Postcolonial Criticism

TEACHING PRODUCTIVITY AND ITS ENEMIES is a distribution of my original doctoral dissertation "Language Tangle : Predicting and Facilitating Outcomes in Language Education" ( http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/804346 )  with a new title better reflecting its actual theme, barriers to teaching productivity.

Although the keys to teaching success are elusive, some of the destructive forces at work against success have enough constancy to be worth the trouble of a well-developed defence system. I will collectively describe forces acting against teaching success as “the enemies of language teaching productivity”.  A productive teacher is one who adds to the learning productivity of students. A productive student is one who  acquires and retains what needs to be learned (a skill, a body of knowledge or a method of thinking) with the most efficient use of his or her mental resources, time and money...

As a working teacher, I am concerned with managing the psychology of my students as well as my own. The “enemies” in this ghostly arena of the human mind are well known to any experienced teacher. However, the bulk of this book is concerned with other distractors – enemies without. Typically they take the form of individuals and groups within institutions who have agendas which clash with what the teachers and students are trying to achieve. Productivity for these other players has an altogether different meaning from the learner’s pursuit of knowledge...

Various mass media products, even those that are expected to disseminate reality, have become sources of images and imaginaries of various groups, ethnicities, genders, and cultures. Environmental documentaries, which are supposedly based on accurate information, still use portrayals or representations that were forged by ideologies and social structures dominating the society in which they are produced. Employing a postcolonial framework, this paper discusses the portrayal of indigenous peoples in Philippine environmental documentaries—specifically, in GMA Network’s “Signos,” “Planet Philippines,” “Wildlife for Sale,” and “Oras Na.” Through a textual analysis on the documentaries’ narratives, visual elements, and “mise-en-scène,” it has been found that indigenous peoples have been portrayed according to the colonial tropes of infantilization, animalization, and poverty. Overall, “othering” is still prevalent in these environmental documentaries.

Available in: https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/works/imaging-the-indigenous-in-philippine-environmental-documentaries

The way Marco Polo portrays the “Other” is profoundly different from the way Ibn
Battuta reports his experiences in the East. First, Marco has traveled to a world that is
characterized by styles of life different from those of the West. Second, Marco is a European
Christian who builds his description on cultural assumptions mixed with a sense of supremacy.
Third, Polo represents and serves a political agenda manifested in his nomination by Khubilai
Khan as his reporter and his enthusiasm to “shock” the European reader about the “brutal life”
that exists out of his homeland. Finally, Ibn Battuta has not been out Islamic influence.
Moreover, his descriptions are mainly circling around religious rituals and Sufism.

The film Dirty Pretty Things (2002) reflects some of the typical consequences of both colonization and decolonization and one of its most important themes is the portrayal of illicit trafficking in organs of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. The aim of this paper is to present and examine different aspects of otherness, depicted in this film and show the role of the body and the dominant body politics related to those aspects of otherness such as gender, race and ethnicity. The methods used in this paper to discuss the film are generalisation and the analysis of gathered information (e.g. mise-en-scene). The entire film is observed through the prism of postcolonial critique, taking into consideration its crucial elements and topics such as Orientalism, sexual exploitation, body exploitation (in terms of, say, organ trafficking or for cheap labour) and double colonization, while the 'double imaginary' and 'heterotopia' also play an important role in the analysis of selected scenes. Otherness and its aspects are crucial for the unveiling of the elements of postcolonial critique depicted in this film, while the body of ‘the other’ is just another currency in the global capitalist system. Human body, especially female body is just another commodity and instrument of trade in the free market of liberal capitalism.

Como “notas ao pé da página”, o artigo retorna a Uma literatura nos trópicos e a seu mais célebre ensaio, “O entre-lugar do discurso latino-americano”, para articulá- los a uma sequência de ensaios posteriores publicados pelo autor Silviano Santiago, nos quais se reiteram e se desdobram os ímpetos do gesto crítico inaugural, desconstrutor, intempestivo e extemporâneo. Exploram-se, portanto, em trabalhos escritos entre 1972 e 2000, as operações de confronto com linearidade do argumento histórico, as leituras a contrapelo, as recuperações no arquivo colonial e a exploração dos nexos recalcados que sustentam e legitimam, no Brasil, hierarquias, violências, exclusões, racismos e a obliteração da palavra do Outro.

