"Post" in Post-Colonialism: A Re-Introduction by Sayan Dey

The theoretical phenomenon of postcolonialism is not new. Since the first half of the 20th century, across different spatial and temporal moments the notion of postcolonialism has been theoretically celebrated and appreciated from various dimensions. But, when the theory of postcolonialism is applied in the praxis, several epistemological and ontological gaps come to the forefront. One of them is the validity of the prefix "Post" in the term "Postcolonialism". Socio-historically, does 'post'-colonialism means after colonial colonialism or a continuity of physical colonialism into metaphysical colonialism/neo-colonialism/coloniality?
The validity of this question increases more when we look into the neo-imperialistic activities that take place across the globe today - military strategies of US and China, commercial invasions of African countries by Europe, racism in India, etc. Keeping this argument at the backdrop, this lecture will be divided into three parts: The first part will engage with a general introduction of the topic and in the process of general introduction, I will talk about the various reasons behind revisiting and interrogating the term 'post' in the word 'postcolonialism'. In the second part, I will connect the theoretical introduction of my talk with respect to certain components in the syllabus. For instance, Bapsi Sidhwa's "Ice-Candy Man" and Achille Mbembe's "What is Postcolonial Thinking". The third section, will theoretically propose some possible ways of re-reading and re-understanding postcolonialism from a multidimensional, decolonial and practical perspective.