Decoding The White Savior Complex in Colonial Discourse: A Psychoanalytic and Postcolonial Reading of Rudyard Kipling’s The White Man’s Burden

Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The White Man’s Burden’ has long been recognized as a canonical articulation of imperial ideology. This paper explores the poem through the dual lenses of postcolonial and psychoanalytical theory to uncover the psychological motivations and ideological strategies that underpin the White Savior Complex. By analyzing the poem’s rhetoric, imagery, and historical context, the study reveals how Kipling’s work legitimizes colonial domination as a moral obligation while suppressing the violence inherent in imperialism.