Theory of Characterization Review of Related Theories
and the attempt to govern the indigenous inhabitants of occupied lands ”
Boehmer, 2005: 2. In this case, the colonizer came and took anything over to be their own. Ashis Nandy in his book, The Intimate Enemy, has the same idea that
there are two forms of colonialism which first is the „”physical conquest of territory and the second one is the colonization of the minds, selves and cultures
” Nandy, 11: 1983. He also added that the first mode was used in violent, force
and greed. The second one is that the rationalist, modernist, liberals who had a notion to civilized the uncivilized.
Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin in their book, Key Concept of Post-Colonial Studies say that:
Post-colonialism or often postcolonialism deals with the effects of colonization on cultures and societies Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin, 1998:
186.
This means that postcolonialism is about colonization and its impact in the societies. This term was sometimes used by some historians after the Second
World War era. Despite of the fact, from the late 1970s this term has been used by some literary critics in order to analyze some kind of problems of colonization and
its impacts toward cultures. Before that, in 1960s, this field used to focus on the study of Commonwealth literature or the New Literature in English and then it
was used to know about the political, linguistic, and cultural experiences from the societies that lived under the European control Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin, 1998:
186. Bill Ashcroft in his book, The Empire Writes Back as cited in Shrikant B. Sawant‟s “Postcolonial Theory: Meaning and Significance” said that postcolonial
term is used to cover the cultures which are affected by the imperial process from
its beginning of the colonization until present days. In this case, after the colonization time, the colonizer gives the indigenous people rights to gain their
independence by “overcoming political and cultural imperialism” Ashcroft
Griffiths, Tiffin, 1989:2. Concerning Postcolonial Biblical Study, Segovia in Sugirtharajah also
gives his explanation about Postcolonial theory Sugirtharajah, 2006: 5. He mentions three ways of postcolonial theory in analyzing biblical texts. He finds
out that first, that imperial reality is real and always existed then does take part in the construction of the texts of Judaism and early Christianity. The second one is
that the colonial motives cause the Western interpretation of Jewish and Christian texts. The presence of the early biblical critics from former empire also wants to
make the destabilization of those texts Sugirtharajah, 2006: 5. Sugirtharajah himself says that Postcolonial study is a way to deal with the
“textual, historical, and cultural articulations
” of a society or nation which is transformed and constructed by colonial reality. Sugirtharajah, 2006: 7. He also mentions two
aspects of postcolonialism which are used in postcolonial biblical interpretation. First aspect is that to observe how the imperial power constructs the image of the
colonized people. The second aspect is to observe how the colonized people struggle to break that image, go far beyond it and enunciate their identity,
“self- worth and empowerment
” Sugirtharajah, 2006: 7. Postcolonialism shows how the past influences the construction of the present.