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Abstract: As footnotes, we return to Uma literatura nos trópicos (A Literature in the Tropics) and to its most notable essay, “O entre-lugar do discurso latino-americano” (The In-Between Space of the Latin American Discourse). We connect these works to a series of later essays by Silviano Santiago, in which he reiterates and develops the original, deconstructive and untimely critical gesture. Hence, we explore, in writings published between 1972 and 2000, how the author contests the linearity of historical argument, reads against the grain, returns to the colonial archive and explores the repressed nexus of connections, in Brazil, that sustains and legitimates hierarchies, violence, exclusion, racisms and the erasure of the word of the Other.

Post-colonialism, as a body of theory, reveals the continuous effects and outcomes of colonization. It is a counter-discourse which puts forth the inextricable relationships between European nations and the societies they have colonized. As a case in point, the post-colonial theory aims at examining such philosophical, yet sensitive, issues as the problematic of difference, identity, hybridity, historical objectivity, etc. This paper seeks to examine the extent to which the three novels: Surfacing, Fire on the Mountain and Things Fall Apart are representative of the problematic of Post-colonialism, and to cast light on the limitations and strengths of Post-colonialism in these three novels. What draws these three novels together perhaps is the foregone conclusion that all of them are set in post-colonial countries, namely, Canada (Surfacing), India (Fire on the Mountain), and Nigeria (Things Fall Apart) which were all formerly colonized by Britain. This paper is organized in terms of four parts; the first three parts are going to be devoted to the analysis of the three novels in the order mentioned above. The last part, however, is going to establish a comparative approach in studying the similarities and differences of the three novels in terms of how they are representative of the problematic of Post-colonialism.

This thesis stems from the observation that there exists a problem of recognizing Indian thought as philosophy, and, by extension, including it in the field of academic philosophy in the West. The question I examine is regarding the role of hermeneutics in shaping the West’s image of Indian philosophy. As my point of departure, I use Friedrich Schlegel’s text On the Language and Philosophy of the Indians as a case because it exemplifies an influential early Orientalist encounter with India. I examine the interpretive methodology in this text both in light of its historical-philosophical context and in light of the postcolonial debate, and identify limitations of the hermeneutical approach, both in terms of a misconstruction of Indian thought, and of maintaining an Orientalist misrepresentation. In the final chapter, I discuss these findings in relation to the debate on the exclusion of non-Western philosophy in academic philosophy in the West.

