Why does post-colonial scholar Homi Bhaba argue that colonial discourse was ambivalent about the colonised?

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Portrayal of the colonised errs towards either a passive and conquerable subject or an irrational, untamed barbarian. This means that the colonial subject becomes consistently stereotyped. Bhabha calls colonial discourse ambivalent because it depicts the colonised inconsistently, as both a supposedly passive subject to be ruled and an irrational, threatening barbarian. These opposing images nevertheless reduce the colonised to colonial stereotypes.

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Scholars did not travel to colonies and therefore could not establish an accurate picture of colonised peoples

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Post-colonial scholars were too focused on the colonising power rather than the colonised peoples

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The colonised did not make enough effort to have their voices heard

Why does post-colonial scholar Homi Bhaba argue that colonial discourse was ambivalent about the colonised?

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