Introduction to Postcolonialism

 Introduction to Postcolonialism: blog tasks

Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Postcolonialism blog tasks'. Read ‘The Theory Drop: Postcolonialism and Paul Gilroy’ in MM75  (p28). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access.

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) Look at the first page. What is colonialism - also known as cultural imperialism? 

Colonialism is the persuit of european countries to gain control over other states to gain as many resources and possible and with that a belief of racial superiority was formed, that they were civilising the native populations, creating deep rooted conflict even between the marginalised.

2) Now look at the second page. What is postcolonialism? 

Postcolonialism is a process of critiquing white patriarchal veiws that were intertwined with colonialism, as well as the psyche of those subjugated.

3) How does Paul Gilroy suggest postcolonialism influences British culture?

Paul Gilroy suggests criminilisation of immigrants signifies a melancholic response to those groups who are essential to modern british life.

4) What is 'othering'?

Othering is an identification of others as alien, not fitting into the confines of society, reducing them to labels.

5) What examples of 'othering' are provided by the article?

Othering has been useful for populist politicians such as reducing large groups of people to illegal immegrants or asylum seekers.

6) What is 'double consciousness'? 

Double consciousness is when othering creates confusion that manifests in ones unstable identity such as minorities living in the western world or two contrsting identities due to focusing on a persons identity tied to nationality instead of adressing issues unique hybrid culture.

7) What are 'racial hierarchies'?

Racial hierarchies are a notion that those of western cultures usually stemming from white supremecy.

8) What examples from recent media products challenge the idea of racial hierarchies? 

Examples of challenging the notion of racial hiearchies in recent media products is in ‘Brooklyn Nine-nine’s’, one of the officers was racially profiled by another cop.