What is Postcolonialism?

What is Neocolonialism?

What are Subaltern Studies?

What is Postcolonial Feminism?

What is Capitalism?

What is Globalization?

What is Orientalism?

What is Imperialism? | Definition, Examples & Analysis

Imperialism refers to the domination of another country through either territorial acquisition, or by gaining economic and political power. The word is often used interchangeably with the term “colonialism,” however the two are not synonymous. Put simply, colonialism refers to the acquisition of another country (usually by force) and the economic exploitation of its resources. Imperialism is often achieved through colonization. 

As Satyaki Roy explains, imperialism is a broad term, with “diverse theories” including: 

The Changing Face of Imperialism

Imperialism conceived as intrinsic to systemic necessity of realising unconsumed surplus at the core; imperialism as modes of reproducing unequal exchange; imperialism as territorial expansion for cheap resources, markets or avenues to invest where the rates of profit are relatively higher; imperialism as the political superstructure of monopoly capital and expanding finance, and also as an outcome of a terminal phase of capitalist cycle; and so on. Hence, we do not have a single theory of imperialism which is applicable for all times in the post-competitive phase of capitalism, nor do we find an abstract rationale to favour one theory over the other. (“Imperialism, the ‘old’ and the ‘new’,” in The Changing Face of Imperialism, 2018) 

With such an all-encompassing term, it may be useful to look at the ideologies and aims present within imperialist policies. Writing in 1902, when the British Empire was nearing its peak, John A. Hobson argues that

Imperialism

Power, pride, prestige are prevailing sentiments in an imperialist policy. Territorial expansion, the control over backward peoples, the mission of civilisation, the safe-guarding of existing colonial possessions, are not indeed dissociated from the belief that “trade follows the flag” and that by helping to establish order and develop the resources of the peoples and countries which come under our rule, we shall increase our trade and enlarge our national income. (1902, [2018])

Though Hobson was anti-imperialist, the above statement does reveal that he shared some of its ideology; namely the Eurocentric belief that other countries and their populations were not as advanced or civilized as Britain. 

Western imperialism tends to be categorized into two distinct time periods: old imperialism (1450–1650) and new imperialism (1870–1919). This guide will discuss old imperialism briefly, before moving on to the objectives of new imperialism and the white supremacist ideology which attempted to justify colonization. We will primarily deal with European, specifically British, imperialism; though it must be noted that there have been imperialist nations outside of Europe — such as the US and Japan.

Old imperialism is characterized by European trade agreements and the establishment of colonies in the Americas (known as “the New World”), India, the East Indies, and South Africa. From the 1400s, new trade routes were established with the hopes of discovering new lands as well as resources. The aims of this early form of imperialism can be summed up in three words: gold, glory, God. The desire for economic prosperity, international renown, and the religious conversion of colonized countries is a commonality between old and new imperialism. 

It is often said that imperialism and colonialism began with Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the Americas (referred to as the “New World”), and subsequent brutalization and enslavement of its people, in 1492. However, as Stephen M. Caliendo and Charlton D. Mcllwain highlight 

The Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity

Modern imperialism is dated from Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of the Americas but this has been criticized as a Eurocentric conception that assumes no important global developments existed before that date, erases the contribution of non-European empires and civilizations to such developments, and emphasizes the rise of unique, and implicitly superior, modern European/Western societies. Before the eighteenth century, many parts of Asia and the Middle East were more advanced than Western Europe, in Africa powerful empires prevented European penetration and, in the Americas, the Spanish conquistadors encountered the Inca and Aztec empires. (“Identity,” in The Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity, 2010)

Columbus’ “discovery” resulted in the  Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), and thus the expansion of the Spanish and Portuguese empires. The treaty divided the “New World” of the Americas between the two major powers by establishing a new meridian 370 leagues to the west of the Cape Verde islands. Portugal would claim all lands east of the dividing line and Spain, the west. For more information on the Spanish and Portuguese empires, see William Maltby’s The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire (2008) and Nuno Domingos and Elsa Peralta’s edited collection Legacies of the Portuguese Colonial Empire (2023). 

There was a period of relative peace from European conquest in the mid-nineteenth century as many European nations felt the costs of expansion were too great. A big exception to this is the colonization of India in 1858 under the British Raj, which lasted until 1947 (see Jill C. Bender, The 1857 Indian Uprising and the British Empire, 2016).

New imperialism refers to the period of colonization from 1880 until the outbreak of World War I. In Imperialism, Harry Magdoff highlights two main distinctions between old imperialism and new imperialism: 

Imperialism: From the Colonial Age to the Present

The “notable speedup in colonial acquisitions.”

The increasing number of colonial powers, including Germany, the United States, Belgium, Italy, and Japan.

The increasing number of colonial powers meant that uncolonized space was limited, and so each colonizing nation raced to secure these territories first. 

