Szczególne skupienie na konsekwencjach kolonializmu, czyli to, co autorka nazywa uważnością postkolonialną, jest potrzebne ze względu na znaczenie i aktualność tej spuścizny w otaczającej nas rzeczywistości. Literatura postkolonialna ma w tym kontekście za zadanie zapisywać ślady kultur ginących lub już utraconych na skutek działań kolonizatorów. Autorka omawia przykłady tekstów literackich spełniających tę funkcję poprzez różne formy narracji i obrazowania. Przybliżenie sposobu życia Indian Chippewa, zanim zamknięto ich w rezerwatach, znajdujemy w narracji Nanapusha skierowanej do jego wnuczki, która znalazła się w powieści Tracks Louise Erdrich. W tekście kameruńskiej pisarki Leonory Miano La saison de l’ombre możemy „odsłuchać” głosy rejestrujące doświadczenie porwania w niewolnictwo oraz przewiezienia na inny kontynent. Richard Flanagan przywołuje traumatyczne doświadczenie utraty życia, ziemi, kultury w czasie kolonialnego ludobójstwa na Tasmanii, a jedną z ostatnich relacjonujących te doświadczenia jest dziewczynka aborygeńska, bohaterka powieści Pragnienie.

Lessons in Postcolonial Awareness

Abstract

A special focus on the consequences of colonialism, what the author calls postcolonial awareness, is required because of the importance and timeliness of this legacy in the contemporary world. Postcolonial literature is tasked in this context with recording the traces of cultures either disappearing or already lost due to the actions of colonizing powers. The author discusses examples of literary texts that fulfill this function through various forms of narration and imaging. In the novel Tracks by Louise Erdrich we find an approximation of the way of life of the Chippewas, before they were confined in reserves, in the narrative of Nanapush which is addressed to his granddaughter. In the text of the Cameroonian writer Leonora Miano, La saison de lombre, we can “listen” to voices that record the experience of being abducted and taken into slavery. Richard Flanagan, in turn, recalls the traumatic experience of the loss of life, land, and culture during the colonial genocide in Tasmania, and one of the last testimonies relating to these experiences is that of an Aboriginal girl, one of the heroines of the novel Wanting.

A special focus on the consequences of colonialism, what the author calls postcolonial awareness, is required because of the importance and timeliness of this legacy in the contemporary world. Postcolonial literature is tasked in this context with recording the traces of cultures either disappearing or already lost due to the actions of colonizing powers. The author discusses examples of literary texts that fulfill this function through various forms of narration and imaging. In the novel Tracks by Louise Erdrich we find an approximation of the way of life of the Chippewas, before they were confined in reserves, in the narrative of Nanapush which is addressed to his granddaughter. In the text of the Cameroonian writer Leonora Miano, La saison de lombre, we can “listen” to voices that record the experience of being abducted and taken into slavery. Richard Flanagan, in turn, recalls the traumatic experience of the loss of life, land, and culture during the colonial genocide in Tasmania, and one of the last testimonies relating to these experiences is that of an Aboriginal girl, one of the heroines of the novel Wanting.