Postcolonial Theory: Quotes Quiz
Think you’ve got your head wrapped around Postcolonial Theory? Put your knowledge to
the test. Good luck — the Stickman is counting on you!
Q. What text does Chinua Achebe's statement, "'Africa as setting and backdrop which eliminates the African as human factor,"' refer to?
William Wordsworth's "'I wandered lonely as a Cloud"'
Every National Geographic issue you've ever set your eyes on
His own book, Things Fall Apart
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness
Q. What in the world does Gayatri Spivak mean when she argues that "'the subaltern does not speak"'?
The subaltern has a different way of expressing herself and it doesn't involve speech.
The subaltern cannot speak for herself because so many other people (especially Western and postcolonial men) have already spoken for her and continue to speak for her.
The subaltern does not speak as a form of political resistance against her oppressors.
The subaltern is mute. What else could she mean?
Q. When Edward Said writes that "'Its authority comes not only from the orthodox canon of literary monuments handed down through the generations, but also from the way this continuity reproduces the filial continuity of the chain of biological procreation,"' he's most likely referring to what?
the "'orthodox papacy"' (i.e. the Pope)
the "'Western patriarchy"'
the "'Western"'
the "'Eurocentric model for the humanities"'
Q. Homi Bhabha considers "'the effect of mimicry on the authority of colonial discourse"' to be…?
"'profound and disturbing"'
"'useless and meaningless"'
"'is just the way it is; things will never be the same. I see no changes."'
"'palliative and supportive"'
Q. What does Chandra Talpade Mohanty mean when she writes: "'Without the 'third-world woman', the particular self-presentation of western women mentioned above would be problematical. I am suggesting, in effect, that the one enables and sustains the other"'?
"'Western women"' totally owe the "'third-world woman"' for their very existence.
The "'third-world woman"' just wants to have fun, just like Cyndi Lauper and other "'western women."'
The whole idea of "'western women"' only exists because of the way "'western women"' define the "'third-world woman"'—as the opposite of the "'western woman."'
"'Western women"' want to wear veils too and want to be just like the "'Other."'