Philosophical Positions & Movements, Colonialism & Imperialism, German Philosophy, Diplomacy & International Relations, Nationalism & Sovereignty

Postcolonial Theory : Contexts, Practices, Politics

Name: Postcolonial Theory : Contexts, Practices, Politics
Author: Bart Moore-Gilbert
ISBN: 9781859840344

by Bart Moore-Gilbert

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Overview

Expositions of the work of Said, Spivak and Bhabha in a much-needed survey ofpostcoloniaI theory. Much controversy has recently come to surround the status and value of postcolonial theory. Postcolonial theory has been challenged on several fronts: on its interdisciplinary competence, on the politics of its institutional location, and on its implicit domination of other kinds of postcolonial analysis, many of which have been established for much longer than postcolonial theory itself. The ensuing debate has often become so heated, even personalised, that the issues at stake have been obscured. In what is the most comprehensive and accessible survey of the field to date, Bart Moore-Gilbert systematically examines the objections that have been raised against postcolonial theory, revealing the simplifications and exaggerations on both sides of the argument. He provides a detailed institutional history of the ways in which the relatiohship between culture and colonialism has been traditionally studied in the west, then traces the emergence of alternative forms of postcolonial analysis of such questions. He carefully presents the complex work of the three principal representatives of postcolonial theory, Gayatri Spivak, Edward Said and Homi Bhabha, and considers the criticisms they have faced, from an alleged Eurocentrism to an obfuscatory prose style. Finally, he assesses the overlaps and differences between postcolonial theory and other forms of postcolonial criticism and considers the ways that postcolonial analysis may be connected with different histories of oppression.