( New Socialist Initiative presents the 2nd Lecture in the
Series on Modernity, 18 th October 6 pm IST)
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In this lecture we will attempt a summary of and a distillation
from various strands of postcolonial critiques of modernity and an assessment
of the ideological temperament and political attitudes that flow from these
critiques. The challenge in any such exercise is at least two-fold.
Postcolonial theory is a diverse and multi-faceted body of thought that
expresses itself variously in theoretical, historical, cultural and political
works it has inspired. Summarising it and distilling from it is a challenge. On
the other hand, modernity too is a variously interpreted and enormously
contested category. Invariably its critics erect their own versions of it for
their respective purposes.
The major strands of postcolonial critiques we will consider are
not all integral to the concept of modernity, but they do relate to this issue
– some more directly than others. The aspects we will attempt to cover can be
counted as follows:
Orientalism – the deliberate and motivated construction of an image of
the “East” by the western colonial establishment that served the colonial
project
Euro-centrism – the European norms and standards of civilisation to be
imposed on the rest of the world
Universalism – the proclamations that Reason and Science and to a lesser extent
also the concepts of ethics and human rights as they emerged in the West are
universal and applicable to entire humanity
Nationalism – a critique of modern nationalism, both colonial and
anti-colonial
Subalternism – a critique of the history from above and of the denial of
agency in the subaltern masses
Textualism – an emphasis on texts while evaluating history, a theoretical
tendency influenced by post-structuralism
In our assessment of the postcolonial critique of modernity we
will refer to our own conceptualization of modernity (as covered in the last
lecture). In particular we will deploy the conceptual separation of capitalism
from modernity as an example of our functional separation between the “system”
and the “rest of society” and on this basis will present a political assessment
of the postcolonial critique of modernity.
YouTube Link to the first lecture :
