Anti-imperialist Poetics involves issues of politics, identity, the self and the Other, and resistance among other topics. However, the amount of research done in this area seems to be not as wide as it may be expected (please correct me if you think otherwise).
So how much freedom do western academics really have in researching such areas that criticize the political history of their own nations? How willing are these researchers into investigating a topic that would present their countries in unfavorable lights? I'm asking from a literary studies view point, having American poetry in mind in particular.
Anti-imperialist poetics has been a hot topic for the past ten years if you include post-colonialist theory as being anti-imperialist. And then in 2020, the black lives matter movement, which spread from the United States to many other places throughout the world, may be viewed as an extension. Post-colonialism pits the imperialist, primarily Anglo European, nations against nations in the African Continent, Asia (including India), and the Caribbean archipelagos. Currently, I am working on a study of the African American and Afro Caribbean poet Derek Walcott, who won the Nobel Award in Poetry in 1992, which was a breakthrough because he is the first black man to win this award. The following year, in 1993, Toni Morrison won the Nobel Award in Literature as the first black woman. Thus there is a shift from anti-imperialist poetics as more black poets and writers are achieving national and world-wide recognition for their work. This is a global movement away from anti-imperialist poetics toward post-colonial recognition. Certainly, the grass roots efforts of militant black panther activist novelists led to the curricular revolution in which standard courses in classical Greek and Roman literature and British literature have in the United States gradually been eclipsed, first by courses in American literature, and more recently, courses in African and African American literature, world literature, feminist theory and literature, and literature in interdisciplinary contexts. Since America is a democratic nation and literature is taught oftentimes in historical contexts, the idea you present of subversion is typically avoided by the objectivity factor. In other words, for example, the Middle Passage is a fact of history and a vast storehouse of slave narratives and other forms of non-fiction and fiction writing are an integral part of American history, culture, and literature, knowledge of which is a matter of scientific fact. Moreover, times have changed and codified laws have been enacted. Moreover, if a black professors teach black poetry, this obviates the notion that they are trying to subvert the contemporary national government and its people. Traditionally, the grievance has been that white professors were teaching courses in black and minority literatures. Admittedly, however, in recent months, I have observed a controversy rising about something with which I am not familiar, which is critical race theory. So I leave it to others who are knowledgeable to discuss this issue.
To add to Nancy Ann Watanabe's comment above: next to postcolonial approaches, decolonial and Indigenous theories and literatures tackle imperialism. There is a whole discussion if settler colonialism should be called settler imperialism, for instance. Poetry by Indigenous writers (also from North America) often tackles ongoing colonialisms, and, if we take Said's definition, imperialism as well.
For many Indigenous writers, literature and theory cannot be divided. Indeed, the "poetics" of texts is understood differently, as texts are seen to speak to contexts.
Dear Nancy Ann Watanabe , this is very enriching, thank you. Doro Wiese thank you very much. Indeed contexts and history shape a reader's reading of a text.
I define an anti-imperialist text as the one that protests a concurrent encroaching of a certain nation. Postcolonialism and anti-imperialism tend to overlap as they share much common theoretical grounds. My understanding of the latter is that it has a simultaneous rather than a post relationship to a certain act of military, cultural, or economic expansion. In post colonialism the time laps between such acts and a protesting pronouncement probably holds more complications as history moves on. However, it would be more daring and risky to an intellectual to oppose the current authority rather than a previous one. Take the poetry of Allen Ginsberg as an example. Nowadays, it does not sound as loud and countercultural as it used to be when it was first published, which could influence the value of his poetry to his readers now and then. How many contemporary poets can we name whose voice is heard and who write anti-imperialist (anti-colonial) poetry?
Doro Wiese you mentioned indigenous literature, how much of it is heard and considered influential?
Dear Muthana Makki Mohammedali, I am really only familiar with Indigenous Literature from the USA and Canada. For this world region, I would definitely say that in the last 50 years, Indigenous authors have gained more and more visibility in the public eye . Not as much as they deserve, but there is definitely a positive development noticable in terms of visibility!
Hello Muthana Makki Mohammedali , in answer to your question "How many contemporary poets can we name whose voice is heard and who write anti-imperialist (anti-colonial) poetry?":
From my recent reading:
Cathy Park Hong (Asian-American), especially *Minor Feelings: A Reckoning on Race and the Asian Condition*. She is primarily a poet, though this is a book of essays.
Emily Sun (Asian- Australian), *Vociferate*. This is a first collection, but very well received in Australia and I believe she has just been picked up by an American publisher.
---
I think an interesting, but related, question about a poetics of anti-imperialism could be asked regarding non-European neo-colonial aggression in the Asia-Pacific region. I am thinking of China is particular and I wonder if there are any Uigher poets writing, perhaps in secret, at present. Who will be the Anna Ahkmatovas of China? In comparison to the repression in that particular nation-state I think poets in the West have relative freedom to express their views re European colonial history.
The digital poetic works Emblem/as (United Estados) and Código de barras/Bar Codes project are good examples.
United Estados: https://proyecto.w3.uvm.edu/emblem/UnitedEstados/UnitedEstados.php
Código de barras/Bar Codes Project:
https://proyecto.w3.uvm.edu/htm_cdb/UnaG.htm
To the discussions above: I think to state clearly anti-imperialist poetics is the development in the literary poetry arena, when America started its expansion strategy during the 19th century. Many wars were common in the name of establishing order, world peace , and curing terrorism in the later years to come i.e, Mexican-American War, Philippine -American War etc. The newspapers at those times allowed a section for poetry for these post colonial writers to vent their frustrations during this so called expansion . If you want to know more you can follow the wars and newspaper poetry at those times.
