the creation of new transcultural identity as the result of contact with more than one culture.
2. Colonial Discourse
As the postcolonial reading deals with various backgrounds and debates, it is important to understand the other important terms such as colonialism and
colonial discourse first. Chris Tiffin and Alan Lawson explain colonialism as an operation of discourse, and as an operation of discourse it interpellates colonial
subjects by incorporating them in a system of representation 1994: 3. Colonialism needs both the use of force and physical coercion and the existence of
a set of beliefs that are held to justify the possession and continuing occupation of other peoples lands McLeod, 2000: 37. The use of term interpellates is
derived from Louis Althusser s work on the important role of interpellation in the functioning of ideology. Interpellates can be defined as calling ; the idea is that
ideology calls us, and we turn and recognize who we are. Reading literature in the context of colonial discourses serves several
purposes. First, this reading approach, sometimes called colonial discourse analysis , refuses the humanist assumption that literary texts exist above and
beyond their historical contexts. It situates texts in history by exposing how historical contexts influence the production of meaning inside the literary texts,
and how literary representations themselves have the power to influence their historical moment. Second, criticism of colonial discourses dares to criticize what
is considered as the very best of Western high culture – opera, art, literature,
classical music – is caught up in the history of colonial exploitation. Third, the
attention colonial discourses in the past can act as a means of resisting the continuation in the present colonial representations McLeod, 2000: 38.
Discourse based on Oxford English Dictionary carries several meanings: onward course, process or succession of time, events, actions; the faculty of
reasoning or rationality; communication of thought by speech or conversation; a narrative, tale or account; familiarity, and a spoken or written treatment of a
subject in which it is treated or handled at length. The definition of discourse holds different perspective in postcolonial
analysis. Discourse in this sense is a whole field or domain within which language is used in particular ways Loomba, 2005: 38. It means that discourse
is a field where the language is used as a powerful tool to achieve a certain goal. History does not just provide background of the texts, but forms an essential part
of understanding the meaning of the text. Colonial discourse is a term brought by Edward Said to explain the idea
how colonialism suggests certain ways of seeing, specific perspective on understanding the world and knowing the position of Colonizer who is superior
and Colonized who is inferior. This idea justifies the action to rule over the other who is considered uncivilized to create the better way of living McLeod,
2000:18. Postcolonial theory then can be seen as a theoretical resistance to the
mystifying amnesia of the colonial aftermath. It is a disciplinary project devoted to the academic task of revisiting, remembering and, crucially, interrogating the
colonial past Gandhi, 1998:4. It can be inferred that this theory is used to
analyze the effect of colonialism in the colonized countries to disclose the desire between Colonizers and Colonized. It is also to unfold the troubled relationship
and ambivalent history between them.
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