Racism and Realism in Colonial and Post-Colonial Literature

For a number of years, I have been trying to understand or “get” Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.  After reading it this semester, I think I finally have a working understanding of the novel, and though I won’t ever love it, I now see its value as part of the canons of literature.  I am not sure that I would have taken such an interest in the novel had it not been for my discomfort about our class assigning such racist tendencies to the author.  Conversely, when reading about Things Fall Apart, similar racist accusations tended to come up.  I decided to research assertions of racism in Colonial and Post-Colonial literature. More specifically, how common is it for colonial or post-colonial authors to be seen as racist due to the racial content of their works. 

Finding information and articles was easier than I thought—almost too easy.  The sheer volume of information about racism in Colonial literature is somewhat overwhelming.  One of the first articles I read was about “black peril” attitudes in post-colonial South Africa.  (I have a particular interest in things South African after being married to a man from there for many years).  I found Graham’s article about rape and racism to be chilling.  Her primary assertion seems to be that authors tended to write about white women being raped by black men for commercial reasons.  In essence, the author believes that by supporting the racism via black peril, authors are using racism to make money, and are thus further propagating racism.

Far from upholding assertions of Conrad’s racism, I found unexpected things in Moore’s article on Conrad.  While admitting that Conrad’s Malay fictions addressed racism, he also states:

Conrad’s boyhood experience of revolt and exile made him cynical of the politics of nationalism, but also left him with a remarkably acute and sympathetic eye for the plight of the stateless, of fellow refugees and outcasts such as the slaves and exiles and fugitives who people the backwaters of the Malay Archipelago (22).

Moore actually seems to be asserting Conrad’s sympathy for the natives of Africa, a far cry from the racist accusations of Achebe.  Moore further goes on to discuss Conrad’s awareness of the sensitive issues of the blindness of white colonists to native issues and interests.  He feels that because of this Conrad’s novels are important political artifacts.

            Finding articles pertaining to my question of racism in colonial authors may prove to be easier than finding “the answer.” This is a complicated issue which seems to have endless answers.  While Moore’s article tends to support my own feelings that Conrad is not a racist, but is rather just portraying insensitive and ethnocentric characters, I cannot ignore the Graham’s chilling arguments about rape and racism in post-colonial South Africa.  However, even conceding that authors are using rape and black peril to sell novels, it does not necessarily follow that they are innately racist.  It does, however, show apathy towards bettering racial relationships which, in the end, may be even more insidious. 

Bibliography

Donadey, Anne. "`Y'a bon Banania': Ethics and cultural criticism in the colonial context." French Cultural Studies 11.31 (Feb. 2000): 9. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. 21 Mar. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=3139218&site=ehost-live>.

Ellinghaus, Katherine. "Racism in the Never-Never: Disparate readings of Jeannie Gunn." Hecate 23.2 (1997): 76. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. 21 Mar. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=70462&site=ehost-live>.

Graham, Lucy Valerie. "Reading the Unspeakable: Rape in J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace." Journal of Southern African Studies 29.2 (June 2003): 433. Academic Search Complete. 22 Mar. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9930425&site=ehost-live>.

Kalupahana, Chamika. "Les beaux jours sont passés": Staging Whiteness and Postcolonial Ambivalence in "The Europeans" by Henry James. Canadian Review of American Studies 33.2 (2003): 119-138. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. 21 Mar. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=11439205&site=ehost-live>.

Lewis, Simon. "Culture, cultivation, and colonialism in Out of Africa and beyond." Research in African Literatures 31.1 (Spring 2000): 63. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. 18 Mar. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=2744194&site=ehost-live>.

Moore, Gene M. "Slavery and Racism in Joseph Conrad's Eastern World." Journal of Modern Literature 30.4 (Summer 2007): 20-38. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. 21 Mar. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=26937856&site=ehost-live>.