Magdoff goes on to explain that whilst Great Britain was at an advantage during the first Industrial Revolution, by the time of the second Industrial Revolution, other colonial powers were beginning to catch up: 

This new industrialism, notably featuring mass-produced steel, electric power and oil as sources of energy, industrial chemistry, and the internal-combustion engine, spread over Western Europe, the United States, and eventually Japan. (2014)

This economic progress did not only enable imperialist policy, it was also one of the driving forces behind it. Due to major industrial development, the supply, or capacity for supply, was far greater than the demand. As such, new markets needed to be obtained abroad. In The History of Economic Thought, E.K. Hunt and Mark Lautzenheiser write: 

History of Economic Thought: A Critical Perspective

When productive capacity grew faster than consumer demand, there was very soon an excess of this capacity (relative to consumer demand), and hence, there were few profitable domestic investment outlets. Foreign investment was the only answer. But insofar as the same problem existed in every industrialized capitalist country, such foreign investment was possible only if noncapitalist countries could be “civilized,” “Christianized,” and “uplifted”—that is, if their traditional institutions could be forcefully destroyed and the people coercively brought under the domain of the “invisible hand” of market capitalism. So imperialism was the only answer. (2015)

The expansion of European capitalism depended upon imperialism and colonization. This meant a complete overturning of indigenous ways of life; their traditions, customs, and religions, as well as their economic and political structures. 

Imperialist forces were able to ideologically justify this oppression through a Eurocentric worldview: colonizing nations simply felt they were entitled to claim this land, violently suppress any resistance, and exploit the people and resources, as they viewed themselves to be morally and intellectually superior, evidenced by their industrial and economic feats. 

Eurocentrism: History, Identity, White Man's Burden

This economic proof, as it were, of the relative excellence of Europe led to new heights of Eurocentrism. Put simply, the factories of Liège and Manchester allowed Europe to dominate much of the rest of the world and underpin its feelings that Europeans were manifestly the best, amply demonstrated by their evident success in industry, commerce, politics and war. (2020)

Europe now had both the resources to dominate poorer nations, and the belief that such nations needed European intervention and reformation. 

The Dark Continent and the scramble for Africa

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899), the narrator Charles Marlow states that 

Heart of Darkness

[Africa] was not a blank space any more. It had got filled since my boyhood with rivers and lakes and names. It had ceased to be a blank space of delightful mystery — a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over. It had become a place of darkness. (2010)

This extract reflects nineteenth-century imperialist ideologies surrounding colonized Africa and its people. Africa, and other colonies, were seen in the imperialist imagination as spaces that simply did not exist until they were occupied by white, Western explorers. European colonizers wrote of such “discoveries” as though the land, populations, and resources materialized when they arrived. The thinking behind this was that a place only became significant (and real) once it had been acknowledged by the West. Even when Britain and other countries such as France did establish colonies in Africa, they still failed to acknowledge the reality of what they found, falling back on stereotypes about “the Dark Continent.” Africa was seen as a space shrouded in mystery and darkness, populated by savages who were to be “civilized” through their encounters with their European colonizers. These racist and Eurocentric notions can be seen in literary works such as H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines (1885). 

This mentality of European superiority was put into practice during the period known as the “scramble for Africa.” Between 1870 and 1914, European occupation of Africa rose from 10% to almost 90% (Abyssinia and Liberia remained independent). Magdoff writes,

By the turn of the twentieth century, the map of Africa looked like a huge jigsaw puzzle, with most of the boundary lines having been drawn in a sort of game of give-and-take played in the foreign offices of the leading European powers. The division of Africa, the last continent to be so carved up, was essentially a product of the new imperialism, vividly highlighting its essential features. (2019)

In The Scramble for Africa, first published in 1974, M. E. Chamberlain writes, 

The Scramble for Africa

For the first time in history there was an enormous gap, economic, technological and military, between [Africa and Europe] with the balance entirely in Europe's favour. The second explanation is less obvious but equally important – the mindset of the Europeans. Europeans were at the forefront of progress and civilisation; Africans ‘primitive’ and ‘backward’. Naturally, the Europeans would take over. (2014)

Christian “civilizing” missions were a method of justifying colonization in the eyes of the British public. Missionaries would visit colonies in an attempt to enlighten and teach English values to the population, simultaneously eradicating indigenous cultures and languages. These missions were presented to the public at home as a moral duty and were referred to as “the white man’s burden,” a phrase taken from Rudyard Kipling’s 1899 poem of the same name. 

Kipling’s poem encourages the colonization of the Philippine Islands by the United States. The first stanza acts as a call to action: 

The Best of Rudyard Kipling

(“The White Man’s Burden,” 1899, in The Best of Rudyard Kipling, 2020)

Kipling stresses the difficulty for the white man in attempting to civilize the natives of colonized countries. As Wintle explains, 

Kipling is pointing to the moral compulsion to undertake this task of philanthropy, whatever the material and strategic advantages, even if it is not wanted or welcomed by those on whom it is imposed. Imperialism is a moral necessity. (2020)

These missions, however, had a secondary purpose. As well as making Britain seem like benevolent colonizers, the enforcement of Eurocentric values eroded the native citizens’ sense of identity, making them more receptive to colonial rule.


It is worth noting that not all within the British Empire agreed with the imperialist pursuit. The outbreak of the Second Boer War (1899–1902) with British Army officer Herbert Kitchener’s barbaric scorched-earth tactics and the establishing of concentration camps, resulted in inflamed anti-imperialist sentiments which had already been brewing in Britain. As Bernard Porter writes in Critics of Empire, “England was by no means unanimous in her imperialism” as anti-imperialist sentiment was strengthened by the Boer War, which  “sicken[ed] many Britons with this particular manifestation of imperialism” (2007). 

