poskolonial

Poskolonial, or postcolonial, refers to the condition and study pertaining to the period following formal colonial rule, and to the cultural, political, and economic legacies that persist in former colonies and in relations between metropolitan powers and their former colonies. It encompasses both the historical aftermath of decolonization and the ongoing processes that continue to shape identities, governance, development, and representation.

The term gained prominence in the mid-20th century with decolonization, and is widely used across disciplines such as literature, history, political science, anthropology, and cultural studies. Postkolonial studies examine how colonial power operated through discourse, institutions, and structures, and how former subjects contest, negotiate, or subvert these imprints.

Key concepts include orientalism (Edward Said), hybridity and the third space (Homi Bhabha), and subaltern agency (Gayatri Spivak). Other concerns include decolonization of knowledge, language and representation, national and diasporic identities, and the persistence of neocolonial economic patterns.

Geographically, poskolonial perspectives examine Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America, as well as former imperial metropoles and the global north's influence. Critics argue that postcolonial theory can broaden or essentialize experiences, sometimes privileging Western theoretical frameworks or treating colonialism as a single event; debates also address the continuity of imperial power through neocolonialism and global capitalism.