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on tarkastella kolmen igbo-nigerialaisen kirjailijan romaania igbojen keskeisen kosmologisen elementin (chi’n) kautta. Tutkimus on osa postkoloniaalista kirjallisuustutkimusta, jonka tarkoituksena on selvittää, millä tavoin igbojen kulttuurin eri elementit ovat muuttuneet länsimaisen kolonialismin ja erityisesti kristinuskon vaikutuksesta. Tutkimuksen päämääränä on selvittää, millä tavoin nämä kolmea eri sukupolvea edustavat kirjailijat käsittelevät oman kulttuurihistoriansa tärkeintä kosmologista elementtiä ja mitkä heidän kuvaustensa mahdolliset merkitykset igbo-nigerialaiselle kirjallisuuskulttuurille ovat. Tutkimus keskittyy erityisesti teoksissa kuvattuun maskuliinisen ja feminiinisen suhteeseen kolonialismia edeltävältä ajalta postkoloniaaliseen aikaan. Aineistona käytetään kirjallisuustutkimuksen lisäksi antropologista, historiallis-poliittista, kuin myös folkloristista ja luonteeltaan jopa teologista tutkimusta. Tutkimus on jaettu kahteen osaan, joista ensimmäinen käsittelee chi’n historiallisia juuria ja kolonialismin vaikutusta igbojen kulttuuriin sekä Chinua Acheben esikoisromaania edellä mainittujen valossa. Tutkimuksen toinen osa käsittelee kahden naiskirjailijan, Buchi Emechetan sekä Chimamanda Ngozi Adichien teoksia vastauksina Acheben teokselle.
Tutkimuksen teoreettisena kehyksenä toimii erityisesti antropologinen ja folkloristinen tutkimus. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu siis kenttätutkimuksissa kootusta aineistosta, jonka valossa romaaneja tulkitaan. Keskeiseen asemaan nousee igbojen uskonnosta löytyvä duaalisuus, joka ilmenee parissa chi ja eke. Tämä duaalinen luonne on tärkeä osa igbojen maailmankatsomusta, jonka mukaan millään asialla tai olennolla ei ole koskaan vain yhtä puolta. Igbojen mukaan muun muassa ihminen rakentuu kahdesta osasta: chi’stä ja eke’stä, joista ensimmäinen on henkinen (maskuliininen) elementti ja jälkimmäinen fyysinen (feminiininen) elementti. Kaikki tutkimuksessa käytetty aineisto tukee hypoteesia, jonka mukaan igbo yhteisöjen maailma jakautuu tämän duaalisuuden ympärille: yhteiskunta on selkeästi jakautunut miesten ryhmiin ja naisten ryhmiin, jotka kuitenkin päättävät yhteisöä koskevista asioista yhdessä.
Tutkimuksen perusteella kaikki kolme romaania edustavat kristillisjuutalaistunutta kuvaa kolonialismia edeltävästä kosmologiasta, koska niissä esiintyy kristillisen teologian pohjalta rekonstruoitu versio igbojen kosmologisesta pääelementistä, chi’stä. Tutkimuksen valossa, kosmologian tasapainottava, feminiininen elementti, eke, on kolonialismin vaikutuksen kautta menettänyt merkityksensä naisille produktiivisen roolin määrittävänä kosmologisena kategoriana. Chi’n rooli kristillis-juutalaisena ”henkilökohtaisena jumalana” romaaneissa taas vahvistaa maskuliinisen valtaa feminiinisestä igbojen länsimaistuneessa kulttuurissa.

Exploring Quicksand. Translation Criticism and Literary Criticism in the Face of the Petrification of Contemporary World Literature


In contemporary discussions on the condition and further perspectives of World Literature, the mood of disappointment and disillusionment seems to dominate. Reservations concern World Literature in its complexity – its canon, potential multilingualism, existing hierarchies and often contradictory conceptualizations. The crisis of World Literature is not, however, the result of a scandal, but rather of many years of progressive petrification resulting in actual monolingualism, formulaic narrative patterns, consolidation of the center-periphery hierarchy and abandonment of the real pluralism of interpretation. One of the areas that seems to meet the challenge of World Literature is undoubtedly translation criticism. Therefore, the aim of the article is to reflect on how contemporary theories and conceptualizations of World Literature as well as its far-fetched utopia can benefit from translation criticism’s input. The article also argues that translation criticism may become a field that dynamizes contemporary World Literature and restores its reordering or even revolutionary potential.

Numa tentativa de investigar a representação de minorias na Literatura Inglesa, este projeto procura analisar três contos – "Uma vez na vida", "Fim de ano" e "Em Terra", da escritora Jhumpa Lahiri, do livro Unaccostumed Earth, de 2008, traduzido para o Português como Terra Descansada, que abordam as relações de gênero e pertencimento dos protagonistas Hema e Kaushik. Através de um estudo que alia investigação material do texto literário – uma análise estrutural da narrativa – com discussões de cunho social e histórico, nossa intenção é abordar o modo como as narrativas lidam com o choque entre duas culturas e as relações de parentescos que se materializam nas três narrativas selecionadas deste livro. Nossa intenção é interpretar o modo como a autora apresenta a temática das relações culturais e o modo como os protagonistas dos contos buscam construir para si um lugar na sociedade em que estão inseridos.

Palavras-chave: Crítica Pós-Colonial. Diáspora. Estudos Culturais.

