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Essay / Colonial and postcolonial mentalities amid...
One of the most confusing aspects of European interest in African peoples is the collective disgust and fascination of civilizations with people of African descent. The initial trip to Africa and the planning that preceded it gave rise to many of the most illuminating theories about Africans. These theories, generally in favor of African savagery and inferiority and in favor of European superiority and civility, were based on the colonial mentalities of the time. One of the most notable theories is the idea that the African religious system was pagan and that Africans were inferior due to their darker skin pigmentation and "bestial" nature. These theories quickly spread across the world, and even today, people of African descent operate within them collectively, even unconsciously. Moving forward, how are these theories presented in postmodern literary works? Likewise, how do authors integrate colonial and postcolonial mentalities within the framework of certain texts? Charles Johnson's Middle Passage advances both colonial mindsets and postcolonial perspectives. The novel highlights traditional European colonial notions, African savagery, the inferiority of African people as subhumans and commodities, and at the same time presents the postcolonial perspective of the archetypal American black serving as "man intermediary” between Europeans and Africans. The Middle Passage presents very clearly the traditional European notion of African savagery. Essentially, everything about Africans, such as their religious views, cultural practices, and physical appearance, reveals their lack of civility and class in comparison to the Western world. Among the most notable European notions of African religion...... middle of paper ...... colonial mentalities and postcolonial perspectives in the Middle Passage. In doing so, it indirectly highlights the philosophical position of the West in relation to African beliefs considered pagan and perhaps savage. He identifies the justification for the European conquest of Africa as being rooted in the concept that Africans were somehow subhuman and inferior to whites. In addition to this, Johnson advances the postcolonial concept of the "middle man" in the character of Rutherford Calhoun and in the broader context of the black mulatto in America. Works cited Césaire, Aime. “Discourse on Colonialism” Monthly Review Press: New York and London, 1972. Fagel, Brian. “Middle Passages: Coloniality and Postcoloniality in Charles Johnson's Middle Passage” Scott, Daniel M. “Interrogating Identity: Appropriation and Transformation in the Middle Passage”