the angel of progress: pitfalls of the term "post-colonialism"

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The Angel of Progress: Pitfalls of the Term "Post-Colonialism"Author(s): Anne McClintockSource: Social Text, No. 31/32, Third World and Post-Colonial Issues (1992), pp. 84-98Published by: Duke University Press

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TheAngelofProgress:Pitfalls ftheTerm "Post-Colonialism"

ANNE McCLINTOCK

His face s turned owards hepast....Theangelwould iketostay,awaken hedead, ndmakewhole hatwhich asbeen mashed. uta stormsblowing romaradise;t hasgot aughtnhiswingswith

such violence hat heangelcanno longer lose them. hisstormirrestistiblyropels im nto hefutureo whichhis back s turned,while hepileofdebris efore im rowskyward.his torms whatwe callprogress.

Walter enjamin

To entertheHybridState exhibit on Broadway,you enterThe Passage.Instead ofa gallery,youfind darkantechamber,whereone whitewordinvitesyouforward: OLONIALISM. To enter olonial space, youstoop

through low door, only to be closetted in another black space - acuratorialreminder, oweverfleeting, f Fanon: "The native s a beinghemmed n."' But theway out of colonialism, it seems, is forward.Asecond whiteword,POSTCOLONIALISM, invitesyou through slightlylargerdoor into thenextstage of history,fterwhichyou emerge,fullyerect, ntothebrightlyit andnoisyHYBRID STATE.

I am fascinated ess bythe exhibit tself, hanbytheparadoxbetweenthe dea ofhistory hat hapes "The Passage," and thequitedifferentdeaof history hat hapes the"HybridState"exhibit tself.The exhibit ele-

brates"parallel history":Parallelhistoryoints otherealityhat here s no longer main-stream iewof Americanrtculture,with everal other,"esserimportantultures urroundingt. Rather here xistsa parallel historywhich s nowchangingourunderstandingfourtranscultural nder-standing.2

Yet theexhibit'scommitment o"hybridhistory" multiple ime) s con-tradictedby the linear logic of The Passage ("A Brief Route To Free-dom"), which, s it turns ut,rehearsesone of the most tenacioustropes

ofcolonialism. n colonial discourse, s inThePassage, space is time, ndhistory s shaped aroundtwo,necessarymovements: he"progress"for-wardof humanity rom louching deprivation o erect,enlightened ea-son. The othermovement resents hereverse:regression ackwardsfrom

(white, male) adulthood to a primordial,black "degeneracy" usually

84







AnneMcClintock 85

incarnatedn women. hePassagerehearseshis emporalogic:progress

throughheascending oors,from rimitivere-history,ereft f lan-guage nd ight,hroughhe picstages fcolonialism,ost-colonialismandenlightenedybridity.eaving he xhibit, istorys traversedack-wards.As incolonialdiscourse,hemovementorwardnspace s back-wards n time:fromrect, erbal onsciousnessndhybrid reedomsignifiedythenotvery ree)white abbit alled Free"which oams heexhibit downthroughhe historictagesofdecreasingtatureotheshambling,onguelessoneofthepre-colonial,rompeechtosilence,light odark.

Theparadox tructuring

he xhibitntrigues e, s it is a paradox,suggest,hat hapes he ermpost-colonialism."amdoublynterested

in theterm, ince the almostritualistic biquity f "post-"words ncurrent ulturepost-colonialism,ost-modernism,ost-structuralism,post-coldwar,post-marxism,ost-apartheid,ost-Soviet, ost-Ford,post-feminism,ost-national,ost-historic,venpost-contemporary)ig-nals, believe, widespread,pochal risisnthedeaof inear, istorical"progress."

In 1855, theyearof thefirstmperial arisExposition, ictorHugoannounced "Progresss thefootstepsf God himself."Post-colonialstudies"has set itself gainst his mperialdea of lineartime the"granddeaofProgressndPerfectability,"s Baudelaire alled t.Yetthetermpost-colonial,"ikethe exhibittself,s haunted ytheveryfigure flinear development"hat t sets outtodismantle.Metaphori-cally,the term post-colonialism" arkshistorys a series of stagesalonganepochal oadfromthepre-colonial,"o "the olonial," o "the

post-colonial"an

unbidden,fdisavowed,

ommitmentolinear imeand theidea of "development."f a theoreticalendencyo envisage"ThirdWorld" iteratures progressingromprotestiterature,"o"re-sistanceiterature,"o"nationaliterature"as beencriticizeds rehears-ingtheEnlightenmentrope f sequential,linear"progress,he term"post-colonialism"s questionableor he amereason.Metaphoricallypoisedontheborder etween ld andnew, nd andbeginning,he ermheraldshe ndof world ra,butwithinhe ame rope f inear rogressthat nimatedhat ra.

If"post-colonial"heoryas

soughtochallenge

hegrand

march fwestern istoricismith ts ntouragefbinariesself-other,etropolis-colony,center-periphery,tc.), theterm post-colonialism"nonethelessre-orients heglobe once morearound a single,binaryopposition:colo-nial/post-colonial.Moreover,theory s thereby hiftedfromthebinaryaxis ofpower (colonizer/colonized itself nadequatelynuanced,as inthecase ofwomen)to thebinary xis oftime, n axis even less productiveofpoliticalnuance since itdoes notdistinguish etweenthebeneficiaries







86 Pitfallsf he ermPost-Colonialism"

of colonialismthe x-colonizers)nd the asualties fcolonialismthe

ex-colonized). he"post-colonialcene"occurs nanentranceduspen-sionofhistory,s ifthedefinitiveistoricalvents avepreceded s, ndare notnow nthemaking.f the heory romises decenteringfhistoryinhybridity,yncreticism,ulti-dimensionalime, nd so forth,he in-gularityf the term ffects re-centeringfglobalhistoryround hesinglerubric fEuropean ime.Colonialismeturnstthemomentf tsdisappearance.