This article identifies how scholars have displaced antagonism within histories of Sikhism and South Asian Studies more broadly. In contrast to this displacement, this article foregrounds antagonism by taking into account a third element within the presumed colonizer and colonized relationship: a curved space of nonrelation that signals there can be no colonial relationship. By considering the constitutive nature of antagonism within social reality that remains unable to be demarcated, this article examines the generative principles of Sikh practices and concepts that both structure Sikhism's institutions and productively conceptualize this antagonism. Examining these concepts and practices, I consider the possibility of different modes of both historical being and becoming not bound within our current conceptual rubrics. These different possibilities culled through Sikh concepts and theories demand we reflect upon the rabble: those unable to be contained within colonial civil society or within attempts by the colonized for self‐determination in political societies. This void then fractured Sikh reform organizations historically, providing multiple avenues for politics unaccountable within our bifurcated and asymmetrical understandings of civil society and political societies and colonizer and colonized.

Combining key insights from aesthetic theory and various postcolonial critiques, this research looks into the aesthetics of revolt. Taking the recent and exceptional sequences of revolts in Tunisia as a case study and thus starting from an extensive and unique fieldwork, it follows the aesthetic turn in political science and wants to contribute to the further development of an epistemologically more self-conscious and recognizable academic field of study that engages with aesthetics, politics and revolt in the region, the continent and beyond in the Global South. By unraveling contrapuntally the complex entanglement of processes concerning the politicization of aesthetics and the aestheticization of politics, revolting senses show how state aesthetics are always historically formed and how the sensible, or that what can be seen, imagined or embodied, is consequently shared, divided and distributed, but also how accumulated aesthetic agency can question and possibly alter this shared distribution in times of revolt. Attention is directed on the aesthetics of revolt, especially on the visible and corporeal or embodied qualities of sense experience. This study apprehends revolt in a phenomenological way as a lived, embodied and visual experience and thus as a process of diversion or reappropriation of spectacular power. It contends that revolt has the potential to alter a given police order, its properties of space and possibilities of time, to re-determine the distribution of the roles and modes of participation, its dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, and thus to restructure the shared division of the sensible. Nevertheless, the often too precipitated contentions that the moving body politic would have radically altered the order of the sensible, during the latest sequences of revolt in Tunisia, is altogether tempered. This dissertation points at the intricacies that accompany the processes of revolt against a firmly seated police order, especially the difficulty of creating different conditions of intelligibility and possibility that entail a fundamental transformation of what appears to sense experiences. These particular intricacies could somehow have been foreseen as aesthetics was explicitly grasped as a historically formed contrapuntal ensemble or as an all-encompassing realm that is made of different intermeshed, overlapping, and mutually embedded histories traversed by a colonial divide.

In a recent paper on 1 Peter, David Horrell has argued that the long-running “Balch–Elliott debate” regarding the stance the author takes toward the values and ethos of his readers’s pagan social environment needs to be focussed more deliberately on the particularities of the imperial context and the shape that it gave to the power-structures within which the letter’s readers were required to relate to their social environment.
In this chapter, I argue that another crucial particularity of the text that needs to be taken into account is the tradition of understanding within the author encourages his readers to interpret that imperial power and their relation to it.
With those two considerations in mind, this chapter examines the ways in which the author’s use of OT traditions contributes to the stance that he urges his readers to take toward the imperial dynamics of fear, patronage, and honor that shaped their socio-political context, concluding that both the socially “conformist” and the socially “resistant” dimensions of the letter’s injunctions are expressed in terms of scriptural categories and grounded in scriptural patterns of judgement.

Throughout his writing career, V.S. Naipaul has been exploring the
contemporary repercussions for both colonizer and colonized of imperial colonial history, and his works have been a series of experiments in what the Barbadian novelist George Lamming has called "the informing influence of history on the imaginative rendering of character."! Post-colonial societies are for Naipaul essentially mimetic. ...

