Key Issues/Debates with Post Colonialism (Neo Colonialism)

A key issue and debate for Post Colonialism is the fact that Colonialism hasn’t completely disappeared from society. The term is called neo-colonialism. A term often applied to the economic situation of many former colonies after political independence has been secured. A policy whereby a major power uses economic and political means to perpetuate or extend its influence over underdeveloped nations or areas. Neo-colonialist interpretations of economic development in the Third World suggest that, as a budget-saving and humanitarian act, political decolonization nevertheless left in-tact the West's monopolistic control over the production and marketing of goods in the former colonies. By using international law, corporate property rights, and the power of major commercial banks the former colonial powers could retain economic influence and control over their former dependent territories.

In sports this is apparent through the people who own the institutions tend to be white upper-class men. They control everything and if you notice there tends to be a lot of actual athletes who are ethnic minorities. Neo-colonialist theorists argue that these athletes are used to bring money from where they are from. A prime example of this is Ji Sung Park, the Manchester united midfielder who sells a lot of shirts in the Far East. While the fact remains he hardly plays, it can be used as an example of how Colonialism still exists to serve the interests of the upper class so that they make money.

Kwame Nkrumah argues that Neo-Colonialism is the Last Stage of imperialism. Marxists are the ones who argue that Post Colonialism hasn't completely gone from society and it's made to seem gone but in reality it's still present. This is study is important in my study because it looks at if there is a distinction and with this theory it argues that white people still own ethnic minorities is society to a small extent, the extent that managers are white people and chairmen’s are as well.

Post Colonialism

Post colonialism is the thoery in which it looks at the effects and aftermath of a new globalised society after the Colonialism era where everyone is supposedly equal.

Edward coined the term, Orientalism, describing the binary between the Orient and the Occident. This binary, also referred to as the East/West binary, is key in postcolonial theory. Said argued that the Occident could not exist without the Orient, and vice versa. In other words, they are mutually constitutive. Notably, the concept of the East i.e. the Orient was created by the West, suppressing the ability of the Orient to express themselves. Western depictions of the Orient construct an inferior world, a place of backwardness, irrationality, and wildness. This allowed the ‘West’ to identify themselves as the opposite of these characteristics; as a superior world that was progressive, rational, and civil. The West’s claim to knowledge of the East gave the West the power to name, and the power to control. This concept is essential to understanding of colonialism, and therefore recognising postcolonialism.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's main contribution to Postcolonial theory came with her specific definition of the term subaltern. Spivak also introduced terms such as 'essentialism', 'strategic essentialism'. The former term refers to the dangers of reviving subaltern (when you're out of the heirachy in society) voices in ways that might simplify lower groups, creating stereotyped impressions of their diverse group. Spivak however believes that essentialism can sometimes be used strategically by these groups to make it easier for the subaltern to be heard and understood when a clear identity can be created and accepted by the majority. Spivak also created the term 'epistemic violence' which refers to the destruction of non-western ways of knowing and thereby the domination of western ways of understanding. This concept relates to Spivak's "Subaltern must always be caught in translation, never truly expressing herself" because of the destruction and marginalization of her way of understanding.

Frantz Fanon is one of the earliest writers associated with postcolonialism. Fanon analyzed the nature of colonialism and those subjugated by it. He describes colonialism as a source of violence rather than reacting violently against resistors which had been the common view. His portrayal of the systematic relationship between colonialism and its attempts to deny "all attributes of humanity" to those it suppressed laid the groundwork for related critiques of colonial and postcolonial systems.

Post colonialism fits in with my study because it looks at why and how ethnic minorities in sport have come a long way in British society.

To what extent is there a distinction between the representation of ethnic minorities and the majority of atheletes in sports media today?

Media Language: Media Language is important in my study because if I'm to look at the distinction between ethnic minorities and everyone else in sports media then I'm going to have to use my media language to look beneath the surface as the distinction won't be so obvious.

Institution: Will institution affect this? As most people who run the sport institution tend to be upper class, white men then it is very significant to the study. There are key arguments; Mc Quail argues that the upper class uses ethnic minorities to attract teenagers and other ethnic minorities to the sport; Social-cultural theory.

Genre: The genre will be sports, this is because it's interesting to see that while ethnic minorities do play a key role in sports, it's the white upper-class men that own or control them; e.g. nearly all football managers are white, the upper class are usually the chairmen of their sport etc.

Representation: The representation of ethnic minorities are somewhat positive, on one hand they appear to be dominant in sport; there are a lot of ethnic minorities who are footballers, athletes, tennis players, boxers etc. However on the other hand these ethnic minorities are not the ones in power; it's the upper class white men who are; so while we do live in a post-colonialism world, there are some hints of colonialism left.

Audience: The audiences involved tend to be everyone, this links in with Mc Quail who argues that using ethnic minorities is to bring people to watch it, in our globalized world.

Ideologies: The ideology of ethnic minorities in sport is that everyone is equal; we are living in a post-colonialist world. That is why there has to be some ethnic minorities in main-stream sport, e.g. In tennis, football, cricket there has to be as it attracts the mainstream however hunting doesn't as it's mainly for the upper class.