The word post,"moreover,educes hecultures fpeoples beyondcolonialism oprepositionalime.The term onfersncolonialism he

prestigefhistoryroper; olonialisms thedeterminingarkerfhis-tory. ther ultures hare nly chronological,repositionalelationoa Euro-centeredpoch hats overpost-), rnotyet egunpre-).notherwords, heworld'smultitudinousulturesremarked,otpositively ywhatdistinguisheshem, utbya subordinate,etrospectiveelation olinear, uropean ime.

The term lso signals reluctanceo surrenderheprivilegefseeingthe world n terms f a singular nd ahistorical bstraction. iflingthroughherecent lurryf articles nd bookson"post-colonialism,"

am struck yhowseldom heterm s usedto denotemultiplicity.hefollowing roliferate:thepost-colonialondition,"hepost-colonialscene," thepost-colonialntellectual,"the mergingisciplinarypaceof post-colonialism,"post-coloniality,"thepost-colonialituation,""post-colonialpace,""thepractice f postcoloniality,"post-colonialdiscourse," nd thatmosttedious, enerichold-all: thepost-colonialOther."

I amnotconvincedhat neofthemostmportantmergingreasofintellectualndpolitical nquirysbest erved y nscribingistorys a

single ssue. Just s the ingular ategoryWoman" as beendiscreditedas a bogusuniversal orfeminism,ncapable fdistinguishingetweenthevaried istoriesnd mbalancesnpower mongwomen,othe ingu-larcategorypost-colonial"may icense ooreadily panopticendencytoviewtheglobewithin eneric bstractionsoided fpoliticalnuance.Thearcingpanoramaf thehorizon ecomes herebyo expansive hatinternationalmbalancesnpower emainffectivelylurred. istoricallyvoided ategoriesuch s "the ther,"the ignifier,"the ignified,"thesubject," thephallus," thepostcolonial," hilehaving cademic loutandprofessional arketability,un he isk ftelescopingrucial eo-po-liticaldistinctionsnto nvisibility.

The authorsof the recentbook TheEmpireWrites ack, forexample,defend he term post-colonial iterature"n threegrounds: t"focusesonthatrelationshipwhich has providedthe most important reativeandpsychological impetus n thewriting"; t expresses the"rationaleof thegroupingna commonpast,"andit "hints tthe visionofa more iberated







AnneMcClintock 87

andpositive uture."3et the nscriptionfhistoryround single con-

tinuityf preoccupations"nd "a common ast,"runs the risk of afetishisticisavowal f crucial nternationalistinctionshat rebarelyunderstoodndinadequatelyheorized.Moreover,he uthors ecided,idiosyncraticallyosaythe east, hat he ermpost-colonialism"houldnotbe understoods everythinghat ashappenedinceEuropean olo-nialism, utratherverythinghat ashappened rom hevery eginningofcolonialism,whichmeans urningack theclocks andunrollinghemaps f"post-colonialism"o1492, ndearlier.4Whereupon,ta stroke,Henry amesndCharles rockdenrown,oname nly wo ntheirist,

are awakenedfrom heir ete-A-teteithtime, nd ushered nto"thepost-colonialcene" alongsidemoreregularmembersike NgugiWaThiongond SalmanRushdie.

Mostproblematically,hehistoricaluptureuggestedythepreposi-tion post-" eliesboth he ontinuitiesnd discontinuitiesfpower hathaveshapedthe egaciesof the formal uropean nd British olonialempiresnotto mentionhe slamic,Japanese, hinese, ndothermpe-rialpowers).Politicaldifferencesetweenulturesretherebyubordi-nated to theirtemporaldistancefrom uropean colonialism.But

"post-colonialism"likepostmodernism)s unevenlyeveloped lobally.Argentina,ormallyndependentf mperial painfor ver centurynda half,s not post-colonial"nthe ameway s HongKong destinedobe independentfBritainnly n1997).Nor s Brazil"post-colonial"nthe ameway s Zimbabwe. an most f theworld's ountries e said, nanymeaningfulrtheoreticallyigorousense, o share single commonpast,"ora single ommoncondition,"alled "thepost-colonialondi-tion,"or "post-coloniality"?he historiesf Africanolonization recertainly,npart, hehistoriesf thecollisionsbetween uropean nd

Arabempires,ndthemyriad fricanineagestates nd cultures. anthese ountries owbestbe understoods shaped xclusivelyround he"common"xperiencefEuropean olonization?ndeed,many ontem-poraryAfrican, atinAmerican, aribbean,nd Asiancultures, hileprofoundlyffectedycolonization,re notnecessarilyrimarilyreoc-cupiedwith heirrstwhileontactwith urope.