Nesse artigo, buscamos mostrar as relações familiares criadas pela personagem Hema, na segunda parte do livro Terra Descansada (2009), de Jhumpa Lahiri, levando em conta a sua construção identitária, além da ideia de pertencimento presente nas narrativas. Visto que, o presente estudo tem como foco principal fazer uma leitura dessa protagonista na perspectiva da identidade cultural na pós-modernidade, – sob a luz dos Estudos Culturais e dos Estudos Pós-coloniais – apontando como a personagem feminina mostra uma conformidade cultural ao final das três narrativas. Ademais, o estudo justifica-se pela necessidade de investigar o modo como o choque cultural colabora para a desconstrução/construção, configuração/reconfiguração da personalidade desse ser fictício; além disso, nós investigamos a crise e a fragmentação de sua identidade enfrentadas por ela no decorrer do seu processo de adaptação e ajustamento ao contexto sócio, histórico e cultural que lhe é imposto. Metodologicamente, partiu-se de uma pesquisa bibliográfica, de cunho qualitativo, exploratório e investigativo, utilizando-se do método dedutivo, através de uma análise estrutural da narrativa. Como fundamentação teórica, contamos com as concepções de Bonnici (2009); Cevasco (2009); Custódio (2013); Gámez-Fernández (2016); Hall (2006); Ling (2014); e, Rahman (2017). Em conclusão, vemos que, além de Hema apresentar uma identidade híbrida, ela também mantém um equilíbrio entre a cultura norte-americana e a cultura dos seus pais. Em suma, a protagonista transparece conseguir ajustar-se à ambas as culturas, apresentando uma conformidade cultural, como uma forma de conciliação entre os costumes do Oriente e os do Ocidente. Palavras-chave: Estudos Culturais. Crítica Pós-colonial. Relações Familiares. Pertencimento. Conformidade Cultural.

This article is a Postcolonial study about season of Migration to the North a novel written by Tayyeb Salih (the renowned Sudanese writer). The novel, season of migration to the north, is the most famous postcolonial Arabic novel which has caught the attention of so many literary critics including Edward Sa’eed, the Palestinian-American literary theoretician, and even in 2001, the academy of Arabic literature in Damascus named it as the best Arabic novel in the twentieth century.
A noticeable part of this research has been allocated to analysis of postcolonial concepts of the novel such as ego/other (core/periphery), hybridity, eurocentrism, and gender. It is worth noting that analysis of ego/other (core/periphery), in addition to text of the novel, includes some paratext elements like title and cover design.  The primary outcome achieved from this composition is that the novel Season of Migration to the North, projecting a vivid objective image of economical and sociological position of Sudan and its intellectuals’ crisis in postcolonial period gained an elevated status among other similar Arabic novels.

Resumo: Observamos a sociedade barroca em Minas Gerais delineada pelo choque dos múltiplos modelos simbólicos, dos conflitos cotidianos e pela violência colonial socialmente reconhecida. Neste instável universo em equilíbrio dinâmico entre movimentos de tensão e repouso, observamos uma lingüística musical marcada por desvios aos procedimentos do cânone europeu. Acreditamos que, diferentemente de distrações técnicas ou concepções estilísticas turvas, as divergências observadas representam estratégias simbólicas, no âmbito lingüístico, ao reconhecimento e racionalização de um universo em instável equilíbrio. A universe in unstable balance: strain and rest in the musical linguistic of the baroque from minas gerais Abstract: We look at the baroque society of Minas Gerais outlined by the shock of the multiple symbolic models, the daily conflicts and the social recognized violence of the colonial enterprise. In this unstable universe in dynamic balance between movements of strain and rest, we see an musical linguistic marked by deviations in the procedures of european canon. We believe that, differently from technical distractions or cloudy stylistics conceptions, the divergences observed represents symbolic strategies, in the linguistic field, toward the recognition and rationalization of this universe in unstable balance.

This essay argues for a postcolonial humanism and a humanist postcolonial studies that is rooted in both the institutional and methodological space of the disciplinary humanities.  I advance an argument for humanism and the method of humanistic critique particularly in response to the recent rise of 'world-literature' (hyphenated), which often self-identifies as a social scientific rather than humanistic field, and which reads literary texts as – some might say, reduces them to – inflections or registrations of the capitalist world-system. To explain my case, I will cover ambitious stretches of historical and theoretical ground, and I will therefore be writing in broad brushstrokes. Where I give single or direct quotations, my intention is to capture general intellectual tendencies, rather than to isolate and critique individuals. My aim is never to condemn a particular critical practice outright but to explore instead where different methods might lead, and to consider their limitations, contexts, and affordances.

