The Angel of Progress: Pitfalls of the Term "Post-Colonialism"

Author(s): Anne McClintock

Source: Social Text, No. 31/32, Third World and Post-Colonial Issues (1992), pp. 84-98
Published by: Duke University Press
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The AngelofProgress:
PitfallsoftheTerm"Post-Colonialism"
ANNE McCLINTOCK
His face is turnedtowardsthepast....The angelwouldlike to stay,
awakenthedead,andmakewholethatwhichhas beensmashed.But
a stormis blowingfromParadise;it hasgotcaughtin his wingswith
such violencethattheangel can no longerclose them.This storm
to whichhis backis turned,
irrestistibly
propelshimintothefuture
whilethepileofdebrisbeforehimgrowsskyward.
Thisstormis what
we call progress.
WalterBenjamin
To enterthe HybridState exhibiton Broadway, you enterThe Passage.
Instead of a gallery,you finda dark antechamber,whereone whiteword
invitesyou forward:COLONIALISM. To entercolonial space, you stoop
througha low door, only to be closetted in another black space - a
curatorialreminder,however fleeting,of Fanon: "The native is a being
hemmed in."' But the way out of colonialism, it seems, is forward.A
second whiteword,POSTCOLONIALISM, invitesyou througha slightly
larger door into the next stage of history,afterwhich you emerge,fully
erect,into the brightlylit and noisy HYBRID STATE.
I am fascinatedless by the exhibititself,thanby theparadox between
idea
the idea of historythatshapes "The Passage," and thequite different
of historythatshapes the "HybridState" exhibititself.The exhibitcelebrates "parallel history":
Parallelhistory
pointsto therealitythatthereis no longera mainstreamview of Americanart culture,withseveral"other,"lesser
importantculturessurroundingit. Ratherthereexistsa parallelhistory
of our transcultural
underwhich is now changingour understanding
standing.2

Yet the exhibit's commitmentto "hybridhistory"(multipletime) is contradictedby the linear logic of The Passage ("A Brief Route To Freedom"), which,as it turnsout, rehearsesone of the mosttenacious tropes
of colonialism. In colonial discourse,as in The Passage, space is time,and
historyis shaped around two, necessarymovements:the "progress" forward of humanityfromslouching deprivationto erect,enlightenedreason. The othermovementpresentsthereverse:regressionbackwardsfrom
(white, male) adulthood to a primordial,black "degeneracy" usually
84

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AnneMcClintock

85

inwomen.ThePassagerehearsesthistemporal
incarnated
logic:progress
the
bereftof lanthrough ascendingdoors,fromprimitive
pre-history,
and
the
of
colonialism,
through
light,
epic stages
post-colonialism
guage
and enlightened
is traversed
backhybridity.
Leavingtheexhibit,history
in space is backforward
wards.As in colonialdiscourse,themovement
wardsin time:fromerect,verbalconsciousnessand hybridfreedom
bythe(notveryfree)whiterabbitcalled"Free"whichroamsthe
signified
exhibit- downthrough
thehistoricstagesof decreasingstatureto the
fromspeechto silence,
tonguelesszone of thepre-colonial,
shambling,
lightto dark.
The paradoxstructuring
theexhibitintrigues
me,as it is a paradox,I
the
I am doublyinterested
that
term
"post-colonialism."
suggest, shapes
in the term,since the almostritualisticubiquityof "post-" wordsin
currentculture(post-colonialism,
post-modernism,
post-structuralism,
post-apartheid,
post-coldwar, post-marxism,
post-Soviet,post-Ford,
evenpost-contemporary)
post-national,
post-historic,
post-feminism,
sigin
theideaoflinear,historical
crisis
nals,I believe,a widespread,
epochal
"progress."
In 1855, the yearof the firstimperialParis Exposition,VictorHugo
announced: "Progressis thefootstepsof God himself.""Post-colonial
studies"has set itselfagainstthis imperialidea of lineartime- the
as Baudelairecalled it. Yet
"grandidea of ProgressandPerfectability,"
theterm"post-colonial,"
like theexhibititself,is hauntedby thevery
thatit setsout to dismantle.Metaphorifigureof linear"development"
the
term
markshistoryas a series of stages
cally,
"post-colonialism"
an
road
from
"the
to "thecolonial,"to "the
along epochal
pre-colonial,"
an
if
to lineartime
commitment
unbidden, disavowed,
post-colonial"
and the idea of "development."
If a theoreticaltendencyto envisage
"ThirdWorld"literature
as progressing
from"protestliterature,"
to "resistanceliterature,"
to"nationalliterature"
hasbeencriticizedas rehearsing the Enlightenment
tropeof sequential,"linear"progress,the term
is
"post-colonialism" questionableforthesame reason.Metaphorically
theterm
poisedon theborderbetweenold and new,end and beginning,
heraldstheendofa worldera,butwithinthesametropeoflinearprogress
thatanimatedthatera.
If "post-colonial"theoryhas soughtto challengethegrandmarchof
westernhistoricism
withitsentourage
ofbinaries(self-other,
metropolis-

colony, center-periphery,
etc.), the term"post-colonialism" nonetheless
re-orientsthe globe once more around a single, binaryopposition: colonial/post-colonial. Moreover,theoryis therebyshiftedfromthe binary
axis of power (colonizer/colonized- itself inadequatelynuanced, as in
thecase of women) to thebinaryaxis of time,an axis even less productive
of political nuance since it does notdistinguishbetweenthebeneficiaries

