What is a colonial gaze?

Answer 1

Colonial gaze is the colonizers way of looking at colonized. It has negative connotation because colonizers have never seen any good in the colonized people and always calling then stupid and savage. It was an attempt to inculcate inferiority complex in the colonized so that they will not cause any problem and let the colonizers rule on their land.

Answer 2

Most often referring to how westerners view or have viewed non-Western cultures, and encompassing a sense of superiority and entitlement. The "colonial gaze" is often evident in period photographs (from the 19th and early 20th centuries) and with tourist images, including contemporary ones. The concept is based on the fact that images cannot be objective--any photograph contains evidence of the culture and personal history of its maker. "Colonial gaze" may also have a sexual connotation, referring to the objectification of women, particularly by westerners in colonial or post-colonial environments.