Post-Colonialisms (II)
(Post-)Colonial Identities and
Strategies of Resistance
1. Colonialism, Orientalism and Racism
3. Nation and Narration]
Starting Questions
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Any questions about your readings?
What have you learned so far re.
colonialism and postcolonialism?
Outline
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A Review and Overview
Colonial Identities
Postcolonial Identities
Post-Colonialism:
A Review and Overview
Colonialisms & Racism
1.
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2.
Definitions
Cultural Imperialism (Orientalism) & examples
Racism –Stereotypes (chap 4 p. 208-); Containment and
Appropriation. (chap 4 p. 94) 
Colonial Identities: The Tempest e.g. Prospero, Caliban,
Ariel and Miranda
Mimicry and the Subaltern
Post-Colonial Identities
A.
Starting with The Tempest
B.
Language
C.
History
D.
Identity Construction
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Strategies
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Examples of ‘identity politics’
Race: Definition
Are racial attributes (e.g. what being a “Chinese”
means) naturally born, or socially acquired?
The classification of humans into races is now widely
regarded as arbitrary from a biological viewpoint
because actual genetic differences between racial
groups are trivial.
However, racial groups are real in a sociological
sense insofar as people with different skin colour,
etc., are commonly treated differently. (www.soccanada.com/ppp/ch09.ppt)
In other words, race is now not ‘essentially’ defined,
but more of a social-historical construction. 
strategic use of essentialism (3: 214) or ethnicity (4:
195)
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Race: Different definitions
new racism -- involves the belief that
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the races are inherently different from
one another in a cultural and
behavioural sense, and problems result
when they try to live together.
(textbook chap 4 --94)
Different definitions of race in different
nations; e.g. race related to nationality in UK
and in Taiwan, but not in the U.S.
Subtler forms of racism: containment and
appropriation.
Colonial Texts/Identities and their
Revisions
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Major Texts frequently revised:
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The Tempest, --17th c. –usurpation and
abandonment; (Caliban)
Robinson Crusoe – 18th c. –a colony
established (Friday)
Jane Eyre, -- 19th c – a woman brought
back home. (Other in the Self; Bertha)
Heart of Darkness. --20th c.—material
pursuit/spiritual disintegration (Self
discovery; black mistress and the intended.)
The Tempests
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1.
2.
3.
“Shakespeare didn’t invent Caliban; Caliban
invented Shakespeare” (Russell Hoban qtd in
Zabul 9).  What does this mean?
The Tempest –revised by
Postcolonialists;
Postfeminists
Postmodernists (Zabus 1)
The Tempests
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Contemporary revisions: (general trends)
Prospero
De-privileged
Miranda
Supported by sisters;
Gang-raped
(actually the most
powerless)
Ariel
Queered
Caliban
Rise to power; queered;
Sycorax
Present, with her magic
The Tempests—Postcolonial
Interpretations (1)
1.
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Ethnopsychiatry (D. O. Mannoni)
Caliban complex –that of inferiority and
dependency
“When thou cam'st first,
Thou strok'st me and made much of me; wouldst give
me
Water with berries in't; and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I lov'd thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities o' th' isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place, and fertile.
. . . and here you sty me
In this hard rock, ”
Ethnopsychiatry:
Caliban complex
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–that of inferiority and dependency
Gifts with self-interest  return of love
and Dependency  betrayal or demands
of more gifts from the colonized
2. Another interpretation by F. Fanon in The
Wretched of the Earth
Caliban needs to use violence --cathartic
violence to cleanse him of his inferiority
complex.
1.
Ethnopsychiatry: (2)
Prospero complex
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1.
2.
3.

–that of inferiority and vocation
Hidden in the assumptions of the superiority of
European culture
Inability to adapt to reality  flight from home
or with a desire to travel;
Excessive idealism.
“Prospero anxiety” (over Caliban’s rebellion)
and “sexual guilt” (over the possibility of
incest thus feeling threatened by both
Ferdinand and Caliban in their confidence in
their sexual appeal.) (Zabus 22-23)
Ethnopsychiatry: (3)
Prospero complex
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Do you agree with this interpretation?
Can you find examples of people with Caliban complex
or Prospero complex?
There are variations in the interpretation of these two
prototypes. But Prospero—for whatever reasons—
attempts to subject the Other, and the two are caught in
a master-slave mutual dependency.
How about Ariel and Miranda? --What types do they fit
into? Intellectual Go-between (messenger) and Woman?
Type-casting can always be limiting and simplifying,
despite the truths they reveal about “some” people.
Colonial Identities:
Mimicry and the Subaltern (textbook 206-14)
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Between the colonizer and the colonized:
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Self defined in terms of the Other: the two are
thus inseparable and mutually dependent;
Uncertainty of the colonizers
–revealed through their repetition (in stereotyping
or control)
 Undermined by mimicry (which is all the same but
not quite).  Hybrid
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Two possible critiques of this view:
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armchair theory, not realistic;
too general and abstract. (p. 210)
E.g. A Passage to India –the Bridge Party scene
Colonial Identities:
Mimicry and the Subaltern
(textbook 206-14)
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Différance
C
center
The Subaltern
cannot speak
(Spivak).
Colonial Mimicry:
e.g. Taiwanese Imitation
of Madonna
All the same but
not quite-- Indian
gentleman or
Indian celebration
of U.K.’s national
day.
