Table of Contents

Preface Introduction: After Colonialism Thinking Otherwise: A Brief Intellectual History Postcolonialism and the New Humanities Edward Said and His Critics Postcolonialism and Feminism Imagining Community: The Question of Nationalism One World: The Vision of Postnationalism Postcolonial Literatures Conclusion: The Limits of Postcolonial Theory

Promotional Information

The book provides an overview of postcolonialism's pervasiveness in the academy, and lucidly illustrates the debates about the often conflicting consensus regarding the proper content, scope and relevance of its concerns. From its influence in Marxism and poststructuralism, from the work of Edward Said to Salman Rushdie, from feminist imperialism to globalization and hybridity, Gandhi demonstrates the ethical concern that postcolonial theory can offer: how to take into account diversity without erasing distinct diasporas of difference.

About the Author

Leela Gandhi lectures in the school of English at La Trobe University, Melbourne. She researches the cultural history of the Indo-British colonial encounter, and has published extensively in this area. She is the editor of Shakespeare: New Orientations and The Looking Glass and Other Poems, and coeditor of the journalPostcolonial Studies.

Reviews

Gandhi goes a long way to successfully situate postcolonialism with a theoretical landscape and explain its engagement with humanism, Marxism, poststructuralism and other philosophical traditions. It is an enlightening and engaging book that will prove relevant to any number of intellectual inquiries into postcolonial studies, cultural politics and/or the so-called 'humanities'. It can serve as a primer for the student of postcolonial studies, and for hte more well-read student or scholar it will complete the picture, putting postcolonial theory into an epistemological context. Postcolonial Theory merits earnest commendation and will stand out as an important contribution to the field.
*Thesis Eleven*

This book offers far more than an up-to-date audit of postcolonial theory and theorists. It is a critical engagement with the constitutive figures and forms of postcolonial theory. It is at times fearless, at times sentimental, at times witty, and always incisive as it outlines what has gone before in postcolonial theory, as well as pointing to the scope of that 'counter-narrative' which lies beyond.
*Australian Journal of Political Science*