Advertising: Postcolonialism blog tasks

 Read ‘The Theory Drop: Postcolonialism and Paul Gilroy’ in MM75  (p28). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access.

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) Look at the first page. What is colonialism - also known as cultural imperialism? 

 From the 16th century onwards, European countries effectively got into a race to see how many undiscovered lands they could conquer first, and by ‘undiscovered’ I mean, ‘countries where the indigenous population didn’t have good enough weapons to fight back’.

2) Now look at the second page. What is postcolonialism? 

The process of decolonisation gathered speed in the 20th Century and with it, many of the attitudes

associated with colonialism began to be challenged.

3) How does Paul Gilroy suggest postcolonialism influences British culture?

Postcolonial melancholia-sadness about losing the power and the empire.

4) What is 'othering'?

view or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself.

5) What examples of 'othering' are provided by the article?

This process of othering has proved very useful for populist politicians like Nigel Farage, who rode to victory in

the 2016 referendum by harnessing a sense of discontent in British society and aiming it at immigrants, famously

standing in front of a poster with a long line of mostly non-white migrants and the slogan ‘breaking point’.

6) What is 'double consciousness'? 

This othering can sometimes manifest in a confusion over identity, particularly for people from ethnic minorities living in the Western world. This confusion is referred to as a ‘double consciousness’ whereby people struggle to reconcile two nationalities or identities.

7) What are 'racial hierarchies'?

 the idea that some races are superior to other ones. In Western culture, people who promote these ideas are usually advocating for white supremacy.

8) What examples from recent media products challenge the idea of racial hierarchies? 

such as Brooklyn Nine- Nine’s ‘Moo Moo’ episode from its fourth season, where Lt. Terry Jeffords is racially profiled by another cop.