Postcolonial Studies

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by Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writings

"Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda and the Uses of Literary Power"

by David Callahan

Proceedings of the X Conference of the Portuguese Anglo-American Studies Association [APEAA], Aveiro: APEAA, 1991: 101-109.

The colonial construction of what?

by Jakob De Roover

Co-authored with Sarah Claerhout, published in Rethinking Religion in India: The Colonial Construction of Hinduism (Routledge, 2010).

This chapter raises three fundamental questions to clear the conceptual ground required for theory formation on the... more This chapter raises three fundamental questions to clear the conceptual ground required for theory formation on the construction of Hinduism. First, the authors analyze the question ‘Is religion a construct?’ The claim that religion is only a conceptual tool of the scholar, which does not refer to any empirical reality, they argue, fails to make sense in the absence of a theory of religion. However, this does not imply it is nonsensical to speak of the construction of Hinduism. ‘Is Hinduism a construct?’ is answered in the positive but qualified in a limited empirical sense. Third, the authors raise the question as to ‘What is constructed in the process of construction?’ On one hand, one could argue, as they do, that Hinduism has been created as a conceptual unit in certain descriptions of India. These descriptions have had impact upon Indian society, but this does not entail that Hindu religion exists in India today. On the other hand, one could suggest that Hinduism has come into being as an object also, a new religion that materialized on the subcontinent.

Sunera Thobani, Exalted Subjects: Studies In the Making of Race and Nation In Canada

by Darryl Leroux

Emir Mahieddin, « Vingt-cinq ans après Writing Culture. Retour sur un "âge d'or" de la critique en anthropologie » ; James Clifford, « Vérités partielles, vértiés partiales »

by Emir Mahieddin

Traduction de l'introduction de Writing Culture (Clifford & Marcus, 1986) en langue française. Précédée d'un article et préfacée par James Clifford. Publié dans le "Journal des Anthropologues" 126-127 (2011).

History Teaching, Imperialism and Decolonization in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1945-1958)

by Iris Seri-Hersch

PhD dissertation defended on May 17, 2012 at Aix-Marseille Université. Written in French.

Situating the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in the wider frame of British imperial history, this dissertation investigates... more Situating the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in the wider frame of British imperial history, this dissertation investigates school history in late colonial Sudan. Didactic materials, prescribed contents and pedagogic practices are analyzed against the background of five major developments of the 1945-1953 period: the shifting of British imperialism in Africa towards “paternalist-progressive” policies aiming at preparing colonial peoples for self-government; the polarization of British and Egyptian positions on the Sudanese issue; mounting rivalries between the independentist and unionist wings of Sudanese nationalism; the hasty unification of Northern and Southern Sudan after more than half a century of separate rule; and Northern Sudanese policies of Arabization and Islamization in the South as a tool for achieving “national unification”.
In a second part, the innovative character of post-WWII history teaching in Sudan is assessed by examining earlier patterns of Sudanese school history. History teaching in late colonial Sudan is then compared with history teaching in other territories of the (ex-)Empire (Uganda, North Rhodesia, Nigeria, Egypt, India, Great Britain). Two central postcolonial issues are further explored, namely the decolonization of school historical narratives after independence (1956) and the role of history teaching in fuelling the North-South conflict in Sudan.

Negotiating Afropolitanism: Essays on Borders and Spaces in Contemporary African Literature and Folklore, ed. Jennifer Wawrzinek and JKS Makokha

by Jamin Ohwovoriole

La modernité dans l'historiographie du Soudan : usages convenus d'un concept nébuleux ?

by Iris Seri-Hersch

To be published in Cahiers d'Etudes africaines, 2012

Cet article propose une réflexion critique sur les usages de la catégorie modernité dans l'historiographie du Soudan... more Cet article propose une réflexion critique sur les usages de la catégorie modernité dans l'historiographie du Soudan contemporain. Attentive à la distinction heuristique entre catégories analytiques et catégories normatives, l'étude revient sur des conceptualisations européennes de la modernité avant d'examiner ses usages dans la production académique soudaniste des cinquante dernières années. En dépit de la diversité de leurs approches et de leurs objets, la plupart des travaux analysés endossent explicitement ou implicitement l'une ou l'autre des théories de la modernisation et de la dépendance. L'argumentaire débouche sur la nécessité, pour les chercheurs en sciences sociales, de sortir des impasses épistémologiques de la modernité "modernisatrice" et des modernités "multiples".

This paper deals with "modernity" as an analytical category, investigating how it has been used by scholars of modern Sudan in the last fifty years. Keeping in mind the heuristic distinction between analytical and normative categories, the study goes back to European conceptualizations of modernity before examining how it has been constructed and used across a wide range of Sudanist academic writings. Despite significant differences in their approaches and subjects of study, most of the works under review explicitly or implicitly adopt either modernization or dependence theories. The paper ultimately argues for the necessity of avoiding the epistemological dead ends of both "modernizing" and "multiple" modernities.

