The Minority Literature and IncredulityTowards Christianity as an Emancipatory Metanarrative

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

Abstract

This paper explores the resisting manner of minor, postcolonial writers against Christianity. Throughout the history, Christianity as an ideological state apparatus, has been attempting to solidify and reproduce dominant colonial discourses in order to instill obedience and create submissive subjects in the colonies. With the appearance of postcolonial era and the subsequent minority discourse, Christian metanarrative gradually lost its “validity” and witnessed an increasing “incredulity” towards its benevolent posture. Writers of minor literature / discourse produced new significations for Christianity. They tried to separate the colonial Christianity from Logos and consequently degenerate it from an emancipatory metanarrative into a political metanarrative through creating deconstructive signifieds for Christianity. The present paper reads minority discourse on Christianity in the light of Lyotardian-Derridian approach and discusses the diverse resisting reactions against it and explores the alternative discourses which appear in the forms of resorting to other metanarratives, coming back to Christianity, and restoring native rites and religions.

Keywords

References

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Research in Contemporary World Literature
Volume 25, Issue 2
March 2021
Pages 382-413

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