Notes

Postcolonialism
Banana republic - A country that is politically and economically dependent on the extraction and export of a limited-resource product. First coined in reference to Latin American countries that depended on the export of bananas, under monopoly by the US company, United Fruit.

A political condition of after colonialism, understanding the legacies of colonialism
Postcolonial literature has argued that colonized people are often ‘othered’ in governance and representation.

The problem with countering ‘othering’ is having scholars talk about ‘othered’ places without representing them as being ‘othered’. Paradox is in trying to help, we can often accentuate ‘othering’ by representing the places as being ‘other’ places

Power of othering – justified power hierarchies, justifies domination, solidified representations as exotic/barbaric/irrational/uncivilised/’backward’, inferior

Techniques of othering – representation in painting, literature, language, education, film. All about shaping social representations and perceptions of place

Literature - Island of Shattered Dreams by Chantal Spitz is the first post-colonial novel to come out of French Polynesia - Tahiti and nuclear fallout from nuclear testing

Robert Young 2003 – “postcolonial remains”, “unfinished business”

Edward Said 1978 – Orientalism – talks about othering of oriental people by western scholars writing about the orient as othered. It was a way of the west having power over the east

Nayak and Jeffrey 2011 – imperialism is not confined to distant pasts. Talks about environmental determinism. Spanish and Portuguese national identity is based upon imperialism. Commonwealth is a good example of colonial relationships in modern day.
Gavin Bridge - “political and legal recognitions that give new shape to claims about identity, responsibility and sovereignty around natural resources”. Keep coal in hole and oil in soil theory