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86

Pitfalls
oftheTerm"Post-Colonialism"

of colonialism(theex-colonizers)and thecasualtiesof colonialism(the

scene"occursin an entranced
ex-colonized).The "post-colonial
suspenhistorical
as ifthedefinitive
eventshaveprecededus,and
sionofhistory,
are notnowinthemaking.If thetheory
ofhistory
promisesa decentering
in hybridity,
multi-dimensional
and
so
thesintime,
forth,
syncreticism,
of
the
term
effects
a
of
around
the
re-centering global history
gularity
of
time.
Colonialism
rubric
returns
the
at
moment
of its
single
European
disappearance.
The word"post,"moreover,
reducestheculturesof peoples beyond
colonialismto prepositionaltime.The termconferson colonialismthe
marker
of hisprestigeof history
proper;colonialismis thedetermining
relationto
tory.Otherculturesshareonlya chronological,
prepositional
a Euro-centered
epochthatis over(post-),ornotyetbegun(pre-).In other
culturesare marked,notpositivelyby
words,theworld'smultitudinous
whatdistinguishes
relationto
them,butby a subordinate,
retrospective
linear,Europeantime.
The termalso signalsa reluctanceto surrender
theprivilegeof seeing
the world in termsof a singularand ahistoricalabstraction.Rifling
therecentflurry
of articlesand bookson "post-colonialism,"
I
through
am struckby how seldomthetermis used to denotemultiplicity.
The
"the post-colonialcondition,"the post-colonial
followingproliferate:
"theemerging
intellectual,"
scene,""thepost-colonial
disciplinary
space
of post-colonialism,"
"the post-colonialsituation,"
"post-coloniality,"
"post-colonial
"post-colonialspace," "the practiceof postcoloniality,"
discourse,"and thatmosttedious,generichold-all:"the post-colonial
Other."
I am notconvincedthatone of themostimportant
areas of
emerging
as a
intellectual
andpoliticalenquiryis bestservedbyinscribing
history
"Woman"
has
been
discredited
issue.
Just
as
the
singularcategory
single
between
as a bogus universalforfeminism,
incapableof distinguishing
thevariedhistories
andimbalancesinpoweramongwomen,so thesingular category"post-colonial"
maylicensetooreadilya panoptictendency
voidedofpoliticalnuance.
to viewtheglobewithingenericabstractions
so expansivethat
The arcingpanoramaof thehorizonbecomesthereby
blurred.
international
imbalancesinpowerremaineffectively
Historically
"the
"thesignifier,"
"thesignified,"
voidedcategoriessuchas "theother,"
subject,""thephallus,""thepostcolonial,"whilehavingacademicclout
crucialgeo-poruntheriskoftelescoping
andprofessional
marketability,
liticaldistinctions
intoinvisibility.

The authorsof the recentbook The Empire WritesBack, forexample,

defendtheterm"post-colonialliterature"on threegrounds:it "focuses on
that relationship which has provided the most importantcreative and
psychological impetusin the writing";it expresses the "rationale of the
groupingin a commonpast," and it "hintsat thevision of a moreliberated

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AnneMcClintock

87

Yettheinscription
ofhistory
arounda single"conandpositivefuture."3
and "a commonpast," runs the risk of a
tinuityof preoccupations"
disavowalof crucialinternational
distinctions
thatare barely
fetishistic
and inadequatelytheorized.Moreover,theauthorsdecided,
understood
to saytheleast,thattheterm"post-colonialism"
should
idiosyncratically
thathas happenedsinceEuropeancoloas everything
notbe understood
thathas happenedfromtheverybeginning
nialism,butrathereverything
of colonialism,whichmeansturning
back theclocks and unrolling
the
to 1492,andearlier.4
at a stroke,
Whereupon,
mapsof"post-colonialism"
HenryJamesandCharlesBrockdenBrown,tonameonlytwoon theirlist,
withtime,and usheredinto "the
are awakenedfromtheirtete-A-tete
post-colonialscene" alongsidemoreregularmemberslike Ngugi Wa
Thiongoand SalmanRushdie.
Mostproblematically,
thehistoricalrupture
suggestedby thepreposianddiscontinuities
ofpowerthat
tion"post-"beliesboththecontinuities
have shapedthe legacies of the formalEuropeanand Britishcolonial
theIslamic,Japanese,Chinese,and otherimpeempires(notto mention
rial powers).Politicaldifferences
betweenculturesare thereby
subordinated to their temporaldistancefromEuropean colonialism. But
is unevenly
(likepostmodernism)
"post-colonialism"
developedglobally.
of
and
Argentina,
independent imperialSpainforovera century
formally
in thesamewayas HongKong(destinedto
a half,is not"post-colonial"
be independent
of Britainonlyin 1997). Noris Brazil"post-colonial"
in
thesamewayas Zimbabwe.Can mostoftheworld'scountries
be said,in
ortheoretically
sense,tosharea single"common
anymeaningful
rigorous
called "thepost-colonialcondipast,"or a singlecommon"condition,"
The historiesof Africancolonizationare
tion,"or "post-coloniality"?
in part,thehistoriesof thecollisionsbetweenEuropeanand
certainly,
Arabempires,and themyriadAfricanlineagestatesand cultures.Can
thesecountries
nowbestbe understood
as shapedexclusivelyaroundthe
"common"experienceof Europeancolonization?Indeed,manycontemporaryAfrican,Latin American,Caribbean,and Asian cultures,while
effected
are notnecessarily
profoundly
bycolonization,
primarily
preocwith
their
erstwhile
contact
withEurope.
cupied
On the otherhand,the term"post-colonialism"
is, in manycases,
Irelandmay,at a pinch,be "post-colonial,"
but
prematurely
celebratory.
fortheinhabitants
of British-occupied
Northern
Ireland,notto mention
the Palestinianinhabitants
of the Israeli OccupiedTerritories
and the
WestBank,theremaybe nothing
"post"aboutcolonialismat all. Is South
Africa"post-colonial"? East Timor?Australia?By what fiatof historical
amnesia can theUnited States of America,in particular,qualifyas "postcolonial" - a termwhichcan onlybe a monumentalaffrontto theNative
Americanpeoples currentlyopposing the confettitriumphalismof 1992.
One can also ask whetherthe emergenceof FortressEurope in 1992 may

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88

Pitfalls
oftheTerm"Post-Colonialism"

not signal the emergenceof a new empire,as yetuncertain

aboutthe
of itsboundariesand globalreach.
frontiers
are notaboutthetheoretical
substanceof
therefore,
My misgivings,
I
admire.
much
of
which
Rather,I wishto
greatly
theory,"
"post-colonial
of theemerging
disciplineand its concomitant
questiontheorientation
monolithic
theoriesandcurricula
term,
changes,arounda singular,
organized arounda binaryaxis of timeratherthanpower,and which,in its
celebrationof the pastnessof colonialism,runsthe riskof
premature
and discontinuities
of colonialand imperial
obscuringthecontinuities
power.Nor do I wantto banishthetermto some chilly,verbalGulag;
thereseemsnoreasonwhyitshouldnotbe usedjudiciouslyinappropriate
in thecontextof otherterms,if in a less grandioseand
circumstances,
globalrole.
betweena varietyof formsof
One mightdistinguish
theoretically
directterritorial
involves
Colonization
domination.
appropriation
global
combinedwithforthright
of
of anothergeo-politicalentity,
exploitation
in thecapacityofthe
interference
itsresourcesandlabor,andsystematic
a homogenous
culture(itselfnotnecessarily
entity)toorgaappropriated
occurs
of
wherethe
nize its dispensations power.Internalcolonization
treatsa groupor regionas it mighta foreign
dominant
partof a country
involveslarge-scale,territobyextension,
colony.Imperialcolonization,
rial dominationof the kind thatgave late VictorianBritainand the
controlover85% of theearth,and the
European"lordsof humankind"
Polandand Czechoslovakiain the
ruleoverHungary,
USSR totalitarian
twentieth
century.
Colonization,however,may involve only one country.Currently,
as does Indonesiaon East
Chinakeepsitscolonialgripon Tibet'sthroat,
andtheWestBank,andBritain
Timor,Israelon theOccupiedTerritories
Ireland.Since 1915,SouthAfricahas keptitscolonialboot
on Northern
and thenlaterin
on Namibia'ssoil, firstbyLeague of Nationsmandate,
defianceof a UN GeneralAssemblyResolutionand a 1971WorldCourt
Order.Only in 1990, havingstrippedNamibiaof mostof its diamond
tohandbacktheeconomically
resources,SouthAfricawas content
empty
shell to theNamibians.Israelremainsin partialoccupationof Lebanon
and Syria,as does Turkeyof Cyprus.None of thesecountriescan, with
justice,be called "post-colonial."
formsofcolonizationhave,moreover,
Different
givenriseto different
Wheredeepsettlercolonization
formsofde-colonization.
prevailed,as in
colonialpowersclungon with
Algeria,Kenya,Zimbabwe,and Vietnam,
Decolonization itself,moreover,has been unevenly
particularbrutality.5
won. In Zimbabwe, aftera seven-yearcivil war of such ferocitythatat the
heightof the war 500 people were killed everymonthand 40 per cent of
the country's budget was spent on the military,the Lancaster House
Agreementchoreographedby Britain in 1979 ensured thatone thirdof

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AnneMcClintock

89

Zimbabwe'sarable land (12 millionhectares)was to remainin white

hands, a minutefractionof the population.6In otherwords, while
Zimbabwegainedformalpoliticalindependencein 1980 (holdingthe
chairof the103-nation
Movementfrom1986-1989)it has,
Non-Aligned
economically,undergoneonlypartial decolonization.
Break-away settlercolonies can, moreover,be distinguishedby their

formalindependence
fromthefounding
metropolitan
country,
alongwith
continued
controlovertheappropriated
colony(thusdisplacingcolonial
controlfromthemetropolis
tothecolonyitself).TheUnitedStates,South
Africa,Australia,Canada,andNew Zealand,remain,in myview,breakdecolonization,
nor,with
away settlercoloniesthathave notundergone
theexceptionof SouthAfrica,are theylikelyto in thenearfuture.
Most importantly,
orientingtheoryaroundthe temporalaxis colomakesit easiernotto see, and therefore
harderto theonial/postcolonial
ininternational
imbalancesinimperialpower.Since
rize,thecontinuities
the 1940's, theUnitedState'simperialism-without-colonies
has takena
numberof distinctforms(military,
economic
and
cultural),
political,
someconcealed,somehalf-concealed.
The powerof US financecapital
and huge multi-nationals
to directthe flowsof capital,commodities,
and mediainformation
armaments
aroundtheworldcan have an impact
as massiveas any colonialregime.It is preciselythe greatersubtlety,
innovationand varietyof these formsof imperialismthatmakesthe
historicalrupture
impliedby theterm"post-colonial"especiallyunwarranted.
"Post-colonial"LatinAmericahas beeninvadedby theUnitedStates
overa hundredtimesthiscentury
alone.Each time,theUS has actedto
installa dictatorship,
In
propup a puppetregime,or wrecka democracy.
the 1940's, when the climatefor gunboatdiplomacychilled,United
States'relationswithLatinAmericawerewarmedbyan economicimperialpolicyeuphemistically
dubbed"Good Neighborliness,"
deprimarily
signed to make Latin Americaa safer backyardfor the US' virile
The giantcold-storage
agribusiness.
shipsof theUnitedFruitCompany
circledtheworld,takingbananasfrompooragrariancountries
dominated
monocultures
and
the
marines
to
the
tables
of
affluent
US
houseby
wives.' And whileLatin Americahand-picked
bananasfortheUnited
dictatorsforLatin America.In
States,the UnitedStates hand-picked
Allende's
socialist
Chile,
was overthrown
elected,
government
by a USsponsoredmilitary
coup. In Africa,morecovertoperationssuchas the
CIA assassinationof PatriceLumumbain Zaire, had consequencesas

far-reaching.
In the cold war climate of the 1980's, the US, still hamperedby the
Vietnam syndrome,fosteredthe more covert militarypolicy of "low
intensity"conflicts(in El Salvador and thePhilippines), spawningdeath
squads and proxyarmies (Unita in Angola, and theContrasin Nicaragua)

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90

PitfallsoftheTerm"Post-Colonialism"

and aidingtotalitarian
and training
regimesin anti-democratic,
military
tactics
(El Salvador,Honduras,SouthAfrica,Is"counter-insurgency"
In
and
so
rael,
forth). Nicaraguain February1990 the"voteof fear"of
downtheSandinistas.
covertwarwiththeUS brought
continuing,
The recentfitsof thuggery
by theUS in Libya,GrenadaandPanama,
of a renewed
and mostcalamitouslyin Iraq, have everycharacteristic
and a reneweddetermination
to revampmilitary
militaryimperialism,
hegemonyin a worldin whichit is rapidlylosingeconomichegemony.
The attackson Libya,GrenadaandPanama(wherevictorywas assured)
werepracticerunsforthenewimperialism,
testingboththeUSSR's will
to protest,and the US public's willingnessto throwoffthe Vietnam
in Third
a moreblatantera of intervening
thereby
syndrome,
permitting
Worldaffairs.At thesame time,havinghelpedstokethefirstGulfWar,
of lettinga newboyon theblockassertcolonial
theUS had no intention
dominancein theregion.
ForthreeyearsbeforethesecondGulfWar,theUS armstradehadbeen
industrialist
called
a slump.Afterwhatone military
gloatingly
suffering
US armssales havesoared.
theGulfWar's"giantcommercial-in-the-sky,"
a nearly
Nonetheless,if theUS had thepoliticalmuscleto resuscitate
a consensusthrough
theUN,and
Councilandstrong-arm
defunct
Security
of 150,000Iraqisoldiersandan
themilitary
capacityto makeshortshrift
estimated200,000civiliansin one month,it did nothave theeconomic
meanstopayforthewar.Saddledwithitsownvastdebts,theUS hasbeen
$50 billion)bySaudi
(an estimated
massivelypaid offinreimbursements
so thatit now appearsin factto
Arabia,Kuwait,Japan,and Germany,
fromthewarto thetuneof $4-5 billion.Atthesametime,
haveprofited
mostof theestimated$20 billionnecessaryto restoreKuwaitwill go to
western,
largelyUS, companies.The warhas thusmadeevermorelikely
a globalsecuritysystembased on military
muscle,notpoliticalcooperaUS's
the
tion,policedby
mercenary
army(andperhapsNATO),
high-tech,
and Japan,and
movingrapidlyaroundtheworld,paid forby Germany
from
consensuses
Third
World
emerging.
designedto preventregional,
thesecondGulfWar
theendof imperialintervention,
Far fromheralding
Notonlyis theterm"postsimplymarksa newkindof interventionism.
it activelyobscuresthe
colonial"inadequateto theorizethesedynamics,
ofUS poweraroundtheglobe.
continuities
and discontinuities
While some countriesmay be "post-colonial"withrespectto their
withrespect
erstwhile
theymaynotbe "post-colonial"
Europeanmasters,
to theirnew colonizingneighbours.
BothMozambiqueand East Timor,
for example, became "post-colonial" at much the same time, when the
Portugueseempire decamped in the mid-seventies,and both remaincautionarytales against the utopianpromiseand global sweep of the preposition"post." In East Timor,thebeds of thePortuguesewerescarcelycold
beforethe Indonesians invaded, in an especially violentcolonial occupa-

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AnneMcClintock

91

tionthathas lastednearlytwodecades.The colonialtravailof theEast

Timoreanshas gonelargelyunprotested
by theUN - thefamiliarplight
ofcountries
whosepocketsaren'tdeep,and whosevoices don'tcarry.
In Mozambique,on theotherhand,afterthreecenturiesof colonial
wereoustedin 1975byFrelimo,Mozambique's
thePortuguese
drubbing,
socialistindependence
movement.
But across theborder,whiteRhodeof
resentful
sians,
Mozambique'sindependenceand socialistpromise,
the
spawned MozambiqueNationalResistance(MNR),a banditarmybent
onlyon sowingruin.AfterZimbabweitselfbecamepoliticallyindependentofBritainin 1980,theMNR has continued
tobe sponsoredbySouth
Africa.A decadeoftheMNR'skilling-raids
andSouthAfrica'spredations
has subjectedthecountry
toa fatalblood-letting
anddisplacednearlytwo
millionpeople,in a warso catastrophic
thatFrelimohas been forcedto
renounceMarxismand considershakinghandswiththe bandits.Now
on its knees.Whatmighthave
Mozambiqueis in everysensea country
beena "post-colonial"
of
showpiecehas insteadbecomethekilling-fields
Southern
Africa.
Yet neithertheterm"post-colonial"nor"neo-colonial"is trulyadeis notsimplya repeat
quate to accountfortheMNR. Neo-colonialism
of
nor
is
it
a
more
colonialism,
performance
slightly
complicated,
Hegelian mergingof "tradition"and "colonialism"into some new,historic
In recentyears,theMNR has becomeinextricably
hybrid.
shapedaround
local inter-ethnic
distinct
and
notions
of time
rivalries,
religiousbeliefs,
andcausality(especiallyancestralintervention)
whichcannotbe reduced
to a westernschemaoflineartime.Morecomplextermsandanalyses,of
alternativetimes,histories,and causalities,are requiredto deal with
thatcannotbe servedunderthesinglerubric"post-colonialcomplexities
ism."
Singularuniversalssuch as "the post-colonialintellectual"obscure
international
and
disparitiesin culturalpower,electronictechnology,
media information.
The role of "Africa"in "post-colonialtheory"is
different
fromthe role of "post-colonialtheory"in Africa.In 1987,
UNESCO calculatedthatAfricawas spendingonly0.3% of theworld's
$207 billionallocatedto scientificresearchand development.8
In 1975
theentirecontinent
had only180 dailynewspapers,
with
1900
compared
fortheUS, outofa worldtotalof7,970.By 1984,thenumber
ofAfrican
dailies droppedto 150, thenstaggeredback to 180 in 1987 (the same
offilmsinthecontinent
figureas in 1955).In 1980,theannualproduction
was 70. In contrast,
theproduction
of long filmsin Asia was 2,300 in

1965, and 2,100 in 1987.9 The filmindustryin India remainsthe largest

in the world,while Africa's share of TV receivers,radio transmittors
and
electronichardwareis miniscule.
The term"post-colonialism" is prematurelycelebratoryand obfuscatoryin more ways thanone. The termbecomes especially unstable with

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92

PitfallsoftheTerm"Post-Colonialism"

respectto women.In a worldwherewomendo 2/3of theworld'swork,

earn 10% of theworld'sincome,and own less than1% of theworld's
thepromiseof "post-colonialism"
has beena history
of hopes
property,
It
has
unremarked
that
the
nationalbourgeoigenerallygone
postponed.
sies and kleptocraciesthatsteppedinto the shoes of "post-colonial"
have been overwhelmingly
"progress,"and industrial"modernization"
male.No "post-colonial"
stateanywhere
andviolently
hasgranted
women
and menequal access to therightsandresourcesof thenationstate.Not
only have the needs of "post-colonialnations"been largelyidentified
withmale conflicts,male aspirationsand male interests,
but the very
of "national"powerrestson priorconstructions
ofgender
representation
knewbetter,both
power.Thus even forFanon,who at othermoments
"colonizer"and "colonized"are unthinkingly
male: "The look thatthe
nativeturnson thesettleris a lookof lust.., to sitat thesettlers'table,
to sleep inthesettler'sbed,withhiswife,ifpossible.Thecolonizedman
is an enviousman."''Despitemostanti-colonial
nationalisms'
investment
in the rhetoricof popularunity,mosthave servedmoreproperlyto
have servedto
institutionalize
genderpower.Maritallaws,in particular
in thenation-state
is mediatedby the
ensurethatforwomencitizenship
marriagerelation,so thata woman'spoliticalrelationto thenationis
to,hersocial relationto a manthrough
in, and subordinated
submerged
marriage.
and thefeminization
The globalmilitarization
of masculinity,
ofpovertyhavethusensuredthatwomenandmendo notlive"post-coloniality"
in thesameway,or sharethesamesingular"post-colonial
In
condition."
IMF and WorldBankpolicyfavoured
mostcountries,
and
cash-cropping
of men,and formed
interests
a predictcapitalsurplusin thesystematic
theinternational
wheremenweregiventhetraining,
able pattern
aid, the
theloans and cash. In Africa,womenfarmers
machinery,
produce65%80% of all agricultural
produce,yetdo notownthelandtheywork,and
and "development"
are consistently
by-passedbyaid programs
projects.
The blameforwomen'scontinuing
plightcannotbe laid only.at the
and forgotten
as a passing"neo-colodoorof colonialism,or footnoted
economic
of
male
self-interest
and
nial"dilemma.The continuing
weight
and
of patriarchal
the variedundertows
Confucianism, IsChristianity,
lamic fundamentalism
continueto legitimizewomen'sbarredaccess to
educational
ofpoliticalandeconomicpower,theirpersistent
thecorridors
disadvantage,the bad infinityof the domesticdouble day, unequal
and
sexualviolence,genitalmutilation,
malnutrition,
childcare,gendered

domesticbattery.The historiesof thesemale policies, while deeply implicated in colonialism, are not reducible to colonialism, and cannot be
understoodwithoutdistincttheoriesof genderpower.
Finally, bogus universals such as "the post-colonial woman," or "the
post-colonial other"obscure relationsnot only betweenmenand women,

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AnneMcClintock

93

butamongwomen.Relationsbetweena Frenchtouristand theHaitian

womanwho washes her bed linen are not the same as the relations
betweentheirhusbands.Filmslike Out Of Africa,clothingchainslike
Banana Republic,and perfumeslike "Safari" all peddle neo-colonial
nostalgiaforan erawhenEuropeanwomeninbriskwhiteshirtsandsafari
coffeeplantations,
greensupposedlyfoundfreedomin empire:running
killinglions,and zippingaboutthecolonialskies in airplanes- an encommercialization
ofwhitewomen's"liberation"that
tirelymisbegotten
has notmadeitanyeasierforwomenofcolortoformallianceswithwhite
womenanywhere,
letalone parrycriticisms
bymalenationalists
already
hostileto feminism.

How, then,does one accountforthecuriousubiquityof thepreposition

intellectual
but
life,notonlyin theuniversities,
"post"in contemporary
in newspapercolumnsand on thelips of mediamoguls?In thecase of
at least,partofthereasonis itsacademicmarketabil"post-colonialism,"
anotherp-c word,"post-colonialism"
is arguably
ity.Whileadmittedly
morepalatableand less foreign-sounding
to scepticaldeansthan"Third
WorldStudies."It also has a less accusatoryringthan"StudiesIn NeoTwo Colonialisms."It is moreglobal,and
colonialism,"say,or"Fighting
less fuddy-duddy,
than"Commonwealth
Studies."The termborrows,
on thedazzlingmarketing
successof theterm"post-modernmoreover,
ism."As theorganizing
rubricofan emerging
fieldofdisciplinary
studies
andan archiveofknowledge,
theterm"post-colonialism"
makespossible
themarketing
of a wholenewgeneration
of panels,articles,books and
courses.
The enthusiasm
for"post"-words,
ramifies
however,
beyondthecorridorsof theuniversity.
The recurrent,
almostritualistic
incantation
of the
I believe,ofa globalcrisisin ideologies
preposition
"post"is a symptom,
of thefuture,
theideologyof"progress."
particularly
The firstseismicshiftin theidea of "progress"came withtheabrupt
shiftin US ThirdWorldpolicyin the 1980's. Emboldenedin the1950's
by itseconomic"greatleap forward"
(space,again,is time),theUS was
to insistgloballythatothercountries
could"progress"onlyif
empowered
theyfollowed the US road to mass-consumption
prosperity.W. W.
Rostow's"Non-Communist
Manifesto"
envisagedtheso-called"developout of
ing" nationsas passingthroughsimilarstagesof development,

tradition-boundpoverty,throughan industrializedmodernizationoverseen by the US, the WorldBank and the IMF, to mass-consumerprosperity.Nonetheless,except forthe Japanese "miracle" and the Four Tigers
(Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea), the vast majorityof
the world's populationshave, since the 1940's, come to lag even further
behind the consumerstandardsset by the west.1l

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94

Pitfalls
oftheTerm"Post-Colonialism"

Then,between1979 (the secondoil shock)and 1982 (the Mexican

itbecameclear
default),theworldeconomybeganto creak.Increasingly,
thattheUS was no longerdestinedtobe theonlyeconomicpowerofthe
diminished
future.
Hobbledbyitsphenomenal
debts,andincreasingly
by
theUS summarily
abandonedthe
thetwinshadowsofJapanandGermany,
of global"progress"and"development."
doctrine
DuringtheReaganera,
insteada bullyingdebt-servicing
theUS instituted
policytowardspoorer
withthemon themarket,
bolsteredby aggressivecompetition
countries,
as in Grenadaand
and defendedbysporadicfitsof military
gangsterism,
Panama.The cataclysmicwarin theGulfservedonlyto underscore
the
point.
For manypoorercountries,
theshiftin US policymeantabandoning
of
andsettling
forchronthe
fata
overnight
morgana capitalist"progress,"
in
the
stricken
Henceforth,
theycould
ically
globalhierarchy.
positions
and
service
their
some
maintain
to
their
debts,
belts,
aspireonly tighten
was
a
In
ratio
4.6
%.
credit. 1974, Africa'sdebt-service
manageable
But
the
of
the
US
to25%.'2
Thirteen
collapse
yearslaterithadrocketted
ofthe
modelof"progress"hasalso meantthecollapse,formanyregimes,
ofworld-wide
oftheirnationalpolicies,inthepanickycontext
legitimacy
and spirallingpopulardesperation.
economiccrisis,ecologicalcalamity,
Indeed,perhapsone reason,at least,fortheburgeoning,
populistappeal
is thefailureof othermodelsof capitalistor
of Islamicfundamentalism,
communist"progress."As a seniorLibyanaide, Major Abdel-Salam
Jalloudhas said of thedestinyof theFIS in Algeria:"It's impossibleto
withhistory;
it willnotmissit.""3
turnback.TheFIS has an appointment
has
A monotonously
Despitethehaulingdown
simplepattern emerged.
of colonial flags in the 1950's, revampedeconomicimperialismhas
ensuredthatAmericaand the formerEuropeancolonial powershave
theirex-coloof exceptions,
becomericher,while,witha tinyscattering
WorldBank
nies havebecomepoorer.14In Africabeforedecolonization,
of thecolonialeconomies.Since
supportive
projectswereconsistently
to theWorldBank's vauntedtechnical
formaldecolonization,
contrary
favoured
and mythof expertise,
projectshave aggressively
"neutrality"
cash cropexports,
and streamlining
of surplusextraction,
therefinement
and largescale projectsgoingto thehighestbidders,fostering
thereby
and ensuringthatprofitstumbleintothe
cartelsand foreignoperators,
coffersof the multi-nationals.
During 1986, Africalost $19 billion
In 1988 and 1989,debtservice
alone."
collapsedexportprices
through
were$100 billion.'6Atthesame
US
from
World
to
the
the
Third
payments
time,as Fanon predicted,ThirdWorldkleptocracies,militaryoligarchies
and warlordshave scrambledover each otherto plunderthe system.To
protect these interests,the tiny,male elites of "developing" countries
have spent almost 2.4 trillionon the militarybetween 1960 and 1987,
almost twice the size of the entireThird World debt.17Now, afterthe

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AnneMcClintock

95

and destabilization,
1980's "desperatedecade" of debt,drought
themaarepoorerthantheywerea decadeago.'8
jorityofThirdWorldcountries
28 millionAfricansface famine,and in countrieslike Mozambique,
Ethiopia,Zaire,andtheSudantheeconomieshavesimplycollapsed.
The US' "development"
mythhas had a grievousimpacton global
the
World
Bankhad $225 billionin commitments
to
1989,
ecologies.By
on
condition
that
in
endure
the
of
countries,
they, turn,
poorer
purgatory
"structural
adjustment,"
exporttheirwayto "progress,"cut government
spendingon educationand social services(withthe axe fallingmost
removetradebarriers,
and
cruellyon women),devaluetheircurrencies,
raze theirforeststopaytheirdebts.'9Underthefinancialspellof theUS
ofunlimited
(andnowJapan),andinthenameofthefairy-tale
technological and capital "growth,"the WorldBank engineeredone ecological
disasterafteranother:the IndonesianTransmigrasiprogramme,
the
Amazonian Grande Carajas iron-oreand strip-mining
project, and
TucuruiDam deforestation
schemein
project,andso on. ThePolonoreste
Brazilcarveda pavedhighwaythrough
Amazonia,luringtimber,
mining
and cattleranching
interests
intotheregionwithsuchcalamitousimpact
thatin May 1987 even the Presidentof the WorldBank, Mr Barber
Conable,confessedhe foundthedevastation
"sobering."20
The Four "miracle"Tigershave paid forprogresswithlandscapes
anddeadcoral
pittedwithpoisonedwater,toxicsoil,denudedmountains
seas. In "miracle"Taiwan,an estimated
20% of thecountry's
farmland
is
pollutedby industrialwaste,and 30% of therice cropscontainunsafe
levels of heavymetals,mercury
and cadmium.2'
A WorldBankreportin
1989 concludedgloomilythat"adjustment
programs"
carrytheby-product that"people below thepovertyline will probablysufferirreparable
andeducation.""22
Now Japan,insatiablyhundamagein health,nutrition
for
timber
and
raw
is
the
resources,
gry
majorforeignaid donor,to the
tuneof $10 billion.In short,theWorldBankandIMF "roadtoprogress"
has proveda shortroad to whatSusan Georgehas called "a fateworse
thandebt."
To compoundmatters,
thecollapseof theUS mythof "progress"was
followed
the
swiftly
by collapseoftheSovietUnion,whichdraggeddown
withit an entiremasternarrative
of communist
"progress."The zig-zag
of Hegelian-Marxist
command
"progress,"managedby a bureaucratic,
economy,had been destinedto arriveineluctablyat its own utopian
The topplingof theSovietEmpirehas meant,formany,the
destination.
loss of a certainprivilegedrelationto historyas theepic unfolding
of

linear, if spasmodic progress,and with it the promise that the bureaucratic, communisteconomy could one day outstripthe US in providing
consumerabundance forall. As a result,therehas also been some loss of
political certitudein the inevitablerole of the male (and, as it turnsout,
white) industrialworking-classas the privileged agent of history.If the

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96

PitfallsoftheTerm"Post-Colonialism"

bureaucracy of the Soviet Union fell, it was not under the weight of
popular,industrialmobilization,butratherunderthedouble weightof its
economic corruptionand manic militaryspending.The ironyis not lost
that the ascendant economies of Japan and Germanywere historically
denied the unsupportableburdenof thearms race. Thus, despite the fact
that men are slaughteringeach other around the globe with increased
dedication, therehas been a certainloss of faithin masculine militarism
as the inevitable guaranteeof historical"progress."For the firsttime in
history,moreover,the idea of industrial"progress" impelled by technocratic "development" is meetingthe limits of the world's naturalresources.
Ironically,the last zone on earthto embrace the ideology of capitalist
"development" may be the one now controlled by Mr Yeltsin and his
allies. The world has watched awestruck as Yeltsin and his fellowtravellorsswerveddizzyinglyofftheironroad of thecentralized,communist,commandeconomy,and lurchedbumpilyonto the capitalistroad of
decentralization,powered no longer by the dialectic as the motorand
guarantee of "progress," but by tear-away competition and mad
marketeering.Never mindthatthis swerve is likely to unleash a disaster
on a scale comparableto thefaminesthatfollowedtheoriginalBolshevik
revolution,nor thatthe roughbeast thatslouches out of the chaos may,
indeed, not be westerncapitalism at all, but a particularlygrislyformof
fascism.
For both communismand capitalism, "progress" was both a journey
forwardand the beginningof a return;foras in all narrativesof "progress," to travel the "road of progress" was to cover, once again, a road
already travelled. The metaphorof the "road" or "railway" guaranteed
that"progress"was a faitaccompli. The journeywas possible because the
road had already been made (by God, the Dialectic, the Weltgeist,the
Cunning of History,the Law of the Market,ScientificMaterialism). As
Hegel decreed, "progress"in therealmof historywas possible because it
has alreadybeen accomplishedin therealmof "truth."But now,iftheowl
of Minerva has taken flight,thereis widespread uncertaintywhetherit
will return.
The collapse of both capitalist and communistteleologies of "progress" has resulted in a doubled and overdeterminedcrisis in images of
futuretime. The uncertainglobal situation has spawned a widespread
sense of historic abandonment,of which the apocalytic, time-stopped
prevalence of "post-" words is only one symptom.The stormof "progress" had blown forbothcommunismand capitalismalike. Now the wind
is stilled, and the angel withhunchedwings broods over the wreckageat
its feet. In this calm at "the end of history,"the milleniumhas come too
soon, and the air seems thickwithomen.

