New clues on post-colonialism
by Michèle Nardelli
Professor Pal Ahluwalia’s latest research feeds his passion for understanding not only Africa but the post-colonial experience itself.
He is exploring just how knowledge about sub-Saharan Africa is constructed, who has theorised about these cultures and how their views have been influenced by their own experience as members of a post-colonial society.
Pal Ahluwalia joined UniSA and the Hawke Research Institute as Chair and Professor of Post-Colonial Studies this year but will spend part of the academic year at the University of California, San Diego in the ethnic studies department.
"Some people might consider the stretch across two countries and two universities a bit mad but it also adds enormous scope to my research," he said.
And while the research can be dense and complex, it is helping to make sense of the sociological and political developments in our modern and often troubled world.
He says post-colonial understandings and interpretations of society and history are a part of most modern experiences.
When the dominant knowledge, and therefore view, of a people, a place and a history are essentially western, anthropological and post-colonial – how do you discover a new perspective?
Is there such a thing as pre-colonial knowledge? And how much have modern thinkers – the postmodernists and poststructuralists - themselves been operating in a post-colonial intellectual framework?
These are tricky questions but they also inhabit powerful territory.
"Post-colonial studies go hand in hand with understanding how we construct ideas about race and nationhood," Prof Ahluwalia said. "It helps us to understand the rise and fall of racism in different parts of the world, why in some instances rebellions are considered a fight for freedom and in others, acts of terrorism.
"It also allows us to evaluate these developments within the political and social landscape."
Prof Ahluwalia said Australian history offers some particularly interesting perspectives.
"We are a nation established, and for a long time regarded, as a colony of Britain and at the same time we have grown and developed as a country exerting colonial style influence over our own Indigenous communities and those within our region such as Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Timor," he said.
"It is a fascinating mix and an interesting exercise to look at our national character through the dual lens of the colonised and the coloniser. We find it has often had us deploying double standards in our foreign policy. Racism has also been part and parcel of colonialism – because the practice of taking over a country or a people is made easier if those people can be portrayed as inferior or dependent. The infamous White Australia Policy may be off the books but modern statements about who decides who comes into Australia suggest the desire to control immigration on racial grounds is still not far from the surface."
Prof Ahluwalia says post-colonial societies are by definition operating in the aftermath of the "takeover".
"Issues such as race, tensions between dominant and submissive culture, history and historical narratives, and national identity will continue to be influenced by colonisation for generations. There is no way back to a pre-colonial perspective."
In June and July this year, Prof Ahluwalia will lead a master class at UniSA to examine transnational diasporas. This will draw together senior local and UK scholars to work on a book project.
He will also be working across disciplines within the Division of Education Arts and Social Sciences.
With Associate Professor Rob Hattam and other colleagues, he will be researching reconciliation and religion, analysing in particular the post 9/11 impacts on views of Islam, Christianity and notions of violence and non-violence. He will also collaborate with popular culture and communications specialist, Associate Professor Gerry Bloustien to look at how history is presented in museums and through popular culture.