Overview

Now you may be thinking, what is "post colonialism" and what defines "post colonial literature"? Well little Johnny, read on to find out.

Post colonial literature is literature that deals with the various political and social implications of formerly colonized peoples.

There are two main types of post colonial literature:
- Literature of those colonized/oppressed
- Literature of colonizers

Authors of post colonial literature base their works on actual historical events, but modify them, usually retelling a familiar story from the perspective of an opressed character. Protagonists are afflicted with many conflicts which include:
1. Struggling to establish an identity
2. Old vs. New
3. Dealing with the "invasive" nature of the new dominant culture

Many literary techniques are used to shape post colonial literature, all which seek to describe the perspective of the formerly colonized. The most common technique is renaming; that is, the protagonist will be exploited in various situations, but with a different name each time. Another technique is to use extended metaphors/analogies to depict the plight of the colonized.

Other Aspects of Post Colonial Literature:
- Much of post colonial literature centers around the Americas and Europe because there is a larger reader base in those areas

- Some works are excluded from the mainstream literary community because they don’t write in a certain language (e.g. African authors’ ideas about apartheid rejected because they don’t speak the majority language – English)

- Some authors of the topic constantly switch their arguments (alternatively criticizing motherland nations on their domination of colonies, colonizer domination on natives, and the corruptibility of the natives)