Defining & redefining the margins : an exploration of the discourse of post-coloniality in the verse of Nicolás Guillén, Pablo Neruda & Ernesto Cardenal

Abstract

History teaches us that the imposition of hegemonic structures of the colonial centre can only be truly effective and complete when the cultural personality of the dominated community has been displaced. Aspects of the original history, language, culture and spirituality are distorted or subverted and gradually replaced by models derived from and determined by the colonial centre. Many strategies are employed by the colonising power to effect this displacement of the originary models of identification and definition. Consequently, given the centrality of culture within the colonial discourse, cultural imperatives assume a similar significance in the post-colonial context.