On the otherhand,theterm post-colonialism"s, in many ases,prematurelyelebratory.relandmay, ta pinch, e "post-colonial,"utfor he nhabitantsfBritish-occupiedorthernreland, ottomentionthe Palestiniannhabitantsf the sraeliOccupiedTerritoriesnd theWestBank, heremay enothingpost" bout olonialism t all. Is SouthAfrica"post-colonial"?East Timor?Australia?By whatfiatofhistoricalamnesiacan theUnited StatesofAmerica, nparticular, ualifyas "post-colonial" - a termwhichcan onlybe a monumentalffront o theNativeAmericanpeoples currentlypposingtheconfetti riumphalismf 1992.One can also ask whether heemergence f FortressEurope in 1992 may








notsignaltheemergencef a newempire, s yetuncertainboutthe

frontiersf tsboundariesndglobalreach.Mymisgivings,herefore,re notaboutthetheoreticalubstance f"post-colonialheory," uch f which greatlydmire. ather,wish oquestion heorientationftheemerging iscipline nd itsconcomitanttheoriesndcurriculahanges,round singular, onolithicerm,rgan-ized around binaryxis oftime ather hanpower, ndwhich,n itsprematureelebrationf thepastness f colonialism, unstherisk ofobscuringhecontinuitiesnddiscontinuitiesfcolonial and imperialpower.Nordo I want o banish heterm o somechilly, erbalGulag;

thereeemsno reasonwhyt hould ot e usedudiciouslynappropriatecircumstances,n thecontext f other erms,f ina less grandiosendglobalrole.

One might istinguishheoreticallyetween variety f forms fglobaldomination.olonizationnvolves irect erritorialppropriationofanother eo-politicalntity,ombinedwith orthrightxploitationfitsresourcesnd abor, ndsystematicnterferencenthe apacity f theappropriatedultureitself otnecessarily homogenousntity)oorga-nize itsdispensationsfpower.nternal olonizationccurswhere he

dominantart f a countryreats group rregion s itmight foreigncolony. mperial olonization,yextension,nvolvesarge-scale,errito-rial dominationf thekind thatgave late Victorian ritain nd theEuropean lordsofhumankind"ontrol ver 85% oftheearth,ndtheUSSR totalitarianuleoverHungary,oland ndCzechoslovakianthetwentiethentury.

Colonization,however,mayinvolveonlyone country. urrently,Chinakeeps tscolonialgrip n Tibet's hroat,s does ndonesia n EastTimor,sraelontheOccupiedTerritoriesndtheWestBank, nd Britain

onNorthernreland. ince1915,SouthAfrica askept tscolonialbooton Namibia's oil,firsty LeagueofNationsmandate,nd thenater ndefiance f a UNGeneralAssembly esolutionnd a 1971 World ourtOrder.Only n 1990,having tripped amibiaofmost f its diamondresources,outhAfricawas contentohand ackthe conomicallymptyshell to theNamibians. sraelremainsnpartial ccupationf LebanonandSyria, s doesTurkeyfCyprus.None of these ountriesan,withjustice,be called"post-colonial."

Differentormsfcolonization ave,moreover,iven ise odifferent

forms fde-colonization. here eep ettlerolonizationrevailed,s inAlgeria,Kenya, imbabwe,ndVietnam,olonialpowers lung nwithparticularbrutality.5ecolonization itself,moreover, as been unevenlywon.InZimbabwe,after seven-year ivilwar ofsuchferocityhat t theheightof thewar 500 people were killedeverymonth nd40 percentofthe country'sbudget was spent on the military, he Lancaster HouseAgreement horeographedby Britain n 1979 ensuredthatone third f







AnneMcClintock 89

Zimbabwe's rable and 12 millionhectares)was to remainn white

hands,a minute raction f thepopulation.6n otherwords,whileZimbabwegainedformal olitical ndependencen 1980 (holding hechair fthe 103-nation on-Aligned ovementrom 986-1989) thas,economically,undergone nlypartial decolonization.

Break-awaysettlercolonies can, moreover, e distinguished y theirformalndependenceromhe ounding etropolitanountry,longwithcontinuedontrol ver he ppropriatedolonythus isplacingolonialcontrolromhemetropolisothe olonytself). heUnited tates, outhAfrica, ustralia, anada, ndNewZealand, emain,nmyview, reak-

awaysettlerolonies hathave notundergoneecolonization, or,withthe xceptionfSouthAfrica,retheyikely o nthenearfuture.Most importantly,rientingheoryround hetemporal xis colo-

nial/postcolonialakes teasiernot osee,andthereforearder otheo-rize, he ontinuitiesn nternationalmbalancesn mperial ower. incethe1940's,theUnited tate's mperialism-without-coloniesas takennumber f distinct ormsmilitary,olitical, conomic nd cultural),someconcealed, omehalf-concealed.hepower f US financeapitaland hugemulti-nationalso direct heflowsof capital,commodities,

armamentsndmedia nformationround heworld an have an impactas massive s anycolonialregime.t is precisely hegreaterubtlety,innovation nd variety f theseforms f imperialismhatmakesthehistoricalupturemplied ythetermpost-colonial"specially nwar-ranted.

"Post-colonial"atinAmerica as been nvaded ytheUnited tatesover hundredimes his enturylone. Eachtime, heUS hasactedtoinstall dictatorship,ropupa puppet egime,rwreck democracy.nthe 1940's, whentheclimateforgunboat iplomacy hilled,United

States'relations ith atinAmericawerewarmedyaneconomicmpe-rialpolicy uphemisticallyubbedGoodNeighborliness,"rimarilye-signedto make Latin America a saferbackyardfor theUS' virileagribusiness.hegiant old-storagehipsof theUnited ruit ompanycircled heworld,akingananas romoor grarianountriesominatedbymonoculturesnd themarines o thetablesof affluent S house-wives.' AndwhileLatinAmericahand-pickedananasfortheUnitedStates,theUnitedStateshand-pickedictators orLatinAmerica. nChile,Allende's lected, ocialistgovernmentasoverthrownya US-

sponsoredmilitaryoup.In Africa,more overt perationsuch as theCIA assassinationfPatriceLumumban Zaire,had consequences sfar-reaching.