Poco a poco va ganando fuerza la necesidad de entender y estudiar los procesos coloniales en la Antigüedad desde una perspectiva que vaya más allá de las teorías aculturacionistas, lo que conlleva la necesidad de emplear enfoques teóricos como el postcolonialismo, en lo referente a las interacciones que se produjeron durante los contactos que pueblos, como griegos o romanos, mantuvieron con muchas de las sociedades con las que tuvieron contacto, a través de los diversos asentamientos que en aquellas regiones se establecieron desde época temprana.

Los procesos de construcción identitaria pueden, así, ponerse en relación con los conflictos inherentes a los desarrollos de sociedades coloniales, expresados muchas veces a través de cultos, ritos y mitos. Cualquier tipo de encuentro cultural representa un proceso complejo, a todos los niveles, entre grupos sociales, que debe abordarse lejos de las teorías basadas en la influencia unidireccional que, por este motivo, tienden a realizar un nivel de análisis superficial donde muchas facetas de interrelación se dejan de lado o se niegan, pero de las cuales tenemos noticias gracias a las fuentes clásicas y arqueológicas. Es necesario intentar ahondar en el punto de vista de los colonizados, en la medida en que ello nos sea posible (Loomba, 1998), dado que es lógico pensar en la existencia de una transferencia multilateral de ideas, costumbres, etc., entre los sujetos que mantuvieron un tipo de contacto prolongado o, al menos, regular, sin que tengamos que entender a los colonizados como meros receptores pasivos.

La teoría postcolonial ha surgido con fuerza para afrontar esa nueva concepción de los procesos de interacción cultural; sin embargo, ¿se ha logrado abandonar por completo las reminiscencias relacionadas con el marco conceptual de la sociedad que intenta definir al “Otro”? ¿Podemos emplear términos como aculturación a la hora de definir un proceso colonial sin que ellos mismos conlleven cierta carga ideológica? No es mi intención dar respuesta aquí a preguntas tan importantes y que, aún hoy, generan un intenso debate, sino sólo exponer el proceso de surgimiento de la teoría postcolonial como un nuevo enfoque teórico surgido de una realidad contemporánea y aplicado a procesos de interacción cultural colonial en diversas épocas.

This engrossing volume takes us on a fascinating visual journey through the most groundbreaking and avant-garde art of the early 20th century to the present. Stunning, high-quality photographs of major artworks accompany illuminating discussions of the masters of modern and contemporary painting, sculpture, architecture, and conceptual art. Here are giants of invention such as Picasso and Matisse, the German expressionists, Dadaists, constructivists, surrealists, abstract expressionists, minimalists, pop artists, and today’s cutting-edge creators. They’re all carefully placed in cultural context, with ideas, movements, events, artists, and works beautifully examined. Scholars, art aficionados, students, gallery owners, and art historians will all find this mainstream, accessible guide appealing.

The Algerian Trilogy by Mohammed Dib, a renowned Algerian writer, is one of the most recognized literary works of the contemporary literature of his country. It provides the reader with an objective perspective of the Algerian society in the years leading up to the Independence. In each of the novels, the writer focuses on one aspect of the life in the society. He gives the reader a viewpoint of the consequences of the French colonialism in everyday living status of the Algerians in cities, the countryside, and the industrial section in The Big House, The Fire, and The Loom respectively. In order to answer the critical questions pertaining to the postcolonial elements of the novels, this research extracts and analyzes the key concepts of postcolonial theory and criticism reflected in them. Furthermore, it attempts to evaluate the specific mechanisms used by the author to develop a postcolonial image. Thus, the article sets to study the novels’ multiple narrative and its impact on the embodiment of colonial and postcolonial atmosphere in Algeria, the power relations between the master and the slave under French colonialism, the colonial double-standard policies, resistance, and internalized racism. By doing so, it demonstrates that The Algerian Trilogy, with its multi-level narrative and naturalistic approach, challenges the false, superficial message of colonialism as to bringing civilization and modernity to Algeria, and reveals the true negative side of French colonialism. It argues that the master/ slave dichotomy is present in many scenes of all three novels, categorizing the characters into two groups: the dominant and the subaltern. Yet, some of the characters show conscious resistance by their focus on local elements of the Algerian culture and by their display of interest in Arabic language. In other words, the writer goes beyond the stereotype of sheer defiance and portrays cultural and linguistic resistance.

