What is the role of English in postcolonial writing?

I think
that one can find the role of English to operate as both an act of oppression and an act of
resistance in Postcolonial writing.  For many Postcolonial writers, English was the
"oppressor's tongue."  British imperialism meant that indigenous languages were out
and English was in.  Schools popped up where "the natives" were taught how to speak
and, essentially, "be English."  English was the language that many Postcolonial
writers learned in school, many times at the expense of their own indigenous language.

This is where English's role is complex in Postcolonial literature.  On one hand, it is
the language of the oppressor, coming at the cost of one's own original language.  At the same
time, it is the way in which voice is activated.  To tell a Postcolonial writer who was raised
with learning English that they need to go back and write solely in "their own
language" acts as another form of silencing voice.  Therefore, these writers use English as
a way to deconstruct the English.  In other words, the language operates as
both representative of oppression and the resistance against it.  This shows English to be a
complex entity in Postcolonial writing.