One of the most damning indictments of imperialism from the time can be found in John. A. Hobson’s Imperialism from 1902, which criticizes it on economic and moral grounds. Here, Hobson argues that imperialist expansion is

Imperialism: A Study

a constant menace to peace, by furnishing continual temptations to further aggression upon lands occupied by lower races and by embroiling our nation with other nations of rival imperial ambitions. (1902, [2018])

Though Hobson conforms to a racist, imperial ideology that views other races as inferior, he argues that imperialism is not the answer, as it could prompt aggression from colonized countries. 

Hobson further challenges the idea that colonization is of great economic benefit to the colonizing country. He explains that the cost of preparing the military and protecting territory wastes money needed for “internal reforms and for the cultivation of the arts of material and intellectual progress at home”  (1902, [2018]). Criticism of imperialism’s economic impact on Britain had also been articulated by John Bright in a speech as early as 1858: 

I am inclined to think that, with the exception of Australia, there is not a single dependency of the Crown which, if we come to reckon what it has cost in war and protection, would not be found to be a positive loss to the people of this country. (Quoted in Porter, 2007)

Lastly, Hobson criticizes imperialism on moral grounds: 

the spirit, the policy, and the methods of Imperialism are hostile to the institutions of popular self-government, favouring forms of political tyranny and social authority which are the deadly enemies of effective liberty and equality. (1902, [2018])

As such, imperialism undermines liberalism. 

In the Fortnightly Review in 1878, Robert Lowe decried imperialism as “the apotheosis of violence” (“Imperialism,” in Imperialism, 2023). He added that, 

Imperialism: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies

We have a great deal more to lose than to gain by the spread of violence and rapine, and should, if it were only out of mere selfishness, adhere to the theory that sanctions existing rights and possessions. These cynical pretensions suit well with the insolence of prosperity, but have a bitter recoil in the days of adversity. Imperialism, so far as it is a leading motive, is the claim to be judged on our own cause – a claim which is neither just nor honourable. (Lowe, 1878, [2023]) 

The end of the British Empire and the legacy of imperialism 

Following the impact of the Second World War, Britain was no longer able to expand or maintain its empire. India regained its independence in 1947, and in subsequent decades British colonies in Africa (and all across the world) followed suit. The British Empire officially ended in 1997 with the return of the final territory, Hong Kong, to China. However, this did not mark the end of global imperialism. Instead, imperialism has continued in an evolved form through global capitalism and the subjugation of once-colonized nations through neocolonialism. 

Several historians have noted the uncanny superficial resemblances between the [British invasion of Egypt in 1881], especially, and the American–British invasion of Iraq in 2003 (both to remove a tyrant, both intended to be temporary but in fact exacerbating local nationalism and Muslim fundamentalism, so that the invading countries were dragged in further. … The only missing element in the Egyptian case is the chimera of ‘weapons of mass destruction’). (2007) 

Porter further argues that “American ‘hegemony’ can be seen as the direct successor to British imperialism,” under the guise of globalization (2007). 

Indeed, global capitalism seems to be imperialism’s new form. In Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century, John Smith states that

Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism's Final Crisis

The starvation wages, death-trap factories, and fetid slums in Bangladesh are representative of the conditions endured by hundreds of millions of working people throughout the Global South, the source of surplus value sustaining profits and feeding unsustainable overconsumption in imperialist countries. (2006)

This is all part of neocolonialism: the continued oppression of developing nations through economic and political dominance. 

In Imperialism and the Development Myth, Sam King further explores imperialism’s presence in the modern world under capitalism, writing that 

Imperialism and the development myth: How rich countries dominate in the twenty-first century

Despite carrying out a growing part of the world’s work, the poor countries are not breaking free of imperialist domination. Nor do any of them [...] threaten to topple, replace, outcompete or overtake the imperialist states. (2021)

As King goes on to illustrate, the ideology of nineteenth-century imperialism still underpins exploitation in poorer nations today, which are denigrated as “failed states inhabited by inferior or threatening peoples and regimes” (2021). The belief is perpetuated by the First World, typified in the American dream and neoliberal politics, that the only way for low-income nations to compete is to “catch up” with First World economic and industrial progress, but as King highlights “There is no possibility of Third World catch-up under capitalism” (2021). King argues that there is, however, some hope that imperialist oppression around the globe can be stopped, not through working within the capitalist system, but through a worker’s revolt. King writes that: 

Though there is every possibility that imperialist oppression and exploitation of the great mass of humanity living in the Third World – and also in the First World – may be capitalism’s undoing. Imperialism in the twenty-first century is expanding the army of its own gravediggers – the world working class – far beyond any it could have previously imagined. (2021)

Arendt, H. (1968) Imperialism: Part Two of The Origins of Totalitarianism. Mariner Books. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2450155/imperialism-part-two-of-the-origins-of-totalitarianism-pdf  

Brantlinger, P. (2013) Rule of Darkness: British Literature and Imperialism, 1830–1914. Cornell University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/534758/rule-of-darkness-british-literature-and-imperialism-18301914-pdf 

Duignan, P., and Gann, L. H. (2013) Burden of Empire: An Appraisal of Western Colonialism in Africa South of the Sahara. Hoover Institution Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/971312/burden-of-empire-an-appraisal-of-western-colonialism-in-africa-south-of-the-sahara-pdf 

