Postcolonial Culture on Dependent Islands

This article first considers the significance of historical experience in academic studies, including postcolonial studies, concluding with Jane M. Jacobs that “the structures of power that gave rise to empire live on in a more disorganised fashion.” They live on in an organized way, too, in that many islands remain in a colonial relationship, being simultaneously colonial and postcolonial, although having tended “to slip the net of postcolonial theorising.” The article attempts to help fill this gap, especially through consideration of Brian Rourke’s ideas on cultural imposition applied to dependent islands and through investigation of why some islands have not progressed to independence. Case study detail is presented, especially for Bermuda and the Falkland Islands.