Review - George Kunnath, Rebels from the Mud Houses: Dalits and the Making of the Maoist Revolution in Bihar (New Delhi, 2012)

by Uday Chandra

Forthcoming in Journal of Agrarian Change 12 (4), 2012

Review - Paul Brass, An Indian Political Life: Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1937 to 1961 (New Delhi, 2011)

by Uday Chandra

Forthcoming in Contemporary South Asia 22 (3), 2012

"Eyes the Same Color as the Sea": Santiago's Expatriation from Spain and Ethnic Otherness in Hemingway's the Old Man and the Sea

by Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera

A hapless attempt at swimming': Representations of Eric Moussambani

by John Nauright

published in Critical Arts 17:1/2 (2003), 106-122, co-authored with Tara Magdalinski

One of the most powerful images to emerge from the pool at the Sydney 2000 Olympics was that of Eric Moussambani from... more One of the most powerful images to emerge from the pool at the Sydney 2000 Olympics was that of Eric Moussambani from Equatorial Guinea who swam his heat of the 100-meter freestyle alone after the other two swimmers in his heat were disqualified. Moussambani completed the distance over one minute slower than eventual gold medallist Pieter van den Hoogenband. The media coverage of Moussambani's performance illustrates that the discourses of colonialism, paternalism, and racial stereotyping remain central in the modern Olympic movement. This paper analyses media reports of Moussambani and identifies three main frames used to contextualize his performance at the Olympics. We situate Moussambani's swim within a broader framework that reveals the mechanisms used to display African bodies for the European gaze as well as the paternalist Olympic discourse that seeks to universalize Western sporting practices within a global culture that privileges Western cultural and economic practices.

Tracing a Thread of Orientalism through Colonialism & Beyond: Presentations of Vietnamese Nationalism by and for Americans

by Nolan Bensen

This paper traces the outlandish and essentializing claims of Neil Jamieson in Understanding Vietnam through his... more This paper traces the outlandish and essentializing claims of Neil Jamieson in Understanding Vietnam through his sources to the orientalist, adventurer, and son of a French colonial administrator in Vietnam, Paul Mus. It attempts to show that Mus' work was orientalist and that some major works citing him have been encouraged by his work to take that tack.

Ignore the last two pages. They were a minor assignment we had to turn in at the same time.

Review - James C. Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed (New Haven, 2009)

by Uday Chandra

Religion and Society: Advances in Research, Vol. 2 (2011), pp. 194-96.

The Unnatural Creature: How the Production of Knowledge reflects Western Cultural History in Frankenstein

by David Price

Conference Paper for Panel on Post-colonialism - St. John's Grad Conference May 2012

Before Rolling Thunder: Hyundai Construction in Southeast Asia, 1965-1973

by John P. DiMoia

in process, aiming to submit to JAS, JKS or Positions later in 2012? in process, aiming to submit to JAS, JKS or Positions later in 2012?

Scars of Language in Translation: The "Itchy" Poetics of Jam Ismail

by Elena Basile

Published in *Literature for our Times: PostColonial Studies in the 21st Century* Eds. Bill Ashcroft, Ranjini Mendis, Julie McGonegal and Arun Mukherjee. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2012.

Can the subaltern eat? Anthropophagic culture as a Brazilian lens on post-colonial theory

by Gazi Islam

Biopolítica borbónica en Chile: el discurso antropológico sobre la ociosidad y el vagabundaje

by Patricio Lepe-Carrión

En editorial para ser publicado en el libro colectivo "Revisando el presente. Ensayos críticos desde el sur". CEAPEDI. Universidad Nacional del Comahue - Argentina.

The EU and the Recycling of Colonialism: Formation of Europeans through intercultural dialogue

by Robert Aman

Published in 'Educational Philosophy & Theory', 2012.

The present essay focuses on problematizing the European Union’s claim that intercultural dialogue constitutes an... more The present essay focuses on problematizing the European Union’s claim that intercultural dialogue constitutes an advocated method of talking through cultural boundaries – inside as well as outside the classroom – based on mutual empathy and non-domination. More precisely, the aim is to analyze who is being constructed as counterparts of the intercultural dialogue through the discourse produced by the EU in policies on education, culture and intercultural dialogue. Within the Union, Europeans are portrayed as having an a priori historical existence, while the ones excluded from this notion are evoked to demonstrate its difference in comparison to the European one. The results show that subjects not considered as Europeans serve as markers of the multicultural present of the space. Thus, intercultural dialogue seems to consolidate differences between European and Other – the ‘We’ and ‘Them’ in the dialogue – rather than, as in line with its purpose, bringing subjects together.