Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Sociology - Individual, Groups, Society, grade: 1.0, Martin Luther University (Deutsche Sprache und Literatur), course: Introduction to Postcolonial Theory, Literature, and Film, language: English, abstract: Postcolonial studies aim at stripping away conventional thoughts and examine what kind of identity emerges in postcolonial subject. The first problem when I set out to work on postcolonial literatures is to confirm its scope. This word scope that I put forward here can be explained as follows, on the one hand, postcolonial literature is apparently vague and general. It’s such a multinational and multicultural case that it is hard to define which country falls under the rubric. Except what we always mentioned as “postcolonial countries” such as Nigeria, India and Pakistan, some writers include also countries like Canada, Ireland and Australia. So when we read the literatures about postcolonial, it is apparent for us to discover, that they include two parts, on the one hand, it is based on the dominant or colonizer society, on the other hand, it talks also about the dominated or colonized society. On the other hand, there are a large number of relevant themes or aspects around the topic postcolonialism: migration, race, gender, resistance, slavery and so on. Trying to cover all the countries and aspects in one essay seems not so specific. In my essay, I will focus on the question “Who am I ?”. This kind of doubt about one’s identity is a “derivative product” of colonialism and a very important topic in postcolonial world. When we read literatures, we are able to seek out, what the indigenous voice want to express, how should the indigenous people see themselves, once their place and identity were forced to change? Is the dual identity always ambivalent? These questions are what I’m going to explain hereinafter.

Contributing to identity formation in ethnically and religiously diverse postcolonial societies, this book examines the role played by creole identity in Indonesia, and in particular its capital, Jakarta. While, on the one hand, it facilitates transethnic integration and promotes a specifically postcolonial sense of common nationhood due to its heterogeneous origins, creole groups of people are often perceived ambivalently in the wake of colonialism and its demise, on the other. In this book, Jacqueline Knörr analyzes the social, historical, and political contexts of creoleness both at the grassroots and the State level, showing how different sections of society engage with creole identity in order to promote collective identification transcending ethnic and religious boundaries, as well as for reasons of self-interest and ideological projects.

Discussing a variety of postcolonial narratives written by women, Lionnet offers a comparative feminist approach that can provide common ground for debates on such issues as multiculturalism, universalism, and relativism.

Expatriate Identities in Postcolonial Organizations offers a timely and contemporary discussion of the role of organizations in maintaining or challenging structures and cultures based on racism and discrimination. It offers a key exploration of the relations between whiteness, identity and organization in migratory contexts. It delves into the experiences of expatriates in Hong Kong and the ways in which new identities are constructed in the destinations of migration by exploring the renegotiation of white identities and racialized relationships, and the extent to which colonial imaginations still inform contemporary organizations. By drawing on existing theoretical and empirical material on post-colonialism, identity-making, privileged migration, relocation, transnational work and organizations, this volume brings disparate discussions together in a new and accessible way. It will appeal to a range of sociology scholars as well as to those working in the fields of migration, gender studies, and cultural geography.

Making a break with conventional wisdom in post-colonial discourse, this book explores contemporary African identities in transition. The contributors look at the colonial legacy and how colonial identities are being reconstructed in the face of deepening social inequality across the continent.

Identity in Place reveals how Indigenous people survive in a postcolonial world, heal, regain homes and rituals, and subsequently build new homes and create new traditions. Australian and NZ content.

Abraham argues that a theological imagination can expand the contours of postcolonial theory through a reexamination of notions of subjectivity, gender, and violence in a dialogical model with Karl Rahner. She questions of whether postcolonial theory, with its disavowal of religious agency, can provide an invigorating occasion for Catholic theology.