Literature Essay

Postcolonial Themes Graphic Organizer Identity Identity is, of course, the way a

person sees himself or herself.

Otherness It’s the quality of being different, of not belonging, of being labeled an outsider, of being pushed to the margins of a culture

Race Analyzing race in literature means investigating how race functions as a point of difference or unity

Class Class relationships are very similar to us/other relationships because those outside of one’s own class are necessarily other.

Language the language of the colonizing power is given a special privilege over native language.

Oppression physical, emotional, or social oppression

Suppression Suppression takes place in colonial relationships when the colonized people are made to suppress their own traditions and cultural practices to conform to the colonizers’ way of life.

Hybridity hybridity is the mixture of more than one cultural perspective or worldview

Imperialism imperialism includes the literal practice of one country taking control of and absorbing another geographic region to expand its own power and influence

Civilized or uncivilized

An analysis for this theme means considering how the author approaches these labels, and how they are tools to either justify or critique the colonial process

Diaspora Diaspora refers to people being displaced from their home country/region or migrating from their home country/region by choice.

Globalization a theme with regards to how colonizing and decolonizing other countries has paved the way for a globalized world