As Anne McClintock (1995) has observed, colonial discourse is not a monolithic entity. A colonial motif nonetheless exists in ‘The Tempest’ and the history of its reception. Yet, perceptions and variances of this theme have changed over time. According to Michael Dobson (1991), the earliest responses to ‘The Tempest,’ seventeenth century gender-focused adaptations that supported the Stuart Patriarchy but virtually occluded Caliban, gave way to race-based and nationalistic interpretations of the eighteenth century. For example, the frontispiece to Bell’s acting edition of 1774 depicts the drunkard Caliban as a black man surrendering his allegiance to Trinculo and Stephano. Twentieth-Century  analyses of the play revived the play’s earliest responses, setting a precedent for the colonial case in ‘The Tempest.’ Yet, at the turn of the century, some critics found themselves discontent with the state of criticism of ‘The Tempest.’ Meredith Skura (1989), Deborah Willis (1989), Curt Breight (1990), Brian Vickers (1993), Ben Ross Schneider (1995), and Jerry Brotton (1998) have tested and contested the case precedent for the colonial paradigm in ‘The Tempest. ‘ This paper argues that although select interpretations of ‘The Tempest’ are admirable for eschewing the transposition of ahistorical paradigms onto the play, these same interpretations, which do not account for the full spectrum of the play’s historical reception and critical history, are problematic as well. The findings of Vickers, Skura, Willis, Breight, Schneider, and Brotton prove invaluable to broadening the critical history and legacy of ‘The Tempest,’ but these analyses do not occlude a colonial case.

In seeking to answer the question why Poles are having difficulties in recognizing and critically describing their present postcolonial identity, the author refers to the notion of melancholia as an important interpretative category for illuminating the postcolonial condition of Poland in relation to its former Eastern territories, known as ““Borderlands,”” and accounting for the nation’’s present problematic self-definition. The paper adopts the Freudian concept of melancholia to the study of discursive practices of the so-called Polish ““Borderland”” discourse. This discourse reinforces the view that Poles are in a condition of Freudian melancholia and subtly encourages the Poles to remain in such a condition. While traditional critical approaches to a great extent implicitly smuggle the attitude of yearning for the splendid past of the Polish-Lithuanian Republic and thus prevent Poles from coming to terms with their postcolonial condition as both ““colonisers”” and colonised, the prospective postcolonial studies in the ““Borderland”” discourse should not stop at the critique of this status quo. Instead, it should make the Polish postcolonial melancholia an object of scrutiny by placing this melancholia within the broader context of Russian and Soviet colonialism.

Resumo: Como “notas ao pé da página”, o artigo retorna a Uma literatura nos trópicos e a seu mais célebre ensaio, “O entre-lugar do discurso latino-americano”, para articulá-los a uma sequência de ensaios posteriores publicados pelo autor Silviano Santiago, nos quais se reiteram e se desdobram os ímpetos do gesto crítico inaugural, desconstrutor, intempestivo e extemporâneo. Exploram-se, portanto, em trabalhos escritos entre 1972 e 2000, as operações de confronto com linearidade do argumento histórico, as leituras a contrapelo, as recuperações no arquivo colonial e a exploração dos nexos recalcados que sustentam e legitimam, no Brasil, hierarquias, violências, exclusões, racismos e a obliteração da palavra do Outro.Palavras-chave: Silviano Santiago; Uma literatura nos trópicos; crítica contemporânea; crítica pós-colonial.: As footnotes, we return to Uma literatura nos trópicos (A Literature in the Tropics) and to its most notable  essay, “O entre-lugar do discurso latino-americano” ...