Post-colonialism (also known as post-colonial theory, or post-oriental theory) refers to a set of theories in Continental philosophy and Literature that grapple with the legacy of 19th century British and French colonial rule. As a Literary theory or critical approach it deals with literature produced in countries that were once, or are now, colonies of other countries. It may also deal with literature written in or by citizens of colonizing countries that takes colonies or their peoples as its subject matter. Postcolonial theory became part of the critical toolbox in the 1970s, and many practitioners credit Edward Said's book Orientalism as theory's founding work.
Post-colonialism deals with many issues for societies that have undergone colonialism: the dilemmas of developing a national identity in the wake of colonial rule; the ways in which writers from colonized countries attempt to articulate and even celebrate their cultural identities and reclaim them from the colonizers; the ways knowledge of colonized people have served the interests of colonizers, and how knowledge of subordinate people is produced and used; and the ways in which the literature of the colonial powers is used to justify colonialism through the perpetuation of images of the colonized as inferior.
Attempts at coming up with a single definition of postcolonial theory have proved controversial, and some writers have strongly critiqued the whole concept. More controversial trends, like "hybridity postcolonialism" (Homi Bhabha) and "liberal postcolonialism" (Duncan Ivison), are probably reactions to the communitarian history of postcolonialism, which was and still is embedded in Identity politics. The study of the post-colonial has gained popularity in recent years, particularly Postcolonial feminism.