The politics of resistance an approach to post-colonial cultural and critical theory

Abstract

This thesis attempts to define post-colonial theory as a method by which we can better understand cultural resistance and the relations of power between social groups. In the thesis, I demonstrate how resistance to a natural environment or to others is the key factor in the formation of social groups. Consequently, resistance plays an essential role in the social group's culture and how the social group defines itself in contrast to its neighbours. The thesis offers new definitions for some frequently used terms in post-colonial theory. For instance, the First, Second, Third and Fourth Worlds are defined as positions on a hierarchical pyramid upon which the higher a social group is situated, the more power and cultural influence it will have on others. The top of the pyramid is reserved for the social group that has hegemony over all others; the bottom is where we find the social groups that see themselves as most colonized. This positioning relies entirely on the social group tends to perceive itself rather than how it is perceived by others. The text is divided into two parts. The first part develops the theory which is then applied to two works of critical theory in the second part. The two works that are studied are George Grant's Technology and Empire and Pierre Vallières' Nègres blancs d'Amérique. Both of these texts offer a sample of the kinds of resistance that were produced, and still are, by their respective cultures: English Canada and Québec.