In thecold war climateof the 1980's, theUS, still hamperedby theVietnamsyndrome,fosteredthe more covert militarypolicy of "lowintensity" onflicts in El Salvador and thePhilippines),spawningdeathsquads andproxy rmies Unita inAngola,and theContras nNicaragua)







90 Pitfalls f he erm Post-Colonialism"

andtrainingndaiding otalitarian ilitaryegimesnanti-democratic,

"counter-insurgency"actics El Salvador,Honduras, outhAfrica,s-rael,and so forth).nNicaraguanFebruary990the voteoffear" fcontinuing,overtwarwith heUS broughtown he andinistas.

Therecent its fthuggeryytheUS inLibya,Grenada ndPanama,and mostcalamitouslyn Iraq,haveevery haracteristicf a renewedmilitarymperialism,nd a renewed eterminationorevampmilitaryhegemonyn a worldn which t is rapidly osing conomic egemony.Theattacks nLibya,Grenada nd Panama where ictory asassured)werepractice uns or henew mperialism,estingoth heUSSR's will

to protest,nd the US public'swillingnesso throw ffthe Vietnamsyndrome,ermittinghereby more latant ra of nterveningnThirdWorld ffairs. tthe ametime, aving elped toke hefirst ulfWar,theUS had nointentionf etting newboyon theblock ssert olonialdominancenthe egion.

Forthree ears eforehe econdGulfWar, heUS arms rade adbeensufferingslump.After hat nemilitaryndustrialistloatinglyalledtheGulfWar's giant ommercial-in-the-sky,"S arms aleshave oared.Nonetheless,f theUS hadthepoliticalmuscle o resuscitate nearly

defunctecurityouncil nd trong-armconsensushroughheUN,andthemilitaryapacityomake horthriftf150,000raqisoldiers ndanestimated00,000civilians nonemonth,tdidnothave the conomicmeans opayfor hewar. addledwith tsownvastdebts,heUS hasbeenmassively aidoffnreimbursementsanestimated50billion) ySaudiArabia,Kuwait,Japan,ndGermany,o that tnowappears n fact ohaveprofitedromhewarto the une f$4-5billion.At the ametime,most f the stimated20billionnecessaryo restore uwaitwillgo towestern,argely S, companies. hewarhas thusmade vermore ikely

a global ecurityystemasedonmilitary uscle, otpolitical oopera-tion, olicedbytheUS's high-tech, ercenaryrmyandperhaps ATO),moving apidly round heworld, aidforbyGermanyndJapan,nddesigned opreventegional, hirdWorld onsensuses rommerging.Farfrom eraldinghe ndof mperialntervention,he econdGulfWarsimplymarks newkind f nterventionism.otonly s the ermpost-colonial" nadequateo theorize hesedynamics,tactivelybscures hecontinuitiesnddiscontinuitiesfUS power round heglobe.

While some countriesmaybe "post-colonial"withrespect o theirerstwhileuropeanmasters,heymaynot e "post-colonial" ith espectto their ewcolonizing eighbours.othMozambiquendEastTimor,forexample, became "post-colonial" at muchthesame time,when thePortugueseempiredecampedin themid-seventies,nd bothremaincau-tionary ales againsttheutopianpromise nd global sweep of theprepo-sition"post." In East Timor, hebedsofthePortuguesewerescarcelycoldbeforethe ndonesiansinvaded, nan especiallyviolentcolonial occupa-







AnneMcClintock 91

tion hathas lastednearlywo decades.The colonialtravail ftheEast

Timoreans asgone argely nprotestedytheUN- thefamiliarlightofcountries hosepocketsren't eep, nd whosevoicesdon't arry.In Mozambique, n theotherhand, fter hree enturies fcolonial

drubbing,he ortuguese ere usted n1975byFrelimo,Mozambique'ssocialist ndependence ovement.ut acrosstheborder,whiteRhode-sians,resentfulfMozambique's ndependencend socialistpromise,spawnedheMozambique ational esistanceMNR), banditrmy entonlyonsowing uin.After imbabwetself ecamepoliticallyndepen-dent f Britainn1980, heMNRhas continuedo besponsoredySouth

Africa. decade ftheMNR'skilling-raidsndSouthAfrica's redationshassubjectedhe ountryo fatal lood-lettingnddisplaced earlywomillion eople, na war o catastrophichat relimo asbeenforced orenounceMarxism nd consider hakinghandswith hebandits.NowMozambiques inevery ensea countryn itsknees.Whatmight avebeen "post-colonial"howpiece as nstead ecome hekilling-fieldsfSouthern frica.

Yet neitherhe termpost-colonial" or neo-colonial"s trulyde-quateto accountfor heMNR.Neo-colonialisms notsimply repeat

performancefcolonialism,or s it a slightly ore omplicated,egel-ian mergingf "tradition"nd "colonialism"nto somenew,historichybrid.nrecent ears,heMNRhas becomenextricablyhaped roundlocal inter-ethnicivalries,istincteligious eliefs,nd notions ftimeandcausalityespeciallyncestralntervention)hich annot ereducedto a westernchema f inear ime.More omplex ermsndanalyses, falternativeimes,histories,nd causalities, re required o deal withcomplexitieshat annot e served nder he ingle ubricpost-colonial-ism."

