3.5 Indigenous and Postcolonial Literature
Explore literature from indigenous and postcolonial perspectives.
Indigenous and Postcolonial Literature
English is spoken around the world, but it did not spread peacefully. The British Empire colonised vast territories across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Oceania and the Americas. Colonisation imposed the English language, British laws and Western values on diverse peoples who had their own languages, traditions and ways of understanding the world.
Postcolonial literature is writing that responds to this history. It includes works by authors from formerly colonised countries who use English — sometimes the very language of their colonisers — to challenge colonial narratives, reclaim their identities and tell stories that were silenced or distorted during the colonial period.
Indigenous literature refers specifically to writing by the original inhabitants of colonised lands — Aboriginal Australians, Native Americans, First Nations Canadians, Maori of New Zealand and many others. These writers draw on oral traditions, spiritual connections to land and community values that predate colonisation.
Why does this matter for you?
- English is not just a British or American language — it belongs to everyone who uses it
- Understanding postcolonial perspectives helps you see the world through different eyes
- These texts challenge you to think critically about power, identity and who gets to tell which stories
- The LK20 curriculum asks you to explore diverse English-speaking cultures
In this chapter you will learn to:
1. Understand the historical context of colonialism and its literary legacy
2. Recognise key themes in postcolonial and indigenous literature
3. Analyse how writers use language as a tool for resistance and identity
4. Read texts from diverse English-speaking cultures with sensitivity and critical awareness
Postcolonialism is the study of the cultural, political and literary effects of colonialism — both during and after the colonial period.
Key concepts:
1. The colonial gaze
The way colonisers viewed colonised peoples — often as primitive, exotic or inferior. Colonial literature frequently portrayed non-European peoples through stereotypes.
2. Othering
The process of defining a group of people as fundamentally different from and inferior to one's own group. Colonisers "othered" indigenous populations to justify domination.
3. Reclaiming voice
Postcolonial writers take back the power to tell their own stories, rejecting the versions told by colonisers. As the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe wrote: "Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter."
4. Hybridity
The mixing of cultures that results from colonialism. Postcolonial identities are often hybrid — blending indigenous traditions with elements of colonial culture. This can be a source of both richness and tension.
5. Writing back
Literature that directly responds to and challenges colonial texts. For example, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart was written partly in response to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which portrayed Africa through a European lens.
6. Language as power
Colonisers often banned indigenous languages and forced colonised peoples to speak English. Many postcolonial writers deliberately reshape English to reflect their own cultures — using local rhythms, vocabulary and storytelling traditions within the English language.
Compare the following passages and explain how the second "writes back" to the first:
Passage A — Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1899):
"We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet... and the men were — No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it — this suspicion of their not being inhuman."
Passage B — Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958):
"Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond."
Conrad's narrator describes Africans from a European perspective. The language is revealing: "prehistoric earth" implies Africa is backward, stuck in the past. The phrase "the suspicion of their not being inhuman" questions whether Africans are even human — and presents this as the "worst of it," as if their humanity is disturbing rather than obvious. The Africans are unnamed, faceless and seen only through the European gaze.
Passage B (Achebe):
Achebe opens with an Igbo cultural practice — the value of conversation and proverbs — presented as sophisticated and rich: "proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten" is itself a proverb, demonstrating the literary tradition in action. The protagonist has a name (Okonkwo), a reputation and a community ("the nine villages"). He is a specific person in a specific culture, not a nameless figure in a European nightmare.
How Achebe "writes back":
1. Humanity: Where Conrad questions African humanity, Achebe shows it as self-evident — through language, culture and individual identity
2. Perspective: Conrad writes about Africa from outside; Achebe writes from inside the Igbo community
3. Language: Achebe incorporates Igbo expressions and proverbs into English, showing that African culture has its own literary richness
4. Specificity: Conrad's Africans are generic; Achebe's characters are individuals with names, histories and social standing
Key insight: Achebe does not simply argue against Conrad — he makes Conrad's perspective irrelevant by telling the story from the inside.
What does the term "writing back" mean in postcolonial literature?
