Preservation as Resistance: A Postcolonial Poetic Response to Neo-Imperialism and Data-Colonialism

 

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Preservation as Resistance: A Postcolonial Poetic Response to Neo-Imperialism and Data-Colonialism

Farheen Bhuiyan Nancy
Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the poem "Preservation" as a lyrical manifesto of cultural resilience in the face of globalizing forces such as neo-imperialism and data-colonialism. Drawing upon postcolonial theory, memory studies, and critical digital scholarship, the poem redefines cultural preservation as an active mode of resistance rather than conservative nostalgia. Through metaphors of uprootedness and rootedness, the speaker articulates an intergenerational, collective identity that challenges imposed erasures and algorithmic containment.

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Introduction

The 21st-century landscape of empire has evolved beyond physical occupation into the realms of information extraction and epistemic domination. In this context, Farheen Bhuiyan Nancy’s poem “Preservation” becomes a potent site of critique. The poet reclaims the act of preservation—not as resistance to change, but as a counterforce to selective amnesia and forced homogenization under globalization. This paper interprets the poem through the lens of postcolonial resistance, collective memory, and data-colonialism, situating it within a lineage of decolonial thought and poetic activism.

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Preservation vs. Conservatism: Reclaiming the Narrative

The poem opens with a challenge: “You say conservatism, / I am saying preservation.” Here, the speaker disassociates herself from regressive politics, instead framing preservation as a political and spiritual imperative. While conservatism often implies resistance to progress, preservation in this context is reimagined as an intentional resistance to cultural erasure.

This distinction echoes the work of Edward Said (1994), who viewed culture not as a fixed inheritance but as a dynamic field where resistance to imperial power is staged. The poet affirms that cultural rituals, language, and memory are not to be discarded in favor of hypermodern globality, but rather held, transmitted, and embodied.

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Uprootedness as a Violent Process

The poet identifies uprootedness not as a natural process but as an imposed one:

“The very own essence of me is uprooted / With an axe called 'Neo-Imperialism' and 'Data-Colonialism'.”

Here, the use of the word axe is key—it signifies not decay but active destruction. Neo-imperialism manifests as cultural subjugation through economic, linguistic, and military pressures, while data-colonialism (Couldry & Mejias, 2019) represents the newer phase of control, where personal and collective identities are harvested, mapped, and flattened by global tech infrastructures.

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Globality and the Loss of the Local

The line “I am not local but global” reflects a complex ambivalence. It is not a celebration of borderless identity, but a lament for the dissolution of rooted selves. As Arjun Appadurai (1996) notes, globalization produces disjunctures that affect identity and belonging. Nancy’s speaker is aware that global affairs infiltrate her local being—blurring boundaries between “me” and “us,” the individual and the collective.

This consciousness gives rise to what Maurice Halbwachs (1992) calls collective memory—the “haunting” that binds the self to a communal past, ensuring cultural continuity in the face of rupture.

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Resistance through Embodied Cultural Continuity

In the latter half of the poem, the tone shifts from lament to assertion:

“You cannot uproot me—so easily!
You cannot uproot my culture and the thought tree that has branches all over!”

This declaration recalls Frantz Fanon’s (1963) argument that decolonization is not merely political but existential—a reclaiming of the body, the voice, the cultural script. Nancy’s metaphor of the “thought tree” suggests that ideas, like roots, spread and regenerate, creating rhizomatic resistance across time and space.

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Preservation as Poetic Praxis

In the poem’s closing, the speaker claims preservation not as passive retention but as resilience:

“My preservation is the resilience I show toward the process of selective uprootedness and dramatic deviation that you throw upon us!”

Here, the act of preservation becomes a praxis—a politically charged poetics grounded in defiance, dignity, and endurance. Drawing from Gloria Anzaldúa’s (1987) work on the borderlands, Nancy’s poetic voice operates at the threshold of erasure and assertion, writing from the fissures of hybrid identities.

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Conclusion

“Preservation” is more than a personal poem—it is a decolonial declaration. In naming, resisting, and redefining the forces of uprootedness, the poet preserves not only her heritage but also the philosophical space for plural, resistant subjectivities in a post-truth, post-colonial, digitally surveilled world. In doing so, Nancy joins a lineage of thinkers and poets who refuse to forget—and who teach us that memory is not merely what we retain, but what we fight to keep alive.

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References

• Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza.

• Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization.

• Couldry, N., & Mejias, U. A. (2019). The Costs of Connection: How Data Is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism.

• Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of the Earth.

• Halbwachs, M. (1992). On Collective Memory.

• Said, E. (1994). Culture and Imperialism.

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