Post-colonialism
- after British had left colonies (after their formal rule over colonies had come to an end)
- withdraw of British often resulted in problems for ex-colonies (difficulties in setting up functioning government)
Commonwealth
- group of 53 states
- aims at racial equality + national sovereignty
History
-beginning of 17th century British startet to expand its empire across globe
-most British colonies became independent from Britain
-while British ruled colonies, culture, values, traditions, language were regarded as superior
>caused feeling of displacement + rootlessness
>rebellion against European colonisation
-after independence: difficult task of recreating own identity, bridging gap between country’s native traditions + values + British ones
-1st immigrants were welcome as workers were needed (WW)
>then faced unemployment because of economic crisis
-post-colonial writing deals w/ issue of being caught between 2 cultures or trying to find one’s identity
India + Pakistan
-partition of Indian Empire led to riots, mass migration
-feared persecution because of religion, million people homeless, killed
-India + Pakistan quarreled over Jammu + Kashmir
>both claim there areas
-Pakistani Position: should join Pakistan, as majority is Muslim
-Indian Position: rightfully belong to India because Maharaja joined India
Women
- Constitution of India guarantees equal rights for both men + women
- traditional views + customs lead to discrimination + harassment (child marriage)
- rape, acid throwing, murder, suicide
Economy
1 of largest economy in world
- 30% population lived below poverty line of 1$ day
- main drive of economic growth: service sector (information technology, financial services)
- pollution of air + water
Politics
- Republic of India world’s largest democracy
- based on British system (parliamentary form of government has lower + upper house
