The Postcolonial State - From Structural Functionalism To Marxist Structuralism, Interweaving History, Politics, And Culture, Feminist Analyses Of The Postcolonial State
term refer former colonies
The scope of coverage of the term postcolonial varies across disciplinary fields and authors, being broader in literary studies, for example, than in political science. Some authors include former settler colonies as referents alongside non-settler colonies. Other analysts, such as Amina Mama, distinguish the term postcolonial, used to refer specifically to former colonies, from the term post-imperial, preferring this term to refer to former imperial powers. In temporal terms, postcolonial does not refer simply to the period after colonialism but assumes continuity, in terms of the continued effects of processes initiated during colonialism, as well as discontinuity, in terms of new processes unfolding subsequently. The term postcolonial is used here to refer to the study of the attempted transformation, successful and otherwise, of former colonies in the context of changing imperial conditions.
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In the early days of independence, the individualistic approach of authors who singled out the performance of those in positions of power earned them the label of "leadership theorists." Leadership was essentially viewed as a means for achieving "order." Such writers shared much in common with the "nation-building" school of American structural functionali…
Jean-Francois Bayart points out that the notion that the state was an external structure does not recognize the ways in which Africans quickly re-appropriated the new state forms and the accompanying colonial political culture. Similar perspectives (e.g., Mbembe) point to the re-appropriation taking place not only in the institutional sphere but also in the material and cultural spheres. State pow…
In contrast to the above approaches, a key debate among feminist analysts of the postcolonial state concerns the extent to which the state is able to act as a vehicle for social change aimed at increasing gender equality. For example, in Morocco in the early 1990s, the modernizing state drew women into the public arena through law and education. The other side of the debate concerns the state as a…
Three major conceptual fields are identifiable in the above literature. The first is that of structuralism, spanning ideas from structural functionalism to Marxism and with concomitant emphases on individualism and class. This field was in the ascendant in the 1960s and 1970s, its influence waning since then. The second field, emerging in the late 1980s, highlights the agency of actors in and arou…
Alavi, Hamza. "The State in Post-Colonial Societies—Pakistan and Bangladesh." New Left Review 74 (1972): 59–80. Alvarez, Sonia E. Engendering Democracy in Brazil: Women's Movements in Transition Politics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990. Baker, C. "Colonial Rule and the Internal Economy in Twentieth-Century Madras." Modern Asian St…
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