Postcolonial literatures should not claim equality by emulating Western aesthetic standards.

Evidence

I think it is a mistake to try to show that the ‘other’ literatures of Africa and Asia, with their more obviously worldly affiliation co power and politics, can be studied respectably, that is, as if they were in actuality as high, as autonomous, as aesthetically independent and satisfying as French, German or English literatures. The notion of black skin in a white mask is no more serviceable and dignified in literary study than it is in politics. Emulation and mimicry never get one very far. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 914

Categorization

• XREF: Directly bears on strategic essentialism: Ahmad’s sharpest target is the demand that other literatures be ‘studied respectably’ — i.e., mimetic inclusion within a universal aesthetic — which parallels the strategic-essentialist move of claiming a seat while refusing the frame. — connects to: Emulation and mimicry cannot make non-Western literatures respectable — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 914; Counter-narratives to Western superiority lack equal cultural exposure.; The novel’s Western values are not a universal pure flowering of Enlightenment culture — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 49 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Emulation and mimicry cannot make non-Western literatures respectable #corroborates (0.95) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 914
• The novel’s Western values are not a universal pure flowering of Enlightenment culture #corroborates (0.80) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 49
• Counter-narratives to Western superiority lack equal cultural exposure. #complicates (0.75)
• Color aesthetics are culturally coded, not universally fixed #exemplifies (0.72)