Key features of indigenous literary traditions:
1. Oral storytelling
Many indigenous cultures transmitted stories orally for generations. These are not "primitive" alternatives to writing — they are sophisticated art forms with their own techniques: rhythm, repetition, audience participation and ceremonial contexts.
2. Connection to land
In many indigenous cultures, land is not just a setting — it is a living presence with spiritual significance. Australian Aboriginal literature, for example, connects to the concept of the Dreaming (Tjukurpa), where the land was shaped by ancestral beings whose stories are embedded in specific places.
3. Community over individual
Western literature often centres on the individual hero. Indigenous stories may focus on community, kinship and collective responsibility. The individual's journey is inseparable from the community's wellbeing.
4. Circular rather than linear time
Western narratives typically move in a straight line from beginning to end. Indigenous narratives may move in circles, revisiting themes and places, reflecting a worldview where past, present and future are interconnected.
5. Resistance and survival
For indigenous peoples who survived colonisation, genocide and forced assimilation, literature is an act of survival — a way of keeping languages, stories and cultural knowledge alive.
Important authors to know:
- Sherman Alexie (Spokane-Coeur d'Alene) — novels and poems about Native American life
- Sally Morgan (Aboriginal Australian) — My Place, a memoir recovering stolen family history
- Joy Harjo (Muscogee Creek) — US Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold the title
- Witi Ihimaera (Maori) — The Whale Rider, about a Maori girl claiming her cultural heritage
Read the following extract and analyse how the poet connects land, identity and the legacy of colonisation:
"They came for our land, our law, our children,
our language, our dreaming.
They said: Assimilate.
We said: We are still here.
The river still remembers our names.
The rocks still hold our stories.
You cannot pave over songlines."
(Composed for educational purposes in the style of Aboriginal Australian poetry)
Theme: Survival and resistance through connection to land.
Colonial violence listed: The opening lines catalogue what was taken — "land, law, children, language, dreaming." This is not abstract; each item refers to documented colonial policies: land seizure, legal suppression, the Stolen Generations (forcible removal of Aboriginal children), language bans and the dismissal of Aboriginal spiritual traditions.
The command "Assimilate": A single word on its own line, representing the colonial demand to abandon indigenous identity and become part of European culture. Its isolation on the line emphasises its bluntness and violence.
"We are still here": The most powerful line — a simple declaration of survival. After everything that was taken, the community endures. This shifts the poem from a narrative of loss to one of defiance.
Land as memory and identity:
- "The river still remembers our names" — personification of the river as a keeper of identity. In Aboriginal culture, waterways are connected to ancestral journeys.
- "The rocks still hold our stories" — the land itself preserves culture, even when human institutions have tried to destroy it.
- "You cannot pave over songlines" — Songlines are Aboriginal pathways across the land that carry stories, laws and knowledge. The metaphor of "paving over" represents urban development and cultural erasure, but the poet insists this cannot succeed.
Key insight: The poem argues that indigenous identity cannot be destroyed because it is embedded in the land itself — and the land endures.
How does postcolonial literature typically use the English language?
Why representation matters:
1. Stories shape understanding
The stories we read shape how we understand other cultures. If the only stories about Africa are written by Europeans, readers develop a distorted picture. The Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls this "the danger of a single story."
2. Stereotypes vs. complexity
Colonial literature often reduced colonised peoples to stereotypes: the "noble savage," the "exotic other," the "dangerous native." Postcolonial literature replaces stereotypes with complex, fully human characters.
3. Whose perspective is centred?
Ask: Who is the protagonist? Who is the narrator? Whose values does the text assume? A story about India told by a British character centres the colonial perspective. The same story told by an Indian character centres the colonised perspective — and often reveals very different truths.
4. Absence is also a message
If a literature curriculum includes only white, Western authors, the message — intended or not — is that other voices do not matter. Including diverse voices is not about being "politically correct" — it is about having a more complete and honest picture of humanity.
Questions to ask when reading:
- Who wrote this text, and from what cultural position?
- Whose story is being told? Whose story is missing?
- Are characters from other cultures portrayed as complex individuals or as stereotypes?
