She Ties Her Tongue:The Problems of Cultural Paralysisin Postcolonial Criticism (original) (raw)

T H E I N C E P T I O N of postcolonial criticism marked a l iberating rejection of the self-fulfilling criteria of a Eurocentric, patriarchal canon, i f we now reflect with a critical eye on the effects of increasing centrality and popularity (albeit i n the name of difference and marginality) within this growing discipline, its own orthodoxies and prejudices demand attention. A l though postcolonial scholarship developed in opposition to prescriptive modes of thought, the consolidation and institutionalization of its works would seem to have generated in some respects an unhelpful homogenization of polit ical intent and a stifling consensus of "good" practice. It might not be an exaggeration to suggest that postcolonialism has unwittingly become its own nemesis. Does not the imperative to celebrate, alongside the "polit ical untouchabil ity" and the terrorism of cultural sensitivity, generate a spectre of the "model , " acceptable postcolonial respons...