Post-Colonial Studies: the Key Concepts, Second Edition

POST-COLONIAL STUDIES ‘Not quite a dictionary but an invaluable reference tool nonetheless, its iden- tification of key terms remains as useful as its definitions of those terms.’ Professor Antoinette Burton, University of Illinois This best-selling key guide, now in its second edition, provides an essential key to understanding the issues which characterize postcolonialism, explaining what it is, where it is encountered and why it is crucial in forging new cultural identities. As a subject, post-colonial studies stands at the intersection of debates about race, colonialism, gender, politics and language. Key topics covered include: • borderlands • transnational literatures • neo-imperialism • neo-liberalism • ecofeminism. Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts is fully updated and cross- referenced throughout. With additional further reading this book has everything necessary for students and anyone keen to learn more about this fascinating subject. Bill Ashcroft teaches at the University of Hong Kong and the University of NSW, Gareth Griffiths at the University of Western Australia and Helen Tiffin at Queen’s University, Canada. They are the editors of The Post-Colonial Studies Reader and the authors of The Empire Writes Back, both published by Routledge. POST-COLONIAL STUDIES The Key Concepts Second edition Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin First published 2000 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Second edition published 2007 Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2000, 2007 Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Ashcroft, Bill, 1946- Post colonial studies : the key concepts / Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths & Helen Tiffin. – 2nd ed. p. cm. Previous ed. published under title: Key concepts in post-colonial studies. “Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge.” Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Colonies–Dictionaries. 2. Decolonization–Dictionaries. 3. Postcolonialism–Dictionaries. 4. Ethnic attitudes–Dictionaries. 5. Race relations–Dictionaries. I. Griffiths, Gareth, 1943– II. Tiffin, Helen. III. Ashcroft, Bill, 1946– . Key concepts in post-colonial studies. IV. Title. JV22.A84 2008 325’.303—dc22 2007018708 ISBN 0-203-93347-8 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–42856–4 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–42855–6 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–44997–5 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–42856–9 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–42855–2 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–44997–4 (ebk) CONTENTS Introduction to the second edition vii List of Key Concepts xi KEY CONCEPTS 1 Bibliography 227 Name Index 281 Subject Index 287 v INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION Since the publication of Post-Colonial Studies nearly ten years ago the subject has expanded and diversified both in its impact and significance, in fields as varied as globalization, environmentalism, transnational- ism, the sacred, and even economics, through the significance of the spread of neo-liberalism. The controversies in the field, particularly, circulating around the term ‘post-colonial/postcolonial’itself continue unabated, but the relevance of neo-imperialism and the issues emerging from the engagements of post-colonized societies in a ‘glocal’ age have demonstrated the usefulness of post-colonial analysis. From the perspective of this decade it is possible to look back at the 1990s and see how important the humanities in general and post-colonial discourse in particular were to developing a new language to address the problems of global culture and the relationships between local cultures and global forces.This occurred because the classical narratives of Modernity in which social theory was mired – dependency theory and centre–periphery models – were unable to explain the multi- directional flow of global exchanges, a flow that was most noticeable in cultural exchange. One significant example of this multi-directional flow is the phenomenon of the Black Atlantic, which reveals the amazing complexity and productivity of African cultures in the Atlantic. The history of such flows reveals that the multi-directional and transcultural nature of global culture is not a new phenomenon. Many of the issues and problems surrounding the topic of globalization (the place of the ‘glocal’;the function of local agency under the pressure of global forces; the role of imperialism in globalization; the connection between imperialism and neoliberal economics) are addressed,and continue to be addressed by the post-colonial analysis of imperial power. Thus, although we need to be careful about falsely prescribing post-colonial theory as a panacea,and should keep in mind the firm grounding of post-colonial discourse in the historical vii INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION phenomenon of colonialism, the field of post-colonial studies has provided useful strategies for a wider field of global analysis. Post- colonial literary and cultural production in particular has demonstrated the insistent reality of local agency, an agency that can address simple dualistic approaches to the local and global. One of the most persistent and controversial topics of contemporary politics is the issue of the environment. Global warming has demonstrated the devastating effects of the industrial revolution and the unfettered pursuit of capital expansion. The environment, and attendant topics such as ecofeminism, ecological imperialism, environmentalism, speciesism have all taken an increasingly prominent place in post-colonial thought because it has become clear that there is a direct connection between colonialist treatment of indigenous flora and fauna and treatment of colonized and otherwise dominated subjects and societies. The devastation of colonized place (and poten- tially of the planet) paved the way for the devastation of societies.Until now the destruction of the physical and human environments have become the same thing. Increasingly,post-colonial theory has been found useful in examin- ing a variety of colonial relationship beyond the classic colonizing activities of the British Empire.The concept of boundaries and borders has been crucial in the imperial occupation and domination of indigenous space. And the question of borders and borderlands has now become a pressing issue in an age of increasingly hysterical border pro- tection. Cultural borders are becoming recognized as a critical region of colonial and neo-colonial domination, of cultural erosion, and of class and economic marginalization. The field of post-colonial studies now includes the vexed subjects of contemporary neo-colonialism:the identities and relationships of Chicano,Latino and hybrid subjectivities of various kinds. These subjects, who slip between the boundaries of the grand narratives of history and nation, are becoming an increasingly important constituency for post-colonial studies. Another issue that has become more prominent, because more complex than previously regarded, is the issue of the sacred. Religion, the impact of missions and the nature and function of a ‘post-colonial sacred’ are becoming increasingly prevalent in what some refer to as a ‘post-secular age’. There can be no doubt that the aggressive articulation of religious dogma, the failure of dialogue and the increasingly polarized globe have offered unprecedented global dangers. But these realities also offer opportunities for an analysis of the kinds of complex hybridized developments of the sacred that have been revealed by post-colonial analysis. viii INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION One of the terms emerging from post-colonial studies seems to circumvent some of the perceived problems inherent in descriptions such as ‘post-colonial’ and diaspora. ‘Transnational’ as an adjective is growing in use since it extends to migrant, diasporic and refugee communities not directly emerging from the colonial experience. The increasing flow of populations, the mobility of individuals, the increased crossing of borders and the blurring of the concept of ‘home’ have produced a range of transnational literatures and other forms of cultural production that extend the field of the post-colonial in productive ways. Some more familiar terms in post-colonial studies have been included in this second edition, such as ‘double colonization’, ‘first nations’ and ‘translation’. Others, such as ‘whiteness’ have already blossomed into a virtual field of their own. Many of these terms are central to post-colonial studies, others are shared with other fields of study; some, like ‘race’ are broader than post-colonial studies itself. But all the words in this Key Concepts will be used at some stage in the field and will be useful for students and writers as they engage this increasingly vibrant field. ix LIST OF KEY CONCEPTS Aboriginal/indigenous

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