- Does the text challenge or reinforce existing power structures?
In her famous TED Talk, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie describes how she grew up in Nigeria reading British children's books. She explains the effect: "All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples, and they talked a lot about the weather." She then describes writing her own early stories with these same characters — even though she was Nigerian, had never seen snow, and ate mangoes.
Analyse what this example reveals about the power of representation in literature.
The problem of "a single story":
Adichie's example shows how a lack of representation in literature can distort a young reader's sense of what is normal and valuable. By reading only British stories, the young Adichie internalised the idea that literature was about white, European characters. She did not see herself, her family or her culture reflected in the books she read.
The effect on identity:
When Adichie began writing, she unconsciously reproduced the only template she had: British characters in British settings. Her own reality — Nigerian weather, Nigerian food, Nigerian life — seemed unworthy of literature. This is the insidious power of representation: it does not just reflect reality; it shapes what we believe reality should be.
The solution — multiple stories:
Adichie does not argue that British books are bad. She argues that they should not be the only books available. When she discovered African literature (by Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye), she realised that "people like me — girls with skin the colour of chocolate, whose kinky hair could not form ponytails — could also exist in literature."
Key insight: Representation matters because stories teach us who counts. If only one perspective is represented, readers — especially young readers — may come to believe that other perspectives do not exist or do not matter. This is why diverse literature is essential, not optional.
Think about the books, films and TV shows you have consumed. Write a short reflection (80-120 words in English) answering the questions below.
What cultures and perspectives are most represented in the stories you read and watch? What cultures are rarely or never represented?
How might reading stories by authors from different cultural backgrounds change the way you understand the world?
What does Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie mean by "the danger of a single story"?
The concept of "hybridity" is important in postcolonial literature. Explain in 60-80 words what hybridity means, using a real-world example to illustrate the concept.
Which of the following is an example of "othering" in colonial literature?
Summary — Indigenous and Postcolonial Literature
Key concepts:
- Colonialism: One country taking control of another and imposing its culture, language and systems
- Postcolonialism: The study of the cultural and literary effects of colonialism
- The colonial gaze: How colonisers viewed colonised peoples — often through stereotypes
- Othering: Defining a group as fundamentally different and inferior
- Writing back: Literature that challenges colonial narratives from the colonised perspective
- Hybridity: The mixing of cultures that results from colonialism
- Language as power: Postcolonial writers reshape English to reflect their own cultures
Indigenous literary traditions:
- Oral storytelling as sophisticated art form
- Deep connection between land and identity
- Community-focused rather than individual-focused narratives
- Circular rather than linear time
- Literature as an act of survival and resistance
Representation:
- Stories shape how we understand the world
- A "single story" creates dangerous stereotypes
- Diverse voices in literature are essential for a complete picture of humanity
- Always ask: Who wrote this? Whose perspective is centred? Whose story is missing?
Key principle: Reading literature from different cultures and perspectives is not a luxury — it is a necessity for understanding our complex, interconnected world.
Research one postcolonial or indigenous author from the list below (or choose your own). Write a short presentation (200-250 words in English) covering: their background, a key work, and how their writing connects to the postcolonial themes discussed in this chapter.
Choose an author: Chinua Achebe (Nigeria), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria), Witi Ihimaera (New Zealand/Maori), Sherman Alexie (USA/Native American), Jamaica Kincaid (Antigua), or another author you know.
Describe one of their key works — what is it about, and what themes does it explore?
Explain how this author's work connects to at least two of the postcolonial concepts from this chapter (e.g., writing back, othering, hybridity, language as power, the danger of a single story).
Norway has its own indigenous population — the Sami people. Drawing on what you have learned about indigenous and postcolonial literature, write a reflective text (150-200 words in English) comparing the experiences of the Sami in Norway with the experiences of indigenous peoples in the English-speaking world.
What parallels can you see between the treatment of Sami people in Norway and the treatment of indigenous peoples in countries like Australia, Canada or the USA?
Why is it important for indigenous peoples to tell their own stories in literature, film and media? Use specific examples if you can.
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