Singularuniversals uch as "thepost-colonialntellectual" bscureinternationalisparitiesn cultural ower, lectronic echnology,ndmediainformation.he role of "Africa" n "post-colonial heory"sdifferentrom he role of "post-colonialheory"n Africa. n 1987,UNESCO calculated hatAfricawas spendingnly0.3% of theworld's$207 billion llocated oscientificesearchnddevelopment.8n 1975the ntireontinentadonly180dailynewspapers,ompared ith 900for heUS, outofa world otal f7,970.By1984, henumberf Africandailiesdropped o 150,then taggered ackto 180 in 1987 (thesame

figures in1955). n1980, he nnual roductionffilmsnthe ontinentwas 70. In contrast,heproductionflongfilmsnAsia was 2,300 in1965, and 2,100 in 1987.9The film ndustryn India remainsthe argestin theworld,whileAfrica'sshareof TV receivers,radiotransmittorsndelectronichardware s miniscule.

The term post-colonialism" s prematurelyelebratory nd obfusca-tory n moreways than one. The termbecomes especially unstablewith







92 Pitfallsf heTerm Post-Colonialism"

respect owomen.n a worldwherewomen o 2/3of theworld'swork,

earn 10% ofthe world's ncome, nd own ess than1% oftheworld'sproperty,hepromise f"post-colonialism"asbeen historyfhopespostponed.t hasgenerally oneunremarkedhat henational ourgeoi-sies and kleptocracieshat tepped nto theshoes of "post-colonial""progress,"nd industrialmodernization"ave beenoverwhelminglyandviolently ale.No"post-colonial"tate nywhereasgranted omenand men qualaccess to therightsndresources fthenationtate.Notonlyhavethe needs of "post-colonial ations" eenlargelydentifiedwithmaleconflicts,maleaspirationsndmaleinterests,utthevery

representationf"national" ower ests nprior onstructionsfgenderpower.ThusevenforFanon,whoat othermoments newbetter,oth"colonizer" nd "colonized" reunthinkinglyale:"The lookthat henative urns nthe ettlers a lookof ust.., tositat the ettlers'able,tosleep nthe ettler's ed,with iswife,fpossible. hecolonizedmanis anenviousman."''Despitemost nti-colonialationalisms'nvestmentin the rhetoric f popularunity,mosthave servedmoreproperlyoinstitutionalizeender ower.Maritalaws, nparticularaveserved oensure hat orwomen itizenshipnthenation-states mediatedythe

marriage elation,o that woman's oliticalrelation o thenation ssubmergedn,andsubordinatedo,her ocial relation oa man hroughmarriage.

Theglobalmilitarizationfmasculinity,ndthefeminizationfpov-erty avethus nsuredhatwomenndmen o not ive post-coloniality"inthe ameway, rshare he ame ingularpost-colonialondition."nmost ountries,MF andWorld ankpolicyfavouredash-croppingndcapital urplusnthe ystematicnterestsfmen, ndformed predict-ablepattern heremenweregiven he raining,he nternationalid,the

machinery,he oans andcash. nAfrica,women armersroduce 5%-80% of all agriculturalroduce, etdo notownthe andtheywork,ndareconsistentlyy-passedyaidprogramsnd"development"rojects.

The blameforwomen's ontinuinglight annot e laid only.t thedoorofcolonialism,rfootnotedndforgottens a passing neo-colo-nial"dilemma. hecontinuing eightf male conomicelf-interestndthevariedundertowsfpatriarchal hristianity,onfucianism,nd Is-lamicfundamentalismontinueo legitimizewomen's arred ccess tothe orridorsfpolitical ndeconomic ower,heirersistentducational

disadvantage, hebad infinityf thedomesticdouble day,unequalchildcare, enderedmalnutrition,exualviolence, enitalmutilation,nddomesticbattery. he histories f thesemalepolicies,whiledeeply mpli-cated in colonialism, are not reducible to colonialism, and cannot beunderstoodwithout istinct heories fgenderpower.

Finally, bogus universals such as "thepost-colonialwoman,"or "thepost-colonialother"obscurerelationsnotonlybetweenmen andwomen,







AnneMcClintock 93

butamongwomen.Relations etween French ouristnd theHaitian

womanwho washesherbed linenare not thesame as therelationsbetween heir usbands. ilms ike OutOf Africa, lothinghains ikeBanana Republic, nd perfumesike "Safari"all peddleneo-colonialnostalgia or n erawhen uropeanwomenn briskwhitehirts nd afarigreen upposedly ound reedomnempire: unningoffee lantations,killing ions, ndzipping bout he olonial kies nairplanes an en-tirelymisbegottenommercializationf whitewomen's liberation"hathas notmade t ny asierforwomen f olor oformllianceswithwhitewomen nywhere,etaloneparryriticismsymalenationalistslreadyhostile ofeminism.

How,then, oes oneaccount or he urious biquityf thepreposition"post" ncontemporaryntellectualife,not nly ntheuniversities,utin newspaperolumns ndon the ipsof mediamoguls?n thecase of"post-colonialism,"t east, art fthe easons its cademicmarketabil-ity.While dmittedlynother -cword, post-colonialism"s arguablymorepalatable nd essforeign-soundingosceptical eansthan Third

World tudies." t also hasa lessaccusatory ing han Studies nNeo-colonialism,"ay, r"FightingwoColonialisms."t smore lobal, ndless fuddy-duddy,han Commonwealthtudies."The termborrows,moreover,n thedazzlingmarketinguccessofthe ermpost-modern-ism."Asthe rganizingubric f nemergingield fdisciplinarytudiesand anarchive fknowledge,he ermpost-colonialism"akes ossiblethemarketingf a wholenewgenerationfpanels, rticles, ooksandcourses.