Trafford, J. (2020) The Empire at Home: Internal Colonies and the End of Britain. Pluto Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2059054/the-empire-at-home-internal-colonies-and-the-end-of-britain-pdf

Bender, J. C. (2016) The 1857 Indian Uprising and the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/4226881/the-1857-indian-uprising-and-the-british-empire-pdf 

Caliendo, S. M. and Mcllwain, C. D. (eds.) (2010) “Identity,” in The Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1514897/the-routledge-companion-to-race-and-ethnicity-pdf 

Chamberlain, M. E. (2014) The Scramble for Africa. 3rd edn. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1323625/the-scramble-for-africa-pdf

Conrad, J. (2010) Heart of Darkness. William Collins. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/670071/heart-of-darkness-pdf 

Domingos, N., and Peralta, E. (eds.) (2023) Legacies of the Portuguese Colonial Empire: Nationalism, Popular Culture and Citizenship. Bloomsbury Academic. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/4179171/legacies-of-the-portuguese-colonial-empire-nationalism-popular-culture-and-citizenship-pdf 

Haggard, H. R. (2010) King Solomon’s Mines. William Collins. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/669638/king-solomons-mines-pdf 

Hobson, J. A. (2018) Imperialism: A Study. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1485798/imperialism-a-study-pdf 

Hunt, E. K. and Lautzenheiser, M. (2015) The History of Economic Thought: A Critical Perspective. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1561212/history-of-economic-thought-a-critical-perspective-pdf 

Lowe, R. (2023) “Imperialism,” in Cain, P. J., and Harrison, M. (eds.) Imperialism: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies, Volume I. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/3812697/imperialism-critical-concepts-in-historical-studies-volume-i-pdf 

Magdoff, H. (2019) Imperialism: From the Colonial Age to the Present. Monthly Review Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/978640/imperialism-from-the-colonial-age-to-the-present-pdf 

Maltby, W. (2008) The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. Bloomsbury Academic. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2997124/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-spanish-empire-pdf 

Porter, B. (2007) Critics of Empire: British Radicals and the Imperial Challenge. I. B. Tauris. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/918728/critics-of-empire-british-radicals-and-the-imperial-challenge-pdf 


Roy, S. (2018) “Imperialism, the ‘old’ and the ‘new’,” in Sen, S., and Marcuzzo, M. C. (eds.)

Colonialism to Contemporary Capitalism: The Changing Face of Imperialism. Routledge India. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1380482/the-changing-face-of-imperialism-colonialism-to-contemporary-capitalism-pdf 


Smith, J. (2016)  Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism's Final Crisis. Monthly Review Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/721110/imperialism-in-the-twentyfirst-century-globalization-superexploitation-and-capitalisms-final-crisis-pdf 


Wintle, M. (2020) Eurocentrism: History, Identity, White Man's Burden. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1693096/eurocentrism-history-identity-white-mans-burden-pdf 


King, S. (2021) Imperialism and the development myth: How rich countries dominate in the twenty-first century. Manchester University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2801707/imperialism-and-the-development-myth-how-rich-countries-dominate-in-the-twentyfirst-century-pdf 

What is Imperialism?

Waves of Feminism - First to Fourth Wave Timeline

What is Black Feminism?

What is Intersectional Feminism?

What is Necropolitics?

What is Structural Inequality?

What is Critical Race Theory (CRT)?

What is Postcolonial Feminism? | Definition, Examples & Analysis

Postcolonial feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses on gender liberation through the eyes of non-Western women, especially those who live in former colonies. Postcolonial feminism works to incorporate minorities in discourse as it addresses issues such as racism, politics, economics, gender, and the effects of colonialism on non-Western, non-white women in the postcolonial world.

When discussing postcolonial feminism, it is important to understand what postcolonial means and how it relates to the discipline of feminism. Postcolonialism is a theoretical and academic framework that explores the legacy of colonialism and imperialism. According to Ania Loomba in Colonialism/Postcolonialism (2015), colonial domination, or the control of a country and its people by settlers from a foreign territory, negatively impacts those living in colonial territories as these Indigenous peoples are often subjugated by foreign authorities, leaving the people of these territories feeling misrepresented and voiceless for generations. Loomba writes,

Colonialism/Postcolonialism

It has been suggested that it is more helpful to think of postcolonialism not just as coming literally after colonialism and signifying its demise, but more flexibly as the contestation of colonial domination and the legacies of colonialism. Such a position would allow us to include people geographically displaced by colonialism such as African-Americans or people of Asian or Caribbean origin in Britain as ‘postcolonial’ subjects although they live within metropolitan cultures. It also allows us to incorporate the history of anti-colonial resistance with contemporary resistances to imperialism and to dominant Western culture. (2015)

Loomba goes on to explain that within anti-colonial discourse, feminism plays a major part in highlighting women and those who struggle under colonial rule. Feminism assists in highlighting those who are often displaced in society and who seek representation, challenging colonial ideas:

Both women and colonised peoples functioned in economies which rested on their labour, and both were subject to ideologies which justified or obscured this exploitation. So both feminist and anti-colonial movements needed to challenge dominant ideas of history, culture and representation. They too questioned objectivity in dominant historiography, they too showed how canonical literary texts disguised their political affiliations, and they too broke with dominant Western, patriarchal, philosophies. (Loomba, 2015)

Anti-colonial and feminist theorists are interested in enlightening others on the struggles between the oppressors and the oppressed. These theorists illustrate how this conflict becomes a conflict of culture, as Western influences seek to strip Indigenous people of their language, identity, and humanity through total domination. Postcolonial feminism explores how this domination further impacts non-Western women. Postcolonial theory is discussed in further detail in the study guide on postcolonialism. 

