The effects of postcolonialism touch on every sphere of human activity, and it manipulates the scope of each individual in its path. What Gerardo Mosquera attributes as the "Marco Polo Syndrome" is only half correct, in that it leaves out the devastating power trip with which "Marco" must struggle. There are the privileged few that, because of accessibility and availability, have the resources to define direction for the rest. We are x and you are y. We have completed equations 4, 5, and 6, and you are still at step 1. We have a and you do not have a. This creation of imbalance has implications morally, culturally, and personally. Who are we to prescribe our disposition to the Other based on this tertium quid? Mosquera gets it right when he says that postcolonialism creates a "monocultural trap in which we have all found ourselves prisoners" (Kocur and Leung 219). What lies in this difference that validates either side unless "=" is factored in?
What is the solution? Olu Oguibe displays a remarkedly simple yet pronounced answer that retains integrity for every side. She says that "our discourse...should begin to move in the direction of dismissing, at least in discursive terms, the concept of a centre, not by moving it...but in superseding it" (Kocur and Leung 227). Take the following example. Representing Oguibe's group of "excluded" South Africans, Die Antwoord are a hiphop group that, thanks to the internet, seem to have come out of thin air (Kocur and Leung 229). Switching between English and the South African dialect "zef", they confront what it means to live in today's intimately connected global society. This does not only include the problem of communication. While being visually effective, their image also functions as a springboard into discussion: Are they serious? Or are they parodying the American obsession with the ridiculous? They describe themselves as "the love-child of many diverse cultures, black, white, coloured and alien, all pumped into one wild and crazy journey down the crooked path to enlightenment" (about, www.dieantwoord.com). It seems probable that they are on the right path.
References:
Die Antwoord. 24 Feb. 2010. http://dieantwoord.com/
Kocur, Zoya, and Simon Leung. Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985.
It is an interesting fact that because of postcolonialism, certain societies have come out as the "hierarchy", while others have not. Jlweaver said that "there are the privileged few that, because of accessibility and availability, have the resources to define direction for the rest. We are x and you are y." It is this "master" society that formed the rules and some part of culture for these other societies. It is strange that even though these other societies have/had a large culture already, because of colonialism, they took on some aspects of the governing society. Why does this master society feel that they have the right to put their ideals onto a society so different from their own? What gives them the right to have x while someone else has y? I thought the ideas brought out in this blog were very good, and it made me think about the effects that a mass culture has on the world
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