Poem on 'Postcolonialism'

Postcolonialism is like an endless poem

And though “post” is meant to indicate “what happened after”

The field of study is about colonialism as well –

About imperial authority and about “knowledge” that makes for “power”.

So while it interrogates “colonization”,

Postcolonialism celebrates resistance.

Acknowledges hybridity,

Examines historiography,

Decentres imperialism,

Foregrounds “difference”,

Decolonises discourse,

Walks hand in hand with Poststructuralism and Postmodernism,

Empowers the “other” who is on the margins,

Makes SILENCE and ABSENCE a PRESENCE,

Vows to dismantle racism, patriarchy and the parochial,

Doesn’t succumb to the creation of binaries –

Black and white, settler and native,

Centre and margin, “Euro” and “ethno”,

Master and slave, man and woman,

Postcolonialism

Navigates discourse by signposts like

Hegemony, Subalternity, Abrogation and Appropriation.

Truly pluralistic, with its emphasis on “Literatures”, “Feminisms” and “Englishes”,

Postcolonialism is in essence

A liberating intellectual engagement.

- Dr. Preethi