On the Subject of Citizenship : Late Colonialism in the World Today

"This volume brings together reflections on citizenship, political violence, race, ethnicity and gender, by some of the most critical voices of our times. Detailed and wide-ranging individual reflections, take the writings of prominent Ugandan political theorist Mahmood Mamdani as a touchstone for thinking about the world from Africa. Contributors apply this theory to argue that we cannot make sense of the political contentions of difference, identity and citizenship today without understanding the legacies of colonial rule on our world. Chapters examine the persistence of the past, and how we must reckon with its tragedies, its injustices, and its utopias in order to chart a new politics; the politics of possible futures that are more inclusive and more egalitarian, and that can think of difference in more equitable ways. In a time when the call to decolonize knowledge, and politics rings loud and clear, this is both a timely and a crucial intervention"-- Provided by publisher Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Contributors Introduction: On the Subject of Citizenship—Theorizing Postcolonial Predicaments with Mahmood Mamdani Chapter 1: Decolonizing the World: On Mamdani’s Thought Chapter 2: Of Citizen(s) and Subject(s): Mamdani on Research, Methods, and Commitments in Postcolonial Africa Chapter 3: Thinking with Citizen and Subject Chapter 4: Beyond the Custom/Market Dichotomy: Women’s Rights to Land and the Challenge of the Commons Chapter 5: Empire in the Era of DIY Colonialism: Barbarism or Slavery in the (Post)Colonial Context? Chapter 6: The Contemporary Challenge of Citizenship in Ethiopia and the Role of Empire in the Making of Subject Populations Chapter 7: Political Identity and Postcolonial Democracy Chapter 8: Colonial Legacies of Ethnicized Violence, Gendered Subjectivity, and Feminist Emancipatory Politics Chapter 9: The Bifurcated Society: Citizen and Subject in Contemporary South Africa Chapter 10: Predicaments of the Colonized: Being Coloured, Indian, and Free after Apartheid Chapter 11: The Legacy of Bandung Chapter 12: Looking Back, Looking Forward Index "The volume brings together reflections on citizenship, political violence, race, ethnicity and gender, by some of the most critical voices of our times. Through its detailed and wide-ranging individual reflections, which take the writings of prominent Ugandan political theorist Mahmood Mamdani as a touchstone for thinking the world from Africa, it argues that we cannot make sense of the political contentions of difference, identity and citizenship today, without understanding the legacies of colonial rule on our world. If anything, it is a book about the persistence of the past. And about how we have to reckon with that past-both its tragedies, its injustices, and its utopias-- in order to chart a new politics; the politics of possible futures that are more inclusive and more egalitarian, and that can think of difference in more equitable ways. In a time when the call to decolonize knowledge, and to decolonize politics rings like a clarion call, this is both a timely and a significant intervention."-- Provided by publisher