Theenthusiasmor post"-words,owever,amifieseyond he orri-

dorsof theuniversity.herecurrent,lmost itualisticncantationf theprepositionpost" sa symptom,believe, fa global risis n deologiesof thefuture,articularlyhe deology f"progress."

Thefirsteismic hiftnthe dea of"progress"amewith he bruptshiftnUS ThirdWorld olicy nthe1980's.Emboldenednthe1950'sby tseconomicgreateapforward"space,again, s time), heUS wasempoweredo nsist loballyhat therountriesould progress"nly ftheyfollowed theUS road to mass-consumptionrosperity.W. W.Rostow's Non-Communistanifesto"

nvisagedhe o-called

develop-ing"nations s passing hroughimilar tagesof development,ut oftradition-boundoverty, hrough n industrializedmodernization ver-seen bytheUS, theWorldBank and the MF, tomass-consumer rosper-ity.Nonetheless,except for theJapanese"miracle" and theFour Tigers(Taiwan, Singapore,Hong Kong and SouthKorea), thevast majority ftheworld'spopulationshave, since the 1940's, come to lag even furtherbehind theconsumer tandards etbythewest.1l








Then,between 979 (thesecondoil shock)and 1982 (theMexican

default),heworld conomyegan ocreak.ncreasingly,tbecame learthat heUS was no onger estinedobe the nly conomic ower f thefuture. obbledby tsphenomenalebts,nd ncreasinglyiminishedythe winhadows fJapanndGermany,heUS summarilybandonedhedoctrine fglobal progress"nd"development."uringheReagan ra,theUS institutednstead bullyingebt-servicingolicy owardsoorercountries,olsteredy aggressive ompetitionith hemnthemarket,and defendedy sporadic its fmilitaryangsterism,s inGrenada ndPanama.Thecataclysmic ar ntheGulf erved nly ounderscorehe

point.Formany oorer ountries,he hiftn US policymeant bandoningovernighthe atamorganafcapitalistprogress,"nd ettlingor hron-icallystrickenositionsntheglobalhierarchy.enceforth,hey ouldaspireonly otightenheir elts, ervice heir ebts, ndmaintainomecredit. n 1974,Africa'sdebt-serviceatiowas a manageable .6 %.Thirteen ears atert hadrockettedo25%.'2But the ollapseof theUSmodel f"progress"as alsomeant he ollapse, ormany egimes,fthelegitimacyf their ational olicies,nthe anickyontextfworld-wide

economic risis, cological alamity,ndspirallingopular esperation.Indeed, erhaps nereason, t least,for heburgeoning,opulistppealof slamicfundamentalism,s thefailurefothermodels fcapitalistrcommunistprogress."As a seniorLibyanaide, MajorAbdel-SalamJalloud as saidofthedestinyf theFIS inAlgeria: It's impossibleoturn ack.The FIS has anappointmentith istory;twillnotmiss t.""3

Amonotonouslyimple atternasemerged. espite hehauling ownof colonialflags n the 1950's, revamped conomic mperialismasensured hatAmerica nd the formeruropean olonialpowershave

become icher, hile,with tinycatteringfexceptions,heir x-colo-nieshavebecome oorer.14nAfrica efore ecolonization, orld ank

projectswereconsistentlyupportivef the colonialeconomies. inceformal ecolonization,ontraryo theWorldBank's vaunted echnical"neutrality"ndmythfexpertise,rojects aveaggressivelyavouredtherefinementndstreamliningfsurplusxtraction,ashcrop xports,and large cale projects oingtothehighest idders, osteringherebycartels ndforeign perators,ndensuringhat rofitsumble nto hecoffers f themulti-nationals.uring1986,Africa ost $19 billion

throughollapsed xport rices lone." In 1988 and 1989,debt ervicepaymentsromheThirdWorld otheUS were 100billion.'6 tthe ametime, s Fanonpredicted,ThirdWorldkleptocracies,military ligarchiesand warlords have scrambledover each otherto plunderthesystem.Toprotectthese interests, he tiny,male elites of "developing" countrieshave spentalmost 2.4 trillionon themilitary etween 1960 and 1987,almost twice the size of the entireThird Worlddebt.17Now, afterthe







AnneMcClintock 95

1980's "desperate ecade"ofdebt, roughtnddestabilization,hema-

jority fThirdWorld ountriesre

poorer han heywere decadeago.'828 millionAfricans ace famine,nd in countriesike Mozambique,Ethiopia, aire, nd theSudanthe conomies avesimplyollapsed.

