Contesting Knowledge, Contested Space: Language, Place, and Power in Derek Walcott’s Colonial Schoolhouse
PDF

Keywords

Derek Walcott
coloniality
border thinking
pedagogy
creolization

How to Cite

Jefferson, B. (2014). Contesting Knowledge, Contested Space: Language, Place, and Power in Derek Walcott’s Colonial Schoolhouse. Teorie vědy Theory of Science, 36(1), 77-103. https://doi.org/10.46938/tv.2014.223

Abstract

Contesting Knowledge, Contested Space: Language, Place, and Power in Derek Walcott's Colonial Schoolhouse

Abstract: Derek Walcott's colonial schoolhouse bears an interesting relationship to space and place: it is both a Caribbean site, and a site that disavows its locality by valorizing the metropolis and acting as a vital institution in the psychic colonization of the Caribbean peoples. The situation of the schoolhouse within the Caribbean landscape, and the presence of the Caribbean body, means that the pedagogical relationship works in two ways, and that the hegemonic/colonial discourses of the schoolhouse are inherently challenged within its walls. While the school was used as a means of colonial subjugation, as a method of privileging the metropolitan centre, and as a way of recreating that centre within the colonies, Walcott's emphasis on place complicates and ultimately rewrites colonial discourses and practices. While the school attempts to legitimize colonial space, it in fact fosters what Walter Mignolo has termed "border thinking."

Keywords: Derek Walcott; coloniality; border thinking; pedagogy; creolization.

Spor o vědění, rozporovaný prostor: jazyk, místo a moc v koloniální škole Dereka Walcotta

Abstrakt: Koloniální škola Dereka Walcotta s sebou nese zajimavý vztah mezi prostorem a místem: je to jak místo v Karibiku, tak i místo, které své locality vzdává tím, že zvyšuje hodnotu metropole a jedná jako nepostradatelná instituce v psychické kolonizaci karibského lidu. Poloha školy v karibské krajině a přítomnost karibského těla znamenají, že pedagogický vztah působí dvěma způsoby a že hegemonické/ koloniální diskursy školy jsou uvnitř jejích zdí z vlastní podstaty zpochybňovány. Přestože škola byla používána jako prostředek koloniálního podmanění, jako metoda pro privilegování metropolitního centra a jako způsob znovuvytváření tohoto centra uvnitř kolonií, Walcottův důraz na místo komplikuje a v konečném důsledku přepisuje koloniální diskursy a praktiky. Zatímco škola usiluje o legitimizaci koloniálního prostoru, ve skutečnosti pěstuje to, co Walter Mignolo nazval "hraničním myšlením".

Klíčová slova: Derek Walcott; kolonialita; hraniční myšlení; pedagogika; kreolizace 

PDF

Since 2019, TEORIE VĚDY / THEORY OF SCIENCE journal provides open access to its content under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Authors who publish in this journal agree that:

  1. Authors retain copyright and publication rights without restrictions and guarantee the journal the right of first publishing. All published articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which allows others to share this work under condition that its author and first publishing in this journal was acknowledged.
  2. Authors may enter into other agreements for non-exclusive dissemination of work in the version in which it was published in the journal (for example, publishing it in a book), but they have to acknowledge its first publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are allowed and encouraged to make their work available online (for example, on their personal websites, social media accounts, and institutional repositories) as such a practice may lead to productive exchanges of views as well as earlier and higher citations of published work.

There are no author fees, no article processing charges, or submission charges.

The journal allows readers to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of its articles and allows readers to use them for any other lawful purpose.

A summary of the open access policy is also available in the Sherpa Romeo database.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.