Postcolonial History – Ryan O’Toole

No historian better embodies the post colonial historical movement than doctor Franz Fanon. In the decade of the 1950s, Fanon was working in a French colony in Algeria where he began to understand and empathize with the independence movement in the area. In the following decade, Fanon published The Wretched of the Earth wherein he “ ‘hoped after the liberation, nationalist consciousness [would] convert itself into a new social consciousness.’”^[1] This paper will aim to understand the origins of post colonial studies as well as recognize its authors and interpret how overarching nationalist narratives today can be reconstructed in favor of a more socially inclusive narrative.

Postcolonial History is a unique and relatively new history with respect to the other houses. It is new in that it is fixated about a time when large European Powers granted, or were forced to grant, independence to nations they had colonized, the end of World War II. To be clear, colonization does not suggest they were uninhabited or needed fixing, simply that European powers had a vested interest in foreign land and established authority in these areas around the globe. Unfortunately for Fanon, and post colonial history, most countries such as Algeria would fall prey to regimes and dictators. Violence and bloodshed made it impossible for many of the countries to forget their national heritage as a sort of tribalism would brew over the unclaimed land.

Only seventeen years later would another prominent historian, Edward Said, write his powerful examination, Orientalism. In this, Said analyzed the diction, images, and attitudes that Europeans held towards “the Orient.”^[2] Specifically, Said attempted to understand the ways in which French and English politicians, historians, and writers felt about those they had conquered. His arguments are the basis of post colonial history today. Said argued that Europeans had managed to classify those unlike them as the “other”^[3] and reduce them to subhuman groups that were always in need of religious saving or cultural sophistication.

Secondly, he argued that there was a direct link between belonging to the orient, and being subject to the imperialism of Europe. Said understood that those who identify differently than Europeans subject themselves to Europe’s imperialism, simply because they differ. European politicians and leaders could not understand the desire to live in different mannerisms than what is typical in Europe, which actually differ a lot from country to country, so these leaders sent missionaries and merchants to introduce European culture to these differing societies. This ignorant force of help, followed by the imperialism of European culture is how colonialism buds in so many regions across the world. Once again, the end of the Second World War would remove many of these European nations political holdings in foreign areas, but their colonists and merchants in the area still hold capital interests that stoke the flames of power-struggle.

When Said published Orientalism in 1978, he built upon the notions that Franz Fanon had hoped to see in Algeria decades prior. Said, a Palestinian American who had studied in Europe and America, was questioning the morals and motivations of the very countries he learned from. In this way he embodies Fanon’s hope for social consciousness as opposed to a nationalist consciousness.

Edward Said, while prominent, is not the only example of post colonial historians, or how post colonial studies reshape our understandings of certain regions. Indian historians who analyzed the violence of the 1970’s were dissatisfied with the ways in which high-society controlled the narrative of politics and conflict while lower class individuals were swept over.^[4] This is significant because they embody the subaltern subcategory of postcolonial studies. The term ‘subaltern’ is Italian-based and refers to individuals of a lower status with respect to “class, caste, age, gender, or other characteristic.”^[5] These historians aim to consider the motivating factors of common individuals throughout society when deciding how to participate in society, or not participate. The term has now grown to encompass most any marginalized group throughout time and has been studied in India, Africa, and South America.

Whereas traditional English historical narratives understand ventures into India as beneficial to those inhabitants as well as beneficial economically for Britain, post colonial historians like Ranajit Guha reconstruct the narrative. Guha gives agency to the individuals in India who in less than a century, staged more than one hundred and ten revolutions.^[6] Not only do so many uprisings give evidence of unrest among the subalterns, but violence and revolution follow the destitute conditions that millions across India had been suffering at the hands of the British. However while doing his research, Guha came to understand the accounts from the elites to be so contrasting from those of the subaltern that, “it should be possible, when reversing their values, to derive the implicit terms of the other.”^[7] What Guha comes to understand, and other historians who analyze documents from elite perspectives, is that at any given time high society will never understand the issues of the subaltern. It is by their very definition and visual indicators that those in power chose not to identify with commoners, and as such could never understand the choices and consequences of those who fight for their survival every day.

Historians should not though, and do not, agree on everything. There are divisions and considerations within the postcolonial field of study that shape narratives differently, depending on which perspective a historian decides to pursue. For example, historian David Gordon studied the cultures within the African country Zambia and was able to learn about individual beliefs of good versus evil in the world. Two different groups, missionaries in Africa and Africans, both acknowledge the existence of evil in the world. However, missionaries contribute that evil to the Christian understanding of sin, while Africans attribute misfortune to spirits and evil magic.^[8] Gordon argued that it is critical to the history of Zambia and its inhabitants that credit be given to their spiritual beliefs and historians should take these beliefs seriously.

Gordon faces opposition from historians such as Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak who understand that religious and cultural beliefs can lead to occurrences that are foreign and amoral to those historians who have adopted western ideologies. Within this internal struggle, emerges the difficult challenge for historians to remain unbiased and fair, moreover they must convey the sense of understanding and normalcy associated with sacrificial practices, among other foreign occurrences.

As exemplified, within postcolonial histories, there are subdivisions and caveats to this avenue of analysis. Another issue identified was that the first wave of postcolonial studies marginalized women. While this field is supposed to encapsulate multiple perspectives and understand individuals’ motivations, the sexism in historical studies through the end of the twentieth century is prominent. Historians in the late twentieth century neglected to include women in uprisings and revolutions because of notions of who typical rebel leaders were, furthermore many historians did not seek women out of these already marginalized communities. Another contributing factor to consider is the lack of testimony kept or preserved by women who were able to write about events occurring in their community. However, historians, doctors, and other prominent leaders in society constantly revise these works to be more accurate and inclusive of every individual involved in an event.

Since the beginning of postcolonial history, historians have been working to identify various other groups of subalterns in effort to have a more inclusive understanding of history. In the last decade, individuals suffering from issues related to gender identity have been recognized and scholarship is beginning to emerge. In 2015, Dr. Eli R. Green and Luca Maurer published The Teaching Transgender Toolkit in hopes to help educators “(increase) knowledge, (decrease) prejudice, & (build) skills.”^[9] This is significant because published works help integrate ostracized members of society into some sense of normal life, furthermore it is critical to the mental health of affected individuals that they be accepted for who they are, such as individuals in the past have not been accepted for their appearance.

In conclusion, postcolonial historians are a unique group of historians that give agency to as many individuals, subalterns, as they can. The problems facing these historians include the lack of evidence during some events to include multiple perspectives, also the conservative pull of classical historians who prefer a top down version of historical narratives. These problems have persisted into the twenty-first century, however the field of history is, as always, becoming increasingly more diverse and inclusive to obtain a social consciousness, not a nationalist, or sexist one, just as Fanon had hoped nearly one hundred years ago.