Ridwana Kabir Orchi

Theme of Otherness and Writing Back: a Contrapuntal Analysis of Colonial and Postcolonial Novels Ridwana Kabir Orchi

The British Empire spanned the Indian subcontinent, Australia, almost half of Africa, parts of North America and the Caribbean Islands during the colonial era and subjugated the people of these lands both physically and psychologically. The colonizers generated a Eurocentric ideology by projecting the Europeans as superior and the ?self? belonging to the ?centre? or ?Occident,? whereas the colonized people (of which they are a part) are shown as inferior and the ?other? belonging to the ?margin? or ?Orient.? The psychological domination that took place during the period of colonization persists even today. However, many postcolonial writers have successfully reshaped and redefined the constructed image of self and other by distorting the stereotypical images of colonized people, their cultures and languages in literature. Thus, they have taken the narratives to another level by giving voice to the other and by presenting their own colonial history and the consequences of colonization to match their own purposes. This thesis intends to look at the discourse of ?otherness,? from colonial representations to postcolonial realities of ?other? people and languages.