Feminism encompasses a wide range of ideologies and discourses related to women’s impact on sociology, history, economics, politics, culture, and society. According to June Hannam in Feminism (2014), feminism is ultimately a set of ideas that embrace the notion that women are equals to men, with their own free will and independent thought: 

Feminism

[…] the term feminism will be used to describe a set of ideas that recognize in an explicit way that women are subordinate to men and seek to address imbalances of power between the sexes. Central to feminism is the view that women’s condition is socially constructed, and therefore open to change. At its heart is the belief that women’s voices should be heard – that they should represent themselves, put forward their own view of the world and achieve autonomy in their lives. (2014)

When feminism began to gain traction in the 19th century in the west, the movement focused on women’s rights, especially women’s right to vote, hold public office, be educated, work, have equal pay, own property, and equality within marriage. As feminism grew in popularity in the 20th and 21st centuries, the movement began to focus on other issues concerning abortion and reproductive rights, dismantling traditional gender roles in society, incorporating gender-neutral language in common parlance, and sexual harassment and violence indicated in the MeToo movement. The history of the feminist movement can be categorized into four waves that reflect on these issues. You can learn more about the history of feminist theory in our Waves of Feminism - First to Fourth Wave study guide.

However, often lost in all this vital change in society were the voices of minority women as the movement focused primarily on European female voices instead of Brown, Black, Asian, and Indigenous voices. Therefore, in the 1980s, during the third wave of feminism, feminist theorists sought to critique feminists in developed countries, addressing the fact that universalizing mainstream feminist ideas negates the experiences of those living in non-western areas of the world. Postcolonial feminist theorists often analyze how colonial influences over the centuries have impacted the culture and customs of Indigenous people and how these Indigenous people ultimately view themselves. Prominent theorists in this field include Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, who penned the article "Who Stole Native American Studies?", Cutcha Risling Baldy, who contributed to We Are Dancing for You (2018), and Cheryl Suzack, who co-edited Indigenous Women and Feminism: Politics, Activism, Culture (2011). 

Postcolonial feminism embraces not only female identity and autonomy but also inclusivity in society. As noted by Vijayta Doshi in Postcolonial Feminism in Management and Organization Studies (2023), in essence, postcolonial feminism takes apart the oppressive forces that hinder women and those who come from minority backgrounds, embracing diversity:

Postcolonial Feminism in Management and Organization Studies

Postcolonial feminism is a way of knowing that brings together feminist (gender, class, color, race, and religion) and postcolonial (subalternity, Third world woman/subject, West and the Rest) concerns […] Postcolonial feminism attends to local feminist issues in postcolonial contexts, giving equal importance to the feminist phenomenon of interest as well as its colonial history and culture. Postcolonial feminist apparatuses enable creative and sensitive ways of doubling the force of dismantling oppressive historical and cultural structures. (2023)

Postcolonial feminism acknowledges differences among groups of women and steers away from what it perceives as the Western feminist notion of solely focusing on the resistance against sexism. For example, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, who penned the 1985 essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?" illustrates the plight of women from former colonies, indicating that these women are doubly oppressed and left voiceless, particularly in academic discourse. For postcolonial feminists, feminism must reach beyond resistance against sexist oppression and relate gender issues to wider societal issues like racism and homophobia. 

Leaders in the postcolonial feminist movement

Alongside Spivak, feminists like Audre Lorde are often associated with the creation of postcolonial feminism and Black feminism. Lorde focuses on racism and gender liberation through the lens of postcolonial feminism, yet she also reflects on the experiences of Black women specifically through dialogue within Black feminist discourse. In her 1984 essay, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” which can be found in Feminist Postcolonial Theory (2003), Lorde discusses Black oppression and inequality, reflecting on Black identity and how society continues to subjugate Black voices. Lorde indicates that plucking out one aspect of a Black woman’s identity and tying this to all other Black women as a collective whole would be failing Black women. Lorde explains that Western feminism often uses the same tools as the patriarchy to oppress women from developing countries. Lorde indicates that differences in culture should be embraced across all feminist theory and these differences should be seen as strengths, with women across the world supporting each other by embracing these differences. 