Colonial Identities:
the Subaltern: G. Spivak
(textbook 206-14)
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Spivak focuses on racial, gender and class
differences, acknowledging her position as a
third-world intellectual.
Unlike the intellectuals, the Subaltern can not
speak. –The colonized who are not given the
language to speak, or whose voices are not heard,
leave no mark in official history.
e.g. Sati and a woman killing herself at a time not
proper for Sati (寡婦殉夫). P. 213
Possible criticism: the subaltern can speak and
have been expressing themselves a lot.
Postcolonial Identities —
I. Postcolonial Revisions The Tempests (1)
Aimé Césaire’s Une Tempête –
Caliban (black) vs. Ariel (mulatto)—
Caliban as close to Earth; Ariel –airy Intellect
 Caliban vs. Prospero
Caliban: “You didn’t teach me a thing! Except to jabber
in your own language so that I could understand your
orders: chop wood, wash the dishes, fish for food,
plant vegetables, because you were too lazy to do it
yourself.” (qtd Zabus 45)
 Ending: Prospero stays “aged and weary” and then
dies. Caliban is free.
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Postcolonial Identities —
I. Postcolonial Revisions The Tempests (2)
II. Miranda –postpatriarchal reading
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– Canadian version (develops to a full-grown
woman-artist wrestling her way out of patriarchal
bounds (husband, lover, father or foster-father);
-- Caribbean version – away from the mother (and
the patriarchal society she supports).
III. Postmodern Prospero –e.g. Jarman’s film:
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-- the use of the Gothic  renders Prospero’s mind
unstable;
--excessive physicality of Caliban as a parody of an
Edwardian butler;
-- homoerotic aura around Stephano/Trinculo.
 history as masquerade – or ‘camp.’
Postcolonial Identities —
II. Language
1.
2.
“The Caliban legacy”  to give up using
the master’s language; to claim English
as their own language and change it 
englishes;
For Afro-Americans, Australians and
Canadians, English is their only language.
Postcolonial Identities —
II. Language (2) --Strategies
1. Preserving and developing one’s mother
tongues with romanization, etc.
2. Changing or reversing or confusing the
language hierarchy
e.g. the use of Taiwanese and Hakka in Taiwan 客家話
3. mixing languages:
(Three stages of the use of colonizer’s language:
Adopt, Adapt, Adept)
e.g. “My Man Bovanne”
Postcolonial Identities —
III.
Re-Visioning History
Re-writing:
e.g. Japanese rule--《無言的山丘》; mainland
Chinese soldiers to Taiwan--《香蕉的天堂》
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Re-Visioning:
Japanese rule--《阿爸的情人》、 《戲夢人生》
228 -- 《悲情城市》、 《高砂百合》
White Terror -- 《好男好女》、
The American Armies in Taiwan -- 《太平天國》(our
example)、〈莎優拉娜．再見〉、〈小寡婦〉、〈玫
瑰玫瑰我愛你〉、 〈蘋果的滋味〉等
Postcolonial Identities —
III. Identity
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and Strategies
Identity
Separatism (Nativism),
Integration, Active
participation,
Duality and
Hybridity
Assimilation.
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Strategies
Essentialist
Construction
Re-Creation,
Cultural Syncreticism,
Conscious Mimicry
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Mimicry
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Postcolonial Identities —
III. Hybridity –different kinds
(textbook4: 202)
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(Against Multiculturalism)
Cultural Difference: with gaps and
fissures in need of constant negotiation.
“Culture as a strategy of survival is
both transnational and
translational. ” (Homi Bhabha)
Conscious Mimicry
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Yong Soon Min Make Me, 1989
Conscious Mimicry/Parody
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Ken Chu
I Need some More Hair Products (1988)
‘Identity Politics’ :
“My Man Bonvanne”
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Toni Cade Bambara
(1939 - 1995),
author of “The
Lesson”
 the narrator, Miss Hazel Peoples
 her language: Black English
(ebonics)
 her style: wig, cornroll (25)
“My Man Bonvanne”
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The setting?
Why does Miss Hazel dance so closely with
Bonvanne? What role does she play in her
relationship with Bonvanne? (p. 23 "Wasn't
about tits.”; p. 26)
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Her children’s disagreement and Ms.
Hazel’s response (Task, Elo, and Joe Lee)
What does the last bathing ritual mean?
“My Man Bonvanne”
the Activists or intellectuals. vs. “Grass Roots”
People
 Identity politics 
1. Focus too much on their cause and ignore a real
contact with the ‘people’ they should care about.
2. In the children’s criticism of their mother, they
assume the need of proper dress, proper “Black”
appearance and proper things to do for the
elderly, ignoring their really needs (emotional
and material).
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You have learned . . .
A. Colonialism
1.
More examples of race and Racism (e.g. Containment
and Appropriation)
2.
Colonial Types (Prospero complex and Caliban complex)
in The Tempest
3.
Mimicry and the Subaltern
2. Post-Colonial Identities
A.
Revisions of The Tempest --e.g. Caliban, Miranda
B.
Language and Identity
C.
Different ways of constructing Colonial History
D.
Identity Construction – positions
(Separatism/Nativism Active participation,
Assimilation), and strategies (Re-Creation, Cultural
Syncreticism, Mimicry)
You will talk more about . . .
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Nation and Narration
Essentialism vs. Constructionism
Globalization & Multiculturalism—its
different forms.
Reference
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Tempests After Shakespeare. Chantal
Zabus. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.