Narrative: In sports there are narratives involving ethnic minorities, there could be something such as the owners supporting a charity in Africa or it could be negative, e.g. in football Didier Drogba swore at the camera after his team lost, there was uproar throughout the country but he then was fined by UEFA and equilibrium was restored.


Social: The social issues with this are the fact that most ethnic minorities in sport still aren't the poster boys; in sports most athletes who are shown are still white. While there is a significant change in the amount of ethnic minorities in sport today, they hardly occupy the important roles.


Historical: The historical issues with this are Colonialism still exists to a certain extent. It's not a huge extent as there are ethnic minorities who play a huge role in sports but also the fact that they are owned by the upper class connotes that it does.

Ethical: While a reason why there are ethnic minorities who have significant roles is due to ethical issues, the fact remains that they are second best to the owners.

Political: The political issues are the fact that ethnic minorities being used a lot in sports could be linked in with Britain looking to be seen as good. A diverse Britain which will make Britain look attractive for foreign interests and more money for the upper classes.

This study fits into the contemporary media landscape because it looks at the effect of post-colonialism and also if colonialism is really gone from society.

Post-colonialism Summary

Post-colonialism is a post-modernist thoery in which it looks at the cultural impact of Colonialism on media texts. Looks at condition in which former colonies find themselves as they struggle towards a national and ethinic indentity in the face of their colonial cultural legacy and the continuing dominance of Western media and cultural imperialism. Colonialism is the power of the big guns in Europe and how they controlled other nations during the 16th century-20th. Legacy lives on through the form of cultural imperialism.

12 key words:

Cultual Imperialism
National and Ethnic identity
Cultural Legacy
Ayubi
Retamar
Dominance
Post-mondernist
Cultural Impact
Independence
Nkrumah
Baylis
National Identity

Red Herrings:

Smakrygchy
Social Solidarity
Borges
Shared Values
Charles Olson

Media effects; effects theory: an audience theory that tends to see the audience as passive and seeks to measure how exposure to particular aspects of media content can influence the behavior of the reader or viewer.

Reality TV: Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors.

How the Participants Are Chosen for Television Reality Shows

Television reality series such as Survivor, Amazing Race, Real World, and Rock of Love, are created to attract the most viewers possible. Beginning with the casting call, thousands of applicants are screened by professionals. The few chosen to be on the shows are picked because of their attractiveness to the audience, and their ability to create conflict. This ensures a dramatic and conflict riddled season.

How the Reality Shows Are Filmed and Edited

The appearance in Survivor is that the participants are alone in a secluded wilderness. It seems that there is no one nearby to help them, and they are truly alone in the world. But are they? They are surrounded by the crews working on the series.

The participants on Survivor regularly have lone interviews where they reminisce about their experiences. While the dialogue they present is not scripted by professional writers, they are prompted with questions and suggestions of what to talk about in these scenes. Then, film material is edited to reflect what they reveal to the audience.

Over the course of about 1000 hours of time on the secluded location, Survivor is edited to give the public about 1% of what actually happened. This is all selected and prepped by professionals whose jobs are to make the show as dramatic as possible.

Adult Perceptions of Reality Shows

Viewers activate what is called in fiction, “suspension of disbelief,” and immerse themselves in the action as it develops. This “suspension of disbelief” causes them to forget that the participants are surrounded by camera crew, sound crew, setting technicians, and directors.

Adult perceptions of reality are also based on what could have happened. If the scenario is plausible, and if it follows through to a logical consequence, then many adults will consider it reality. This perception sometimes even carries over into fiction.

Fiction Confused With Reality

As an example, during the television run of the comedy show Gilligan’s Island, where seven castaways were shipwrecked on a small island, many people began worrying about the fictional characters. Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of the series, stated in a 1984 Parent’s Choice article that the Coast Guard received telegrams stating that someone should be sent to help the castaways.

In a 2009 SuperBowl commercial, the mascot for Jack in the Box was hit by a bus and seriously injured. According to workers at the fast food franchise, many people called in concern for his welfare. Some were joking, but seemingly, some were not.

As reality shows continue in their popularity, it’s important to remember that what is billed as reality, may not necessarily be so. Even though they are based on kernels of real events, they are still created for a target audience, they send a message, and they are constructed and edited by media professionals to create the most commercially viable product possible. Let the viewer beware.

The critical investigation that I chose from the 4 I had left was "the dominant/patriarchal behaviour of men". This is a key issue in the media as most institutions etc are owned by men. The actual media product for this was looking at representations of men in music videos. This is an industry that is male dominated.

Anchor/Anchorage: a key element that fixes meaning of an image and directs the viewer toward a preferred reading. This is important as some anchors can affect this.

deconstruction - the process of taking a text apart to explore and analyse its component elements

post-feminism - takes the achievements of feminism for granted and views it as ineffective in explaining the current condition of women and the identity choices they face.

objectivity - a presentation of a media text from an unbiased or objective standpoint, without institutional bias

new man: new type of masculinity where men are more feminine.