Approaches to the post-colonial through culture and Bildung - Critique of the a priori myth of (neo-)colonial narratives

Resumo

In this article, I argue that cultures cannot be understood as fixed entities. This is also linked to a critique of the idea of cultural identity. Furthermore, I will show that the attribution of cultural identities was an integral part of European colonial thought patterns and was integrated into mechanisms of oppression. By colonial thought patterns, I mean a certain attitude to the world that cannot tolerate difference and that forcibly integrated non-European cultures and peoples into its own world view by classifying them as inferior. Using Edward Said’s work Orientalism and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s essay Can the Subaltern speak? as examples, I will show how the representation of the ‘Other’, the non-European, has maintained the illusion of superiority of European cultures. Furthermore, I will discuss a particular understanding of Bildung as a way to deconstruct colonial thought patterns.