Derrida, J. (1976). Of Grammatology (G. C. Spivak, Trans.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Derrida, J. (1978). Writing and Difference (A. Bass, Trans.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Derrida, J. (1981). Positions (A. Bass, Trans.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of the Earth (C. Farrington, Trans.). New York: Grove Press.

Fanon, F. (1967a). Black Skin, White Masks (C. L. Markmann, Trans.). New York: Grove Press.

Fanon, F. (1967b). Toward the African Revolution (H. Chevalier, Trans.). New York: Grove Press.

Foucault, M. (1975). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Pantheon Books.

Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977 (C. Gordon, Ed.). New York: Pantheon Books

Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.

Said, E. W. (1999). Out of Place: A Memoir. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture (pp. 271–313). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Online

Some formulations and references were generated with ChatGPT.