Colonialist Criticism by Chinua Achebe

The essay 'Colonialist Criticism' is an attack on a lingering colonialism in the criticism of African literature by non-Africans. The African writer writes the text or 'produces literature, and their literature goes to Europeans for analysis. Every African literature has to get through the grids of European writers. They have to meet the criteria said by the European writer, African writers wrote the text for the African people but European people analyzed it. It means they are the jury's bench, or they judge the text. [One question raised How do they judge] while judging, they always keep on the concept that is big brother consciousness. They always make the binaries. These binaries are like white and black or European or African. They think that Europeans are superior and big brothers, whereas Africans are inferior and small brothers. Europeans are a teacher and Africans are learners. Therefore, Europeans are at the center and Africans are at the margin. Therefore Africans have to learn many more things from the Europeans. They tend to feel the burden of teaching the Africans. Therefore, Europeans feel that they know more about African literature, art, and culture than Africans themselves. Achebe sees the faults of colonialist criticism in the assumption that the African writer is "Somewhat unfinished European and that somehow outsiders can know Africa better than the native writers. Achebe opposes European colonial prejudice, the habit of ruling and discriminating against others and comparing African people to their literature, art, culture, etc. He argues that African literature should not be judged with canonical literature since it has its own particularity and peculiarity. The mask of European civilization does not know the history of African people. So Achebe's claim is that blacks (colonized) should write their own history neglecting what has been already universalized. He argues that "If the text is judged from a European perspective a text doesn't get the right evaluation and the essence of the text is killed."