Then and Now: Colonialism, Imperialism and Postcolonialism

Then and Now: Colonialism, Imperialism and Post-colonialism

Ania Loomba's Colonialism and Post-colonialism is an invaluable introductory text to theories and debates which animate post colonial studies.

Throughout the book we can find a clarity and accessibility of complex ideas which makes the postcolonial reading noteworthy.

The term colonialism and imperialism are usually considered as having a some kind of common elements between them. But there is also a difference between them. It becomes a necessary to know about difference between colonialism and imperialism.

Ania Loomba discussed in detail about these terms in her Colonialism and Postcolonialism.

What is Colonialism?

According to Oxford English Dictionary, the word colonialism come from the  Roman ‘colonia’ which meant ‘farm’ or ‘settlement’ and referred to Romans who settled in other lands but still retained their citizenship.

Accordingly, the OED describes it as;

 A settlement in a new country… a body of people who settle in a new locality, forming a community subject to or connected with their parental state; the community so formed, consisting of the original settlers and their descendants and successors, as long as the connection with the parent state is kept up.

Furthermore, she argues by saying that this definition avoids any reference to people other than colonisers and it evacuates the word colonialism of any implication of an encounter between people or of conquest and domination. As per Ania Loomba’s postcolonial view point, Colonialism can be defined as the conquest and control of other people’s land and goods. And it not means the expansion of various European powers into Asia, Africa or the Americas from the 16^th century onwards, it has been a recurrent and widespread feature of human history. When talking about European capitalism she refeered colonialism as the midwife which assisted at the birth of European capitalism.

What is imperialism?

The OED defines,

‘Imperial’as pertaining to empire and imperialism as the ruler of an emperor, especially when despotic or arbitrary; the principal or spirit of empire; advocacy of what are held to be imperial interests.

But as she pointed out that, the term imperialism is not understood by pinning it down to a single semantic meaning   rather it is better understood  by relating its shifting meaning to historical process. The distinction between precapitalist and capitalist colonialism is often made by referring to the latters as imperialism. This term is also defined by linking it to a particular stage of development of capitalism and it is also considered as the highest stage of capitalism.

What is Postcolonialsim?

The study of the term post-colonialism is ongoing debate, it is not only study of the time after colonialism but also how it continues in today’s time also. It is also harder to pin down this term in particular context. Also the different  meanings of colonialism and imperialism complicate the meaning of this term. 

In the etymology of term, the prefix ‘post’ complicates matters because it implies an ‘aftermath’ in two senses- temporal,as in coming after, and ideological, as in supplanting. It is a study of  effects which colonization and imperialism or that extension of power into other nations, have on people and nations. For example, as Edward Said pointed out in his work post colonial study also questions the artificial or that stereotypical boundaries which have been drawn between East and West. The main aim of post colonial study is exploration and reinterpretation of history.