Post Colonialism and a Taco Ad

Post-Colonialism is the study of the process of “othering” that occurs between the colonizer (Britain) and “The Other.” It plays on hegemonic ideas that make the colonized believe that they are inferior. The focus is on the ideological method of colonizing. Post-colonialism is also concerned with how a country deals with establishing its identity in the aftermath of a colonizers occupation of that country. It is concerned with how that country develops and presents that identity. Edward Said is credited as Post-Colonialism's founder and become known so with the publication of his book Orientalism which was published in 1970, which remains to be one of the most prominent post-colonial texts, even today. 

When looking at Rosenblatt’s deconstruction of the take out menu from Burrito Bandito the viewer can see Post-Colonialism extremely present throughout the entire reading. While Post-Colonialism is never directly named, it does state; “The menu is ostensibly about…cultural studies of empiricism and the struggle for decolonization…the knowing participation of the bourgeois, hierarchical assumption in the exploitation of the Third World.” which leads the reader to think directly of Post-Colonialism as a source for this type of comment. Looking at the process of “othering” that occurs between, in this case, us and Latin American’s. Mexican’s are presented as the exotic other through the commercialization of the “Mexican experience” which is sold to American’s as “exotic.”