Introduction to Post Colonial Literature

As you step into the world of Post Colonial Literature, be prepared to unlearn literary theories you already know. Look at these works with a fresh mind. 

For years, foreign aliens have entered countries and dehumanized natives. They stigmatized natives and imposed their beliefs on natives. Soon, alien nature becomes natural. 

Imagine the room you are sitting in as your country. It is lush and fertile. An alien person comes into the room by force and changes your beliefs. Eventually, when they leave, the room does not feel like the room is was before. That is what post colonization feels like. 

One major way natives are submilated is through language. Language is the means through which people connect with each other. It carries culture. 

There are three important post colonial critics - Ngugi wa Thiong'o, David Crystal, and Gayatri Spivak. Thiong'o was a critic who wrote "Decolonizing the mind." David Crystal said that language was the dress of thought. He wrote a book titled "Encyclopedia of Language." 

The poem "Introduction" by Kamla Das also talks about the importance of language and identity. Language, culture, and identity are interconnected. If you take away one, an individual loses the other three. A person should be proud of their idiosyncrasy. 

Walt Whitman, the poet of America was proud of his voice and language. "I sing my barbaric yawp upon the roofs of the world." His language might have been barbaric to others, but to him, it was his. He was possessive over his language.