Postcolonial Theory : A Critical Introduction

Postcolonial Theory is a ground-breaking critical introduction to the burgeoning field of postcolonial studies.Leela Gandhi is the first to clearly map out this field in terms of its wider philosophical and intellectual context, drawing important connections between postcolonial theory and poststructuralism, postmodernism, marxism and feminism. She assesses the contribution of major theorists such as Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha, and also points to postcolonialism's relationship to earlier thinkers such as Frantz Fanon and Mahatma Gandhi.The book is distinctive in its concern for the specific historical, material and cultural contexts for postcolonial theory, and in its attempt to sketch out the ethical possibilities for postcolonial theory as a model for living with and'knowing'cultural differences non-violently.Postcolonial Theory is a useful starting point for readers new to the field and a provocative account which opens possibilities for debate. Title page......Page 3 Contents......Page 5 Acknowledgments......Page 7 Preface......Page 8 1 After colonialism......Page 11 The colonial aftermath......Page 15 Postcolonial re-membering......Page 19 Gandhi and Fanon: the slaves recovery......Page 27 2 Thinking otherwise: a brief intellectual history......Page 33 What is Enlightenment?......Page 40 Descartes' error......Page 44 Nietzsche's genealogy......Page 47 Provincialising Europe......Page 52 Power, knowledge and the humanities......Page 55 Oppositional criticism and the new humanities......Page 62 The world and the book......Page 64 The postcolonial intellectual......Page 68 Enter Orientalism......Page 74 The Said phenomenon......Page 78 Rethinking colonial discourse......Page 84 5 Postcolonialism and feminism......Page 91 Imperialist feminisms: woman (in)difference......Page 92 Gendered subalterns: the (Other) woman in the attic......Page 98 Conflicting loyalties: brothers v. sisters......Page 103 Between men: rethinking the colonial encounter......Page 108 6 Imagining community: the question of nationalism......Page 112 Good and bad nationalisms......Page 113 Midnight's children: the politics of nationhood......Page 120 A derivative discourse?......Page 123 7 One world: the vision of postnationalism......Page 132 Globalisation, hybridity, diaspora......Page 133 Mutual transformations......Page 139 Postnational utopias: toward an ethics of hybridity......Page 146 8 Postcolonial literatures......Page 151 Textual politics......Page 152 Postcolonial texts, anti-colonial politics......Page 164 The meta-narrative of colonialism......Page 177 The end of colonialism......Page 180 Bibliography......Page 187 Index......Page 199 "Postcolonial Theory is a critical introduction to the burgeoning field of postcolonial studies."--BOOK JACKET. "Leela Gandhi is the first to clearly map out this field in terms of its wider philosophical and intellectual context, drawing important connections between postcolonial theory and poststructuralism, postmodernism, marxism and feminism. She assesses the contribution of major theorists such as Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha, and also points to postcolonialism's relationship to earlier thinkers such as Frantz Fanon and Mahatma Gandhi."--BOOK JACKET Postcolonial Theory is a critical introduction to the burgeoning field of postcolonial studies. Leela Gandhi maps out this field in terms of its wider philosophical and intellectual context, drawing important connections between postcolonial theory and poststructuralism, postmodernism, marxism and feminism. She assesses the contribution of major theorists such as Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha, and also points to postcolonialism's relationship to earlier thinkers such as Frantz Fanon and Mahatma Gandhi