Digital Object Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.32
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0745-769XColonialism and Imperialism, two terminologies that although closely related, are not identical forms of domination. These terms involve the control of one group of people by another, yet their historical validation and connotations differ considerably (Kohn and Reddy “Colonialism,” sec. 1). Colonialism commonly refers to the movement of settlers into a foreign territory where they establish durable communities while remaining politically tied to the metropolitan power. Imperialism, by contrast, describes a broader structure of command through which one state exercises authority over another, whether by direct rule, settlement, economic pressure, or indirect political influence. This paper examines the relationship between colonialism, Imperialism, and the condition of postcoloniality by tracing the terminologies through which domination has been defended, normalised, and even critically challenged and debated. It argues that colonial power cannot be reduced to mere military conquests or economic exploitation. The idea of an empire stamps its authority through language most notably through claims of civilisation, progress, rationality, improvement, and empirical knowledge. Such ideas make domination appear natural, necessary, or even beneficial, while obscuring the subtext of violence and dispossession through which colonial rule thrives. The paper first clarifies the distinction between colonialism and Imperialism, while acknowledging their historical entanglement. It then considers how imperial authority persists beyond the end of formal rule, particularly through the organisation of knowledge, historical time, and cultural value. By treating colonialism as both a political practice and a system of meaning, the paper shows that postcolonial critique addresses not only the inherited institutions and economic inequalities but also lay bare the deeper assumptions that continue to shape what counts as reason, development, and civilisation.
Islam, Abdul Mubid. “Colonial/Postcolonial: Re-contesting the Imperial Baggage and A Critical Study of the Rhetoric of Domination and Control.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 5, Oct. 2026, pp. 567-92, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.32.
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by the Research Centre for English Language and Literature (RCELL) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
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