Question

“Postcolonial perspectives emerge from the colonial testimony of Third World countries and the discourses of ‘minorities’ within the geopolitical divisions of East and West, North and South. They intervene in those ideological discourses of modernity that attempt to give a hegemonic ‘normality’ to the uneven development and the differential, often disadvantaged, histories of nations, races, communities, people.” The above commentary on the postcolonial perspective has been extracted from which of the following?

• A. Edward Said’s Orientalism
• B. Homi K Bhabha’s The Location of Culture
• C. Leela Gandhi’s Postcolonial Theory
• D. Bill Ashcroft et al., eds. The Post-colonial Studies Reader

Hint:

Homi K Bhabha’s work is central to understanding postcolonial theory, especially the ideas of cultural hybridity and the subversion of hegemonic discourses.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Identifying the source.
The passage discusses the intervention of postcolonial perspectives into the dominant discourses of modernity, which is a key theme in Homi K Bhabha’s work, particularly in The Location of Culture.

Step 2: Evaluate the options.
- (A) Incorrect: Edward Said’s Orientalism focuses on the way Western cultures have constructed knowledge about the East, but the passage is more about postcolonial interventions into modernity.
- (B) Correct: Homi K Bhabha’s The Location of Culture engages with issues of cultural hybridity and the complexities of postcolonial identity, making this the correct match.
- (C) Incorrect: Leela Gandhi’s Postcolonial Theory does discuss postcolonialism, but it doesn’t focus on the specific modernity-related theme described in the passage.
- (D) Incorrect: Bill Ashcroft’s The Post-colonial Studies Reader is an anthology, not a singular source that fits the content of the passage as directly as Bhabha’s work.