In Race, Gender and the Activism of Black Feminist Theory (2014), Suryia Nayak explains that Lorde, among other Black feminists, warns against white feminist “mimicry” as a form of assimilation to Western feminism. This mimicry takes away Black identity, as it neutralizes Black women and white women, rejects differences, and makes the collusion with oppression more realized and accepted:

Race, Gender and the Activism of Black Feminist Theory

If feminism (or, indeed, any liberation ideology) is a political movement that questions and resists terms of oppression, and if these terms are different for Black and white women, it follows that Black feminism requires a questioning of, and resistance to, different terms than white feminism. (2014)

As a Black, lesbian feminist, Lorde explains in her essay “I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities,” that society must recognize that women, including lesbians, are at the center of the family; the idea of family with men as the head of household needs to be redefined:

A Burst of Light

I have heard it said—usually behind my back—that Black Lesbians are not normal. But what is normal in this deranged society by which we are all trapped? I remember, and so do many of you, when being Black was considered not normal, when they talked about us in whispers, tried to paint us, lynch us, bleach us, ignore us, pretend we did not exist. We called that racism […] I have heard it said that Black Lesbians will mean the death of the race. Yet Black Lesbians bear children in exactly the same way other women bear children, and a Lesbian household is simply another kind of family. Ask my son and daughter. (2017)

Within postcolonial and Black feminism dialogue, Lorde reflects on women through the lens of gender roles, sexuality, and racism. Lorde explains that to be a feminist means to be open to differences and change and to take part in political activism in our communities. The ways in which politics, discrimination, gender, race, and class affect women’s identities are discussed further in the study guide on Intersectional Feminism. 

Alongside Lorde, Chandra Talpade Mohanty was also a key supporter of postcolonial feminism. In 1984, Mohanty penned her essay “Under Western Eyes,” which can be found in her work Feminism without Borders (2003), where she discusses feminism through the eyes of women from developing countries. Mohanty explains that Western women often refer to developing world feminists as a singular entity, which is limiting and misrepresentative. According to Mohanty, women from the developing world are often illustrated as being coerced and subjugated by masculinity without reflecting on cultural differences and the history of these countries. As indicated by Mohanty, Western female voices often overshadow the voices of these women from developing countries as Western women incorporate their own ideologies, opinions, and discussions on the lives of women from underdeveloped countries, making it seem as if life in the West is the norm.

In Feminism Without Borders, Mohanty explains that postcolonial feminists feel they lack representation within feminist discourse which has typically prioritized the experiences of Western feminists, which do not sufficiently reflect their own interests. Mohanty writes,

Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity

[...] black, white, and other Third World women have very diﬀerent histories with respect to the particular inheritance of post-ﬁfteenth-century Euro-American hegemony: the inheritance of slavery, enforced migration, plantation and indentured labor, colonialism, imperial conquest, and genocide. Thus, Third World feminists have argued for the rewriting of history based on the speciﬁc locations and histories of struggle of people of color and postcolonial peoples, and on the day-to-day strategies of survival utilized by such peoples. (2003)

Mohanty encourages women from non-Western countries to embrace agency and autonomy, not through the eyes of Western feminist ideas, but through their own ideas of what it means to be a woman. For Mohanty, the struggles of people who endured colonialism and continue to live in developing countries should be discussed and acknowledged. 

Postcolonial feminist literature has given minority women a platform to express themselves and illustrate their lived experiences as women from countries outside the West. This type of literature focuses on such topics as economics, race, terrorism, immigration, religion, war, and decolonization, among other topics, through the voices of women of color. The following two novels are examples of postcolonial feminist literature as they explore a variety of themes ranging from gender to war to free will. 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) is an example of postcolonial feminist literature. The novel takes place in Nigeria, where Adichie herself is from. The story is set within the looming gaze of the Biafran War, also known as the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), as people’s lives are upended. The story is told through the perspective of the characters Olanna, Ugwu, and Richard, detailing how their relationships and lives changed drastically after Biafra’s declaration of secession. The brutality that these characters witnessed and faced themselves is realized as they have to face their own decisions and choices in the war-torn environment they find themselves in. 

In an interview with Wale Adebanwi in Daria Tunca’s Conversations with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2020), Adichie explains that she felt compelled to write the novel set during the Nigerian Civil War to share what it would have been like for people who endured atrocities like the civil war and other similar historic events in non-Western countries, events that are too often overshadowed by events in the West: 

Conversations with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I set out to write a story that deals with the realities as I understand them [...] I do realize that people have strong ideas of what the narrative of the war should be, but if this novel pushes some out of their complacency, then it is a good thing. I want this book to provoke a conversation. We need to talk about a history of events we too often minimize or dismiss or speak of in meaningless clichés. We need to talk about it honestly. (Adichie)

As a postcolonial feminist author, Adichie is able to shed light on the lived realities of people from non-Western countries, validating the experiences of those who suffered through these events and continue to live with the physical and emotional scars generated from such atrocities. Adichie focuses on the experiences of non-white women in particular, illustrating the women’s experiences of war and politics, but also reflecting on female education and female sexual liberation, all in the wake of the Biafran Civil War. 

Egyptian writer Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero (1977 [2015]) is a postcolonial feminist novel that reflects on the harsh realities of being a woman in her native Egypt. Based on Saadawi’s meeting with a female prisoner in Qanatir Prison in Egypt, the novel is a first-person account of inmate Firdaus who murdered a man and was sentenced to be executed. The novel explores the themes of religion, femininity, incest, female sexuality, sex work, and physical and emotional abuse. It brings to light what life was like for women in Egypt in the 1970s and the patriarchal systems they fought against. 

