Postcolonial Europe

Abstract

It is perhaps paradoxical to speak of Europe, the birthplace of colonialism and Eurocentrism, in terms of a postcolonial condition, and to argue, moreover, that the concept of postcolonialism is best suited to examining and articulating a post-Cold War Europe that is in the process of reexamining and reconfiguring its cultural and political identities. Yet the specific historical events that led to the end of the postwar bipolarism actually provide a lens through which contemporary Europe can be reconceptualized. Understandably, the designation of “postcolonial” in this instance is highly charged and operates simultaneously on different registers. It refers both to a periodizing concept and to a critical approach whose aim is ultimately to question the power structures created and imposed by Western thought. As a historical marker it applies specifically to the process of official decolonization of the former colonies of Western Europe.¹