The US' "development" yth as had a grievousmpact n globalecologies.By 1989, heWorld ankhad$225billionn commitmentsopoorer ountries,n conditionhat hey,nturn,ndure hepurgatoryf"structuraldjustment,"xport heirwayto"progress,"utgovernmentspending n education nd social services withthe axe fallingmostcruelly nwomen), evalue heir urrencies,emove rade arriers,nd

raze their orests opaytheir ebts.'9 nder hefinancialpelloftheUS(andnowJapan),nd nthename fthefairy-talefunlimitedechnolog-ical and capital"growth,"heWorldBankengineeredne ecologicaldisasterafter nother: he IndonesianTransmigrasirogramme,heAmazonianGrandeCarajas iron-ore nd strip-miningroject,andTucurui amdeforestationroject,nd o on.The PolonorestechemenBrazilcarved pavedhighwayhroughmazonia,uringimber, iningandcattle anchingnterestsnto heregionwith uch alamitousmpactthat n May 1987 even the President f theWorldBank,Mr Barber

Conable, onfessed e foundhedevastationsobering."20The Four"miracle"Tigershavepaid forprogresswith andscapespittedwith oisonedwater,oxic oil,denudedmountainsnd dead coralseas. In"miracle" aiwan, nestimated0%ofthe ountry'sarmlandspolluted yindustrial aste, nd30% ofthericecropscontain nsafelevelsofheavymetals,mercuryndcadmium.2' World ankreportn1989concluded loomilyhat adjustmentrograms"arryheby-prod-uct that peoplebelow thepovertyine willprobablyufferrreparabledamage nhealth, utritionndeducation.""22owJapan,nsatiablyun-

gry or imber ndrawresources,s themajorforeignid donor, othetune f$10billion. nshort,heWorld ank nd MF "roadtoprogress"hasproved short oadtowhat usanGeorgehas called"a fateworsethan ebt."

To compoundmatters,he ollapseof theUS mythf"progress" asswiftlyollowedy he ollapse f he ovietUnion,which ragged ownwith tan entiremaster arrativefcommunistprogress." hezig-zagofHegelian-Marxistprogress,"managed ya bureaucratic,ommandeconomy, ad beendestined o arrive neluctablyt its own utopiandestination.hetopplingf theSovietEmpire asmeant, ormany,heloss of a certain rivilegedelation ohistorys theepic unfoldingflinear,if spasmodic progress, nd withit thepromisethat thebureau-cratic,communist conomycould one day outstrip he US in providingconsumer bundancefor ll. As a result, herehas also been some loss ofpolitical certituden the nevitablerole of themale (and, as it turns ut,white) industrialworking-class s theprivilegedagentof history.f the







96 Pitfallsf he erm Post-Colonialism"

bureaucracyof the Soviet Union fell, it was not underthe weightof

popular, ndustrialmobilization, utrather nder hedoubleweight f itseconomic corruptionnd manicmilitary pending.The irony s not lostthat the ascendanteconomies of Japanand Germanywere historicallydenied theunsupportable urdenof thearmsrace. Thus,despitethefactthatmen are slaughtering ach otheraround the globe withincreaseddedication,therehas been a certain oss of faith nmasculinemilitarismas theinevitableguarantee f historical progress."For thefirst ime n

history,moreover,the idea of industrial progress" impelled by tech-nocratic"development" s meetingthe limits of theworld's naturalre-

sources.Ironically, he ast zone on earth o embracethe deologyofcapitalist

"development"may be the one now controlledby Mr Yeltsin and hisallies. The world has watched awestruckas Yeltsin and his fellow-travellors werveddizzyingly ff he ronroadof thecentralized, ommu-nist,commandeconomy, nd lurchedbumpily ntothecapitalistroad ofdecentralization,powered no longer by the dialectic as the motor and

guarantee of "progress," but by tear-away competition and mad

marketeering. evermindthat hisswerve s likelytounleasha disaster

on a scale comparableto the famines hatfollowedtheoriginalBolshevikrevolution,northattheroughbeast that louches out of thechaos may,indeed,not be western apitalismat all, but a particularly rislyform ffascism.

For both communism nd capitalism,"progress"was botha journeyforward nd thebeginning f a return; or as in all narratives f "prog-ress," to travelthe"road of progress"was to cover,once again, a road

already travelled.The metaphor f the"road" or "railway" guaranteed

that progress"was a fait ccompli.The ourneywaspossiblebecause theroad had alreadybeen made (by God, theDialectic, theWeltgeist, he

Cunningof History, heLaw of theMarket,ScientificMaterialism).As

Hegel decreed,"progress" n the realmofhistorywas possible because ithas alreadybeenaccomplished ntherealmof"truth." utnow, ftheowlof Minerva has takenflight, here s widespreaduncertainty hethertwill return.

The collapse of both capitalistand communist eleologies of "prog-ress" has resulted n a doubled and overdeterminedrisis in images of

future ime. The uncertainglobal situationhas spawned a widespreadsense of historicabandonment, f which the apocalytic, time-stoppedprevalenceof "post-" words is only one symptom. he stormof "prog-ress" hadblownforbothcommunismndcapitalism like. Now thewindis stilled,and theangel withhunchedwingsbroodsover thewreckage tits feet. n this calm at "theend ofhistory," he milleniumhas come toosoon, and theair seems thickwithomen.







AnneMcClintock 97

FrancisFukuyama as declaredhistoryead.Capitalism, e claims,

has wonthegrand gonwith ommunism,nd is now"post-historic."ThirdWorld ountriesag behind n the zone of the"historic,"wheremattersre decidedbyforce.23ar from he"endof history"nd thetriumphfUS consumerapitalism,owever,heneworder f theday smost ikelyto be multi-polarompetitionetween hefour urrentlydecisiveregions ftheworld:Japan,heUnited tates, ortressurope,andtheMiddleEast. The arms radewillcontinue,s themilitary-indus-trialwizards fArmageddonurn heirttentionromold war cenariostomultiple,ispersed ars f ttrition,oughtytheUS mercenaryrmyand

other roxies,ndpaidfor

by Japan ndGermany.WithinheUS,with hevanishingf nternationalommunisms a rationale ormilita-rism, ew nemieswillbefound: hedrugwar,nternationalterrorism,"Japan, eminists,he C hordesnd"tenuredadicals,"esbians ndgays,andanynumberf nternationalethnic"argets.