The novel predominantly explores themes of violence against women, including female genital mutilation. The novel also reflects on Firdaus’s courage as she defends herself against her pimp Marzouk, ultimately killing him when he pulls a knife on her. Though her pimp was abusive, Firdaus explains that prostitution gave her a sense of purpose as she was able to make her own money and make her own life decisions:

Woman at Point Zero

A woman’s life is always miserable. A prostitute, however, is a little better off. I was able to convince myself that I had chosen this life of my own free will. The fact that I rejected their noble attempts to save me, my insistence on remaining a prostitute, proved to me this was my choice and that I had some freedom, at least the freedom to live in a situation better than that of other women. (1977, [2015]) 

Saadawi reclaims the outdated idea that women can be manipulated easily and are merely controlled by the patriarchy. Though Saadawi explores the theme of female subjugation, she also illustrates a woman who was able to pave her own destiny and live as freely as she could as a woman in Egypt, using her own body as a form of rebellion. 

Though supported by many feminist scholars, postcolonial feminism has encountered criticism from some feminist circles. Some Western feminists argue that the feminist movement loses power when women are broken down into smaller groups to address the diversity of individual women. For these feminists, focusing on these smaller groups makes the movement appear divisive, which they fear will in turn cause the movement to become less united and less influential. Scholar Chilla Bulbeck reflects on this critique even further in Re-orienting Western Feminisms (1997), where she conducts a wide-ranging exploration of what life looks like for women of color in various parts of the world. 

There is also the issue of representation. As indicated in Ien Ang’s essay “‘I’m a Feminist but … “Other” Women and Postnational Feminism,’”  some feminist scholars question whether or not women from one part of the world can speak on behalf of or reflect on women from other parts of the world: 

If speaking in the name of the other is no longer politically acceptable, how then should the other be represented? Or should white feminists refrain from representing ‘other’ women at all? Would the problem be gradually solved if more ‘other’ women would start raising their voices and presenting ‘their’ points of view? Here again, the implicit assumption is that a diversification of discourse would eventually lead to a broader, more inclusive representation of ‘all’ women. However, what implications the resulting contestatory discourses can and should have for feminist politics remain glaringly unresolved.  (Ang, in Feminist Postcolonial Theory, 2003) 

Some feminist scholars believe that postcolonial feminism might become ethnocentric, as postcolonial researchers and writers might focus on one culture and refrain from reflecting on people from other parts of the world. As Bhikhu Parekh explains in Ethnocentric Political Theory (2019), “A multiculturally insensitive feminism can unwittingly end up frustrating the very cause it espouses,” indicating that feminists must be open to understanding all cultures from within without passing judgment. People also interpret colonialism in different ways, as some postcolonial feminists might reject all colonial advances while others might accept some colonial changes as being beneficial in these colonial territories. Overall, generalizing colonialism and postcolonialism might become problematic.

According to a critic of postcolonial feminism, Sara Suleri, in The Rhetoric of English India (2013), one aspect of postcolonial feminism she takes issue with is her is the idea that this form of feminism might shroud women in a “mystery” narrative, where women are perceived as being misunderstood or unreachable through a colonial context. Suleri writes, 

The Rhetoric of English India

[...] the tendency of subsequent criticism frequently fails to register the implications of his reading: instead, current discourse—in its often unscrupulous conflation of the issues of race, class, and gender-trends to replicate the Orientalist desire to shroud the East in a “female” mystery. The common language of imperialism thus perpetuates itself through what seeks to be an opposing methodology, suggesting that the continued equation between a colonized landscape and the female body represents an alteritist fallacy that causes considerable theoretical damage to both contemporary feminist and postcolonial discourses. (2013)

For Suleri, assigning a gender to culture could prove to be dangerous, as the colonial gaze could create a narrative in which people in these colonized territories are “othered” and still remain on the periphery of mainstream feminist discourse. Suleri seeks to reclassify the idea of sexuality and dismantle categorization and labels, allowing concepts like sexuality to be discussed outside of its relation to the human body. 

Postcolonial feminism focuses on those on the fringes of society whose lives are often forgotten or disregarded through a Western lens. This form of feminism brings together themes of racism, economics, politics, and gender issues, among other topics, interweaving these themes with the conversation of the radical liberation of women. With leaders like Audre Lorde and Chandra Mohanty, postcolonial feminism is ushered into mainstream feminist discourse, allowing writers like Chimamanda Adichie and Nawal El Saadawi the chance to enlighten readers on their lived experiences as women of color and what life looks like for people on the fringes of the colonial territories they hail from. Though postcolonial feminism has its fair share of criticism, overall it is a platform on which diversity and inclusivity are promoted and both binary and non-binary people are celebrated, making it an important sect of feminism to study. Scholars are now supporting a more well-rounded discourse related to postcolonial feminism, termed transnational feminism, in which the experiences of immigrants and migrant communities are detailed. You can learn more about transnationalism in our study guide on the subject.  Transnational feminism expands on the work of postcolonial feminism, going a step further by bringing to light the journey of those seeking new, more fruitful lives elsewhere without forgetting their unique backgrounds. 

Discrepant Dislocations (2023) by Mary E. John 

Subjects That Matter  (2019) by Namita Goswami 

Gender, Globalization, and Violence (2014) by Sandra Ponzanesi 

Black and Postcolonial Feminisms in New Times (2013) by Heidi Safia Mirza and Cynthia Joseph 

Local Invisibility, Postcolonial Feminisms (2018) by Laura Fantone 

A Daughter of Isis (2018) by Nawal El Saadawi and Sherif Hetata 

Boys Will Be Boys (2013) by Sara Suleri Goodyear 

Baldy, C. R. (2018) We Are Dancing for You. University of Washington Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/723957/we-are-dancing-for-you-native-feminisms-and-the-revitalization-of-womens-comingofage-ceremonies-pdf 

Bulbeck, C. (2010) Re-orienting Western Feminisms: Women's Diversity in a Postcolonial World. Cambridge University Press. 

