Ella Shohat, a Professor of Cultural Studies at New York University and a researcher in Post-Colonial studies, explores the ambiguity regarding the term Post-Colonial in her paper “Notes on the ‘Post-Colonial’” (1992). She herself being an Iraqi Arab-Jew in the United States has found herself central to the issue regarding the Post-Colonial subject, especially at the time of the Gulf War in which the piece was published.
Shohat argues for a more limited specific use of the term post-colonial situated in a more relational context vis-a-vis other categories of the term. She presents issues with the different terms in Post-Colonial studies such as the term Post-Colonial, the prefix ‘Post,’ Third World, and Neo-Colonialism. The prefix ‘post’ in Post-Colonial carries with it the implication that colonialism is now a matter of the past, undermining colonialism’s economic, political, and cultural traces in the present day. This dismissive connotation enforces a narrative pushed by the First World that these treacherous acts have been dealt with while simultaneously pushing present day colonialist ventures with a range of different reasoning whether it be Capitalism or religion. This implication undermines issues that persist in former colonies that have been caused due to colonialism such as racial hierarchy embedded in Jamaican culture. Racial hierarchy was briefly touched upon by Stuart Hall in The Stuart Hall Project (2013), consequently affecting Jamaican society causing an increasing in the demand for skin bleaching procedures and products. The term Third World in combination with the term post-colonial risks implying those countries are lagging behind creating a demeaning connotation to the term. As well the concept of the First World/Third World struggle is presented in which nations experience changing relationships among societal groups and with waves of immigration to First World or wealthier countries in hope of prosperous beginnings. Hall presents this issue as well when he describes his personal journey of migrating to the United Kingdom where he finds himself finding it difficult to acknowledge the UK as his home due to racial differences and in which during the process of immigration many ironically refer to First World countries as home.
Shohat explores the spatio-temporality ambiguity the term post-colonial brings due to the different time periods in which different countries gained their independence but simultaneously discredits those that are still in colonial situations now termed as Neo-Colonialism. The issue with an ambiguous spatio-temporality aspect creates a vague starting point for the post-colonial and regardless the independence of former colonies never meant true independence of First World hegemony as it has now taken different more indirect forms and soft power. The creation of the term as well as all connotations to the term Neo-Colonialism suggests continuities and discontinuities with an emphasis on past colonial practices, implying oppression, and the possibility of resistance present in the short film The Revolution of the Machines (1967) by Madkour Thabit. The Revolution of Machines (1967) is an Egyptian short experimental film that depicts machinery and the industrial sector of Egypt along with subtitles reading, “this is ours, we built them, we will protect them.” The images along with the subtitles emphasize how Third World countries have to stand their ground against First World intervention and in a proudful nationalistic manner they show the Egyptian industrial capacity countering narratives of backwardness.
A big effect of colonialism is the tension in contemporary cultures between the official end of direct colonial rule and its presence through hegemonizing neo-colonialism within the First World and toward the Third World, channeled through the nationalist patriarchal elites in their countries. Although not explicitly linked to issues following direct colonialism, the Moroccan experimental film Retour à Agadir (2013) by Mohammed Afifi, films the reconstruction of the city of Agadir after an earthquake. The film depicts images of the clear colonial impact on the architecture and design of the city as well as the contrasting rubble of the fallen buildings with Moroccans, becoming representational for many different nations with similar visual references of their colonial past in contrast with the more ‘native’ references. The images of the film become representational to the idea that Third World countries, specifically Middle Eastern countries, are in constant conflict where instability stems from colonialism.
As well, it has caused the creation of a resistant collective identity leading to the creation of new traditions, customs, and subcultures. The issue with the one encompassing term of Post-Colonial regards the question if there is a homogeneous past because who is to know what was before the colonial rule to refer back to it as the original culture? As well, Shohat brings up the question about who is mobilizing this narrative of the past creating certain types of identities, identifications and representations and for what reasons implying an implicit form of First World hegemonic power. She ends her piece by concluding that the concept of the “post-colonial” must be interrogated and contextualized historically, geo-politically, and culturally and a need for more flexible relations among the various conceptual frameworks -a mobile set of grids, a diverse set of disciplinary as well as cultural-geopolitical lenses -adequate to these complexities to account for the different pre and post colonial situations different countries had to endure.
Akomfrah, John, director. The Stuart Hall Project. 2013.
Afifi, Mohamed, director. Retour a Agadir. YouTube, YouTube, 1967, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-2oj-14_c4.
Shohat, Ella ‘Notes on the Postcolonial’, Social Text, No. 31/32, Third World and Post-Colonial Issues. (1992), pp. 99-113.
Thabit, Madkour, director. The Revolution of Machines. YouTube, YouTube, 1967, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6P2wV2VizY.
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