Narratives of Inequality: Postcolonial Literary Economics (New Comparisons in World Literature)

This book reveals the economic motivations underpinning colonial, neocolonial and neoliberal eras of global capitalism that are represented in critiques of inequality in postcolonial fiction. Today’s economic inequality, suffered disproportionately by indigenous and minority groups of postcolonial societies in both developed and developing countries, is a direct outcome of the colonial-era imposition of capitalist structures and practices. The __longue durée__, world-systems approach in this study reveals repeating patterns and trends in the mechanics of capitalism that create and maintain inequality. As well as this, it reveals the social and cultural beliefs and practices that justify and support inequality, yet equally which resist and condemn it.Through analysis of narrative representations of wealth accumulation and ownership, structures of internal inequality between the rich and the poor within cultural communities, and the psychology of capitalism that engenders particular emotions and behaviour, this study brings postcolonial literary economics to the neoliberal debate, arguing for the important contribution of the imaginary to the pressing issue of economic inequality and its solutions. This book reveals the economic motivations underpinning colonial, neocolonial and neoliberal eras of global capitalism that are represented in critiques of inequality in postcolonial fiction. Today’s economic inequality, suffered disproportionately by indigenous and minority groups of postcolonial societies in both developed and developing countries, is a direct outcome of the colonial-era imposition of capitalist structures and practices. The longue durée , world-systems approach in this study reveals repeating patterns and trends in the mechanics of capitalism that create and maintain inequality. As well as this, it reveals the social and cultural beliefs and practices that justify and support inequality, yet equally which resist and condemn it. Through analysis of narrative representations of wealth accumulation and ownership, structures of internal inequality between the rich and the poor within cultural communities, and the psychology of capitalism that engenders particular emotions and behaviour, this study brings postcolonial literary economics to the neoliberal debate, arguing for the important contribution of the imaginary to the pressing issue of economic inequality and its solutions. This book reveals the economic motivations underpinning colonial, neocolonial and neoliberal eras of global capitalism that are represented in critiques of inequality in postcolonial fiction. Today's economic inequality, suffered disproportionately by indigenous and minority groups of postcolonial societies in both developed and developing countries, is a direct outcome of the colonial-era imposition of capitalist structures and practices. The longue dur ee, world-systems approach in this study reveals repeating patterns and trends in the mechanics of capitalism that create and maintain inequality. As well as this, it reveals the social and cultural beliefs and practices that justify and support inequality, yet equally which resist and condemn it. Through analysis of narrative representations of wealth accumulation and ownership, structures of internal inequality between the rich and the poor within cultural communities, and the psychology of capitalism that engenders particular emotions and behaviour, this study brings postcolonial literary economics to the neoliberal debate, arguing for the important contribution of the imaginary to the pressing issue of economic inequality and its solutions Narratives of Inequality 4 Acknowledgements 7 Contents 9 Chapter 1 Introduction 10 Postcolonial Economic Criticism 10 Empire and Capitalism 30 Works Cited 40 Chapter 2 Colonial Capitalism 44 The Irruption of Capitalism 44 Capitalism in Settler Colonies 68 Racism as Capitalist Ideology 88 Works Cited 103 Chapter 3 Neocolonialism 108 Neocolonial Independence 108 Internal Inequality and the Neocolonial 1% 133 Satire as Response to Capitalism’s Contradictions 148 Works Cited 159 Chapter 4 Global Neoliberalism 164 The Neoliberal City 164 The Economics of Lack 187 Emotional and Behavioural Responses to Inequality 202 Works Cited 216 Chapter 5 Conclusion 220 Works Cited 228 Index 229 Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction (Melissa Kennedy)....Pages 1-34 Colonial Capitalism (Melissa Kennedy)....Pages 35-98 Neocolonialism (Melissa Kennedy)....Pages 99-154 Global Neoliberalism (Melissa Kennedy)....Pages 155-210 Conclusion (Melissa Kennedy)....Pages 211-219 Back Matter ....Pages 221-229