Chimamanda, A. (2006) Half of a Yellow Sun. Harper Collins. 

Cook-Lynn, E. (1997) ‘Who Stole Native American Studies?’, Wicazo Sa Review, 12 (1)

Doshi, V. (2023) Postcolonial Feminism in Management and Organization Studies. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/3837600/postcolonial-feminism-in-management-and-organization-studies-critical-perspectives-from-india-pakistan-and-bangladesh-pdf 

Goodyear, S. S. (2013) The Rhetoric of English India. The University of Chicago Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1853009/the-rhetoric-of-english-india-pdf 

Hannam, J. (2013) Feminism. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1545736/feminism-pdf 

Loomba, A. (2015) Colonialism/Postcolonialism. 3rd edn. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1563268/colonialismpostcolonialism-pdf 

Lorde, A. (2003) “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” in Lewis, R. and Mills, S. Feminist Postcolonial Theory. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1601455/feminist-postcolonial-theory-a-reader-pdf 

Lorde, A. (2017) A Burst of Light. Dover Publications. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/510475/a-burst-of-light-pdf 

Mohanty, C. T. (2003) Feminism without Borders. Duke University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1466301/feminism-without-borders-decolonizing-theory-practicing-solidarity-pdf 

Nayak, S. (2014) Race, Gender and the Activism of Black Feminist Theory. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1665728/race-gender-and-the-activism-of-black-feminist-theory-working-with-audre-lorde-pdf 

Parekh, B. (2019) Ethnocentric Political Theory: The Pursuit of Flawed Universals. Springer International Publishing. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/3493633/ethnocentric-political-theory-the-pursuit-of-flawed-universals-pdf 

Saadawi, N. E. (2015) Woman at Point Zero. 3rd edn. Bloomsbury Publishing. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2011846/woman-at-point-zero-pdf 

Suzack, C. (2011) Indigenous Women and Feminism: Politics, Activism, Culture. University of British Columbia Press. 

Tunca, D. (2020) Conversations with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. University Press of Mississippi. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1638057/conversations-with-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-pdf 

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What are the Medical Humanities? | Definition, Examples & Analysis

The medical humanities are a multidisciplinary field bridging approaches and perspectives from the humanities (including the arts and social sciences) with the study and experience of medicine, illness, and health. As Rinaldo F. Canalis, Massimo Ciavolella, and Valeria Finucci write, the medical humanities are

Rethinking Medical Humanities

a hybrid area of study where the impact of disease and healing science on culture is assessed and expressed in the particular language of the disciplines concerned with the human experience. (2022)

Drawing upon literature, history, the arts, anthropology, philosophy, and more, the medical humanities investigate how disease, healing, and medicine influence culture, and how the humanities can inform medical care and education. 

Alan Bleakley identifies “four contested and fragmented” areas of focus in the medical humanities: 

Medicine, Health and the Arts: Approaches to the Medical Humanities

The humanities studying medicine: such as history of medicine or the critical evaluation of medicine in literature. 

Arts and humanities intersecting with medicine in medical education: ‘medicine as art’. 

Arts for health: for example, art in hospitals and arts activities with patients – often called ‘arts as medicine’. 

Arts therapies: sometimes linked with arts for health, but usually associated with mental health interventions using arts media within a psychotherapeutic framework. (“Toward a ‘critical medical humanities,’” in Medicine, Health and the Arts, 2013)

Examples of medical humanities projects include investigating historical medical practices related to pregnancy, analyzing depictions of tuberculosis in nineteenth-century literature, integrating visual art practice into therapy, and training doctors in literary skills and bioethics. 

Because the medical humanities embrace such a range of methods and objects of study, defining the field, or even answering whether it is a proper “discipline,” can be challenging. For Bleakley, “‘the medical humanities’ is an inadequate collective term for a disparate set of approaches” (Routledge Handbook of the Medical Humanities, 2019). Victoria Bates and Sam Goodman note that the “question of whether the medical humanities is a ‘multidiscipline’, ‘interdiscipline’, ‘discipline’ or ‘field’ is by no means resolved”; in fact, 

It is the malleability of the term ‘medical humanities’ that makes its definition so problematic and arguably even unnecessary; indeed, a clear-cut definition could remove the diversity of approach that makes the medical humanities so appealing in the first place. (Medicine, Health and the Arts, 2013)

In other words, the medical humanities avoid disciplinary boundaries and defining categories, even questioning the strict separation of arts and sciences. In recent decades, the field has taken an increasingly self-reflexive turn. The resulting “critical medical humanities” interrogate the very values, assumptions, and definitions underlying medicine and the humanities, inviting questions like: How is the concept of health influenced by normative values and historical trends? How do we balance trust in medical science and textbook techniques with trust in the patient’s experience?

The medical humanities not only propel important conversations in biomedicine (about ethics, identity, humanity, etc.) but also reveal how perspectives and methods associated with the humanities are already present in medicine. For example, doctors perform when they interact with patients; patients use metaphors to describe their experiences; medical illustrations, photographs, and charts engage in visual aesthetics. 

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