Now and then - colonialism, postcolonialism and Imperialism

Colonialism - Imperialism - Post Colonialism

Being an Indian I am aware of the terms Colonialism and Postcolonialism. India was colonised for 200 years from 1757 to 1947. Britishers ruled over India for such a long period of time.

Colonialism :

Colonialism according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED),
this term comes from the Roman ‘Colonia’ which meant ‘farm’ or ‘settlement’ and referred to Romans who settled in other lands but still retained their citizenship of their homeland.
Colonialism is the establishment of a colony in one territory by a political power from another territory and exploitation of that colony. Colonialism is a system which is created by developed countries in Western Europe. The term colony comes from the Latin word colonus, meaning farmer. Oxford dictionary describes it as :

   "A settlement in a new country..... A body of people who settle in a new locality, forming a new subject to or connected with their parent state; the community so formed, consisting of the original settlers"

From my understanding term colonialism refers to a situation where a group of Dominants or Powerful people goes to other land and establishes their own territory and then slowly and steadily starts living and trading there and covers the land with their power and becomes ruler of that part. So colonisers come at the place and establish the colonies. Colonialism means control of other people's land. For example in Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, in this novel, The process of colonialism is described through various points in the novel like a master-slave relationship, religion, politics of naming, or language. So if someone has power than they always try to establish their colony. Colonization and colonialism both are interrelated with each other.

for instance, we can take the example of India. in 1757 Britisher came and started an economic trading company in surat Gujarat. Then they started looking for the weak joints in the Indian economy and politics. after some time they became the ruler and colonised India.

we can take another example of African people who were colonised by the American people and became a colonised country like India for a long time.

The Dominant in colonialism was also too much pitiless and so much unfair towards the colonised people. they didn't treat the colonised people as a human being.

Colonialism now :

There are still many parts in the world which are colonised. The United States of America has a program which is called "United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories". The United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories is a list of places that deems to be "non-self-governing" and subject to the decolonisation process.

Maybe this type of colonialism is not what we have discussed earlier but, by this, we can say that there is still colonialism in the world.

Imperialism :

Imperialism is a political system in which a rich and powerful country controls other countries or colonies which are not as rich and powerful as itself.

The OED defines ‘imperial’ as pertaining to empire’, and ‘imperialism’ as the ‘rule of an emperor, especially when despotic or arbitrary; the principal or spirit of empire;
advocacy of what are held to be imperial interests’

Colonialism and Imperialism are not much different in some cases. both have the thing of a powerful ruler ruling over poor or suppressed people.

Postcolonialism :

This term refers to the after-effects of colonialism. when the colonised people become free there are many effects of the colonisers which remains there. some rules, some mentality, some habits, some rituals etc. According to Peter Barry, 

" Postcolonial criticism emerged as a distinct category only in the 1990s" 

the post-colonial India has also many effects from its colonisers. Britishers went off but they gave their language, their rules, their new point of views towards the world etc...
I found one interesting point in her writing that,

"Colonialism reshaped existing structures of human knowledge. No branch of knowledge was left untouched by the colonial experience." 

Today's India and today's world, there are many countries which are after-effects of colonialism.

"The whole world is postcolonial"

Globalization & Post Colonial Studies:

According to Ania Loomba, 

 "The new global order does not depend upon direct rule. However, it does allow the economic, cultural and political penetration of some countries by others.

As we know that today's world of 'globalization'. As we know that in India, the idea of RTE comes means  Right to Education. There were other binaries like rich and poor because there are many things that are under the control of richer people. For example, Education qualification. Having power is a very important factor for foreign countries. Althusser uses one-word 'apparatus' which means the power and authority of something. 

Critics of globalisation do not deny the fact or the transformatory powers of the phenomenon, or the many ways in which it indeed marks a departure from the old world order. 

The report from 'The New York Times', speaking of huge demonstrations in La Paz which defied military barricades to protest a plan to export natural gas to the United States:

‘Globalization  is  just  another  name  for  submission  and  domination’, Nicanor  Apaza,  46,  an  unemployed  miner,  said  at  a  demonstration this  week  in  which  Indian  women  … carried  banners  denouncing  the International  Monetary  Fund  and  demanding  the  president’s  resignation.  ‘We’ve  had  to  live  with  that  here  for  500  years,  and  now  we  want to be our own masters.’    

So in this we can see the idea of freedom and choice and also submission and domination. 

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