Postcolonial Cultures

Zacharie Petnkeu

What is colonization? What is Postcolonial World? How to approach its issues such as cultures? Postcolonial World involves countries and cultures that have come under the control of European colonial powers at some point in their history (countries in Asia, the Americas, Africa and Oceania). The encounter between Europe and these regions had generated subordination and the invention by the colonizing First World (Europe) of images and myths of the Third (postcolonial) World—stereotypical images and myths that have suitably justified Western exploitation and domination of other cultures and peoples. Nowadays, the subject of culture is deeply rooted in the study of global issues such as Diaspora, nationalism, gender or identity, etc. In this course, we will engage in the process of understanding the diverse nature of colonial experience, discourse and postcolonial cultures. To this end, we will read, discuss and apply texts by authors from different parts of the postcolonial world to the analysis of four movies from West, Central, North Africa and the Caribbean. OC