From Rudyard Kipling's Kim to Amitav's Ghosh's In an Antique Land : an investigation into the representation of the 'other' in a colonial text and a postcolonial text

This FYP is an Investigation into the Representation of the ‘Other’ in a colonial Text and a postcolonial Text. It looks at the representation of the ‘Other’ characters in Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, a colonial text, and Amitav Ghosh’s In an Antique Land a postcolonial text. This paper studies the changes in the system of representations since Kipling, and how, or if, they have improved. Kipling’s text will provide us with the colonial perspective, rife with Orientalist stereotypes and caricatures, and a counter poise to Ghosh’s work. As part of the postcolonial movement, there was a shift in the study of Anthropology at the decline of Imperialism, causing the rise of a new type of study called Subaltern Studies, a look at history from below. We will look at how Amitav Ghosh’s novel utilizes this new investigative strategy to counter old epistemologies and Orientalist representations. In an Antique Land is a progressive text using a blending of genres and a change in perspective in an attempt to rupture old modes of understanding. However, its representations remain imperfect. Due to the inescapable existence of individual subjectivities, representations will remain inevitably flawed. It is up to the individual to simply improve them.Bachelor of Art