Colonial Discourse in Postcolonial Literature
Discourse is a collection of narratives, statements, and opinions dealing with a certain topic. Discourse can be about anything. There's even Justin Bieber discourse, if you think about all those millions of articles, gossip columns, and Twitter feeds obsessing over when he last blinked his left eye.
(Department of Bieber Studies, anyone? You know it's coming.)
Colonial discourse, as you might guess, is the collection of narratives, statements, and opinions that deals with colonized peoples—told from the perspective of European colonizers, of course. This discourse isn't very kind to colonized peoples. It usually portrays them as savages, as uncivilized, as lazy, and as servants. Colonizers themselves are usually presented as civilized and benevolent and generous. (Could have fooled us.)
Given that colonial discourse was so important in justifying the whole enterprise of colonialism, it became a very important theme for postcolonial writers. One of the goals of postcolonial writers is to attack this colonial discourse and show it up for what it is: a load of bull.
Chew on This
Want to see colonial discourse in action? Have a look at how much fear surrounds a journey into the Congo in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, a late Victorian novel about Europeans going into Africa. Chinua Achebe doesn't like this book very much, because he thinks it shows Africa and Africans in a stereotypical light, though others have argued that Conrad is trying to show the true ugliness of colonialism.
The Martinican writer Patrick Chamoiseau shows us how colonial education and discourse alienate a little boy from his native roots in the "Survival" section of his novel School Days.