I believe that culture is the element of life that gives character to the world. Culture is what and how people shape their identities. Culture is how people live their lives.
Culture can be defined as “the beliefs, customs or arts of a particular society, group, place, or time.” Culture can mean how people live, what they believe in, or why they live a certain way.
For example, I live in a 21st century culture surrounded and completely immersed into the world of technology, which is sort of why I’m writing this blog right now. But I have also been greatly influenced by other cultures in my life, which is one of the reasons why I’m so intrigued by this concept. I believe that an individual’s culture can entirely shape the way that they see the world and the way they see themselves.
The “Post-Colonial Lens” emphasizes the way that certain groups of people can “take over” or dominate another. The process of colonization could be graciously described as one culture infusing into one another, but it’s never that simple. Imperialism is truly about an innate desire for power, greed, and money; what some people would consider to be the natural flaws of the human race. The “Post-Colonial Lens” explores the theme of colonialism, focusing on the short and long term impacts of oppression on a minority race. Personally, I’m looking to specifically examine how the cultures and lifestyles of both the colonizers and the colonized change after Imperialism has done it’s damage.
I intend to major in either Anthropology, Sociology, or another branch of Social Sciences in college. These majors all share common themes of culture and world studies, which parallel with this critical lens perfectly. As I read the novel “Beloved”, I hope to get a better understanding of this lens and explore what colonialism means in terms of slavery.
I agree with you that cultures and how they interact and influence each other is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteYour position that the Post-Colonial Lens "emphasizes" colonialism is not how I would put it; the word that I would use would be "recognizes" because to me emphasize has too much of a connotation of trying to sell something or be persuasive where recognize is more similar to noticing or acknowledging the truth, and I prefer to make it as clear as possible that there is no question as to whether colonialism happened.
Still, I think I understand what you were getting at and I hope you have an entertaining and enlightening journey through the book!