Introduction To Postcolonialism

Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Postcolonialism blog tasks'. Read ‘The Theory Drop: Postcolonialism and Paul Gilroy’ in MM75  (p28). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access.

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) Look at the first page. What is colonialism - also known as cultural imperialism? 

From the 16th century onwards, European countries effectively got into a race to see how many undiscovered lands they could conquer first, and by ‘undiscovered’ I mean, ‘countries where the indigenous population didn’t have good enough weapons to fight back’.

2) Now look at the second page. What is postcolonialism? 

The process of decolonisation gathered speed in the 20th Century and with it, many of the attitudes associated with colonialism began to be challenged. Postcolonialism, like postmodernism, refers less to a time period and more to a critiquing of a school of thought that came before it.

3) How does Paul Gilroy suggest postcolonialism influences British culture?

Britain had not quite faced up to its colonial past, that the national psyche had not quite come to terms with no longer being a global superpower, and this had resulted in the desire to still subjugate those from different races, particularly immigrants.

4) What is 'othering'?

Othering is the phenomenon whereby we identify something as being different from, or alien to our social identity.

5) What examples of 'othering' are provided by the article?

If something is ‘other’ it is different to ‘us’; it doesn’t fit well within the confines of our society. The practice of othering persons means to exclude and displace them from the dominant social group

6) What is 'double consciousness'? 

People struggle to reconcile two nationalities or identities. 

7) What are 'racial hierarchies'?

The idea that some races are superior to other ones.

8) What examples from recent media products challenge the idea of racial hierarchies? 

Sephora black beauty is beauty campaign, in the advert it is very inclusive.