Postcolonial Studies and Beyond

An interdisciplinary collