Postcolonial theory deals with the effects of colonization on the colonized societies and their cultures. It examines the complex relationship between the colonized and the colonizer, and it represents the textual reactions that deal directly with such an issue. It is also a literary critique to texts that carry racist or colonial implications. The emergence of postcolonial theory as an aspect of literary criticism represents a shift in the focus of studies regarding the relation between the western and non-western worlds.
In contemporary theoretical discourse, Edward Said has been among the more influential postcolonial critics to draw attention to the centrality of imperialism in Western culture. Said’s work has provided a theoretical base in the field of the colonial discourse analysis and postcolonial criticism, that it could be applied to any study that examines the relationship between the West/East or Self/Other. Said’s colonial discourse analysis theory has become an important instrument in analyzing the basis of Western culture and knowledge, and the power relations in any cultural study. All forms of Western knowledge about the colonized world resulted from a structural relationship of dominance and subjugation, and was thus implied in the colonial project. Said shows how colonialism occurred through certain cultural forms and beyond political and economic interests.