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AnneMcClintock

97

FrancisFukuyamahas declaredhistorydead. Capitalism,he claims,

has won the grandagon withcommunism,
and is now "post-historic."
ThirdWorldcountrieslag behindin the zone of the"historic,"where
Far fromthe "end of history"and the
mattersare decidedby force.23
of
US
consumer
theneworderof thedayis
capitalism,however,
triumph
between
most likelyto be multi-polar
the fourcurrently
competition
decisiveregionsof theworld:Japan,theUnitedStates,FortressEurope,
and theMiddleEast. The armstradewillcontinue,
as themilitary-industrialwizardsof Armageddon
turntheirattention
fromcold warscenarios
tomultiple,
dispersedwarsofattrition,
fought
bytheUS mercenary
army
and otherproxies,and paid forby Japanand Germany.
WithintheUS,
withthevanishingof international
communism
as a rationaleformilitarism,newenemieswillbe found:thedrugwar,international
"terrorism,"
thePC hordesand"tenured
radicals,"lesbiansandgays,
Japan,feminists,
and anynumber
ofinternational
"ethnic"targets.
For thisreason,thereis some urgencyin the need for innovative
theoriesofhistory
andpopularmemory,
mass-media
particularly
memory.
what
term
for
Asking
single
might
adequatelyreplace"post-colonialism,"
the
of
the
a
situation
as
multiexample,begs
question rethinking global
plicityof powersand histories,whichcannotbe marshalledobediently
undertheflagofa singletheoretical
or
term,be thatfeminism,
marxism,
Nor
does
in
mean
post-colonialism.
intervening history
lifting,
again,the
mantleof "progress"or thequill-penof empiricism.
"For thenative,"as
Fanonsaid,"objectivity
is alwaysagainsthim."Rather,a proliferation
of
nuanced
theories
and
is
called
which
for,
historically
strategies
may
enableus to engagemoreeffectively
in thepoliticsofaffiliation,
andthe
calamitousdispensations
of power.Withouta renewedwill to
currently
in theunacceptable,
intervene
we facebeingbecalmedin an historically
emptyspace in whichoursole directionis foundby gazingback,spellbound,at the epoch behindus, in a perpetualpresentmarkedonly as
"post.'"
Notes
1. FrantzFanon,Wretched
OfTheEarth,(Penguin:London,1963),p. 29.
2. GalleryBrochure,
TheHybridStateExhibit,"
ExitArt,578 Broadway,
New York(Nov

2 -Dec14,1991).

3. Bill Ashcroft,
GarethGriffiths,
andHelenTiffin,
TheEmpireWrites
Back: Theoryand
PracticeinPost-ColonialLiteratures,
(Routledge:London,1989),p. 24.
4. "We use theterm'post-colonial,'
however,to coverall the cultureaffected
by the
ofcolonization
tothepresent
imperialprocessfromthemoment
day."ibid,p. 2.
5. DuringtheAlgerianwarof resistance,
overa millionAlgeriansdied out of about9
million.
6. AndrewMeldrum,
TheGuardian,Thursday
April25, 1991,p. 13.
7. Cynthia
SenseofInternational
Euloe,Bananas,Beaches,andBases: MakingFeminist
Politics(Berkeley:Univ.ofColoradoPress,1989),Ch.6.
8. Basil Davidson,op cit,p. 670.
9. KinfeAbraham,"The Media Crisis:Africa'sExclusionZone,"SAPEM, September,
1990,47/49.
10.Fanon,ibid,p. 30.

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98

PitfallsoftheTerm"Post-Colonialism"

"WorldIncomeInequalities
andtheFutureOf Socialism,"New
11.See GiovanniArrighi,
1991,#189,p. 40.
LeftReview,September/October,
12. Basil Davidson,p. 669.
13. TheGuardian,Tuesday,January
14, 1992,p. 9.
14. The international
in 1944
monetary
systemset up at therettonWoodsConference
excludedAfrica(stillcolonized)andmostofwhatis nowcalledtheThirdWorld,andwas
ofEuropeafterWorldWar
designedto achievetwoexplicitobjectives:thereconstruction
of international
11, and theexpansionand maintenance
(especiallyafterdecolonization)
oftheWorldBank
ofthecolonialpowersandAmerica.ThePresident
tradeintheinterests
whileby tradition
are alwaysAmerican,
themanaging
and thedeputymanagingdirector
Fund
director
is European.See CherylPayer,TheDebtTrap:TheInternational
Monetary
and theThirdWorld,(New York,Monthly
Review,1974),andPayer,The WorldBank:A
Review,1982).
(New York:Monthly
CriticalAnalysis,
15. Basil Davidson,p. 669.
in the
16. RobinBroad,JohnCavanagh,andWaldenBello, "SustainableDevelopment
1990's," in ParadigmsLost: The Post Cold WarEra, ed. ChesterHartmanand Pedro
Vilanova.
inRuthLeger
17. Broad,Cavanagh,andBello,p. 100.Calculationsarebasedon figures
DC: WorldPriorities,
1989,(Washington
Sivard,WorldMilitaryand Social Expenditures
socialiststates,likeAngolaandMozambique,triedtododgethe
1989),p. 6. A fewAfrican
andSouthAfrica's
untilnationaleconomicmismanagement
IMF andWB's blandishments,
regionalmaulingsforcedthemtobendtheknee.
wereworseoffin a
Africancountries
18. The WorldBank has concludedthat"fifteen
A WorldBankstudy
ofeconomiccategories
afterstructural
number
adjustment
programs....
understructural
foundthatthedebt-ridden
adjustment
programmes
developingcountries
less thanhalfthetime."RobinBroad,JohnCavanagh,
as wellas non-recipients
performed
in the1990's,"inParadigmsLost: ThePost
andWaldenBello,"SustainableDevelopment
andPedroVilanova,p. 96.
Cold WarEra, ed. ChesterHartman
19. See SusanGeorge,"ManagingTheGlobalHouse:Redefining
Economics,"inGlobal
TheGreenpeaceReport(OxfordandNew York,OUP, 1990),ed. Jeremy
Legget.
Warming:
20. G. Hancock,TheLordsOfPoverty,
(London:MacMillan,1989),p. 131,n 14,citing
BarberConable'sspeechtotheWorldResourcesInstitute,
DC, 5 May,1987.
Washington
21. Broad,Cavanagh,andBello,op.cit.p. 91
22. Ibid.,p. 95.
Is Dead,"Guardian,
12 August,
23. FrancisFukuyama,
1990,p. 3.
"Forget
Iraq- History

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