The Challenge From The Different Experience

Edward W. Said and post-colonialism have drawn great concern of the internal academia since 1990s. By examining the rise of the post-colonialism in western theory, we try to re-think the relationship between experience and theory, which is the focus of western theory in late 20^th century. Obviously, post-colonialism's emphasis on the different experience not only challenged the classic western knowledge system, but also promoted to reconsider the role that experience plays in the formation of theory.The thesis consists of the following parts:Part one is an analysis of social, cultural and theoretical background of post-colonialism. With the change from the political and military control to the economic and cultural infiltration in colonialism, the critique to the colonialism has also begun to focus on the cultural factor. So the colonialism and the relationship between the east and the west have come into the field of the humanities, not merely be viewed as the politics and sociology. At the same time, the critique to classic theories and the emphasis on marginal discourses in contemporary western theories have greatly advanced the rise of post-colonialism.Part two is an introduction of four important theorists in post-colonialism - Frantz Fanon, Edward W. Said, Gayatri C. Spivak, and Homi F. Bhabha. Through the analysis to their personal experience and academic career, the thesis shows how the different...