For thisreason,there s someurgencyn theneedfor nnovativetheoriesfhistoryndpopularmemory,articularlyass-media emory.Askingwhat ingle ermmightdequatelyeplace post-colonialism,"orexample, egsthequestion frethinkingheglobal ituation s a multi-

plicityfpowers ndhistories, hich annot e marshalledbedientlyunder heflag fa single heoreticalerm,ethat eminism, arxism,r

post-colonialism.ordoes nterveningnhistory ean ifting,gain, hemantle f"progress"r thequill-penfempiricism.Forthenative,"sFanon aid, objectivitysalways gainst im."Rather,proliferationfhistoricallyuanced heories nd strategiess called for,whichmayenableustoengagemore ffectivelynthepolitics faffiliation,ndthecurrentlyalamitous ispensationsfpower.Without renewedwilltointervenentheunacceptable, efacebeingbecalmednanhistorically

empty paceinwhich ur sole directions found

ygazingback, pell-bound, t theepochbehind s, in a perpetual resentmarked nlyas"post.'"

Notes1. Frantz anon,WretchedfTheEarth,Penguin: ondon, 963),p.29.2. Gallery rochure,heHybridtate xhibit,"xitArt, 78Broadway, ewYorkNov

2 -Dec14,1991).3. BillAshcroft,areth riffiths,ndHelenTiffin,heEmpireWritesack:Theorynd

PracticenPost-Colonialiteratures,Routledge:ondon, 989),p. 24.4. "We use thetermpost-colonial,'owever,o coverall theculture ffectedy the

imperial rocess rom hemomentfcolonizationothepresentay." bid, . 2.5. During heAlgerianwarofresistance,ver a millionAlgerians ied outof aboutmillion.6. AndrewMeldrum,heGuardian, hursday pril 5, 1991,p. 13.7. Cynthiauloe,Bananas,Beaches, ndBases:Making eministenseof nternational

PoliticsBerkeley: niv. fColorado ress, 989),Ch.6.8. BasilDavidson, pcit, . 670.9. KinfeAbraham,TheMediaCrisis:Africa's xclusion one,"SAPEM,September,

1990, 7/49.10.Fanon, bid, . 30.







98 Pitfallsf heTerm Post-Colonialism"

11. SeeGiovanni rrighi,Worldncomenequalitiesnd he uture fSocialism," ew

LeftReview, eptember/October,991,#189, .40.12.BasilDavidson, . 669.13.TheGuardian, uesday, anuary4, 1992,p.9.14. The internationalonetaryystemetupat therettonWoodsConferencen 1944

excludedAfricastill olonized) ndmost fwhats now alledtheThirdWorld,ndwasdesigned o achieve wo xplicit bjectives:he econstructionfEurope fterWorldWar11,andtheexpansionndmaintenanceespecially fter ecolonization)f nternationaltradenthe nterestsfthe olonial owers ndAmerica. hePresidentftheWorld ankandthedeputymanagingirectorrealwaysAmerican, hilebytraditionhemanagingdirectorsEuropean. ee Cheryl ayer, heDebtTrap:The nternationalonetaryundandtheThirdWorld,NewYork,Monthlyeview, 974), ndPayer, he World ank:ACriticalAnalysis,NewYork:Monthlyeview, 982).15. Basil

Davidson, .669.

16. RobinBroad,John avanagh, ndWaldenBello,"Sustainable evelopmentn the1990's," in Paradigms ost: ThePost Cold WarEra, ed. ChesterHartmannd PedroVilanova.17.Broad,Cavanagh,ndBello,p. 100.CalculationsrebasedonfiguresnRuth eger

Sivard,WorldMilitarynd Social Expenditures989, WashingtonC: World riorities,1989),p. 6. AfewAfricanocialisttates,ikeAngola ndMozambique,ried ododge heIMF andWB's blandishments,ntil ationalconomicmismanagementndSouthAfrica'sregionalmaulingsorced hemobend heknee.18. TheWorldBank hasconcluded hat fifteen fricanountries ereworse ff na

numberf conomic ategoriesftertructuraldjustmentrograms....World ank tudyfound hat hedebt-riddenevelopingountriesnder tructuraldjustmentrogrammes

performeds well s

non-recipientsess than alf he ime." obinBroad,John

avanagh,andWalden ello, Sustainable evelopmentnthe1990's," nParadigmsost: ThePostColdWarEra,ed. Chester artmanndPedroVilanova, .96.19.See SusanGeorge,Managing heGlobalHouse:Redefiningconomics,"nGlobal

Warming:heGreenpeace eportOxfordndNewYork, UP,1990), d.Jeremyegget.20.G. Hancock, heLordsOfPoverty,London:MacMillan, 989),p. 131,n 14,citing

Barber onable's peech o theWorld esourcesnstitute,ashingtonC, 5 May,1987.21.Broad,Cavanagh,ndBello,op.cit. . 9122. Ibid.,p. 95.23.Francisukuyama,Forgetraq HistorysDead,"Guardian,2August,990, .3.

the angel of progress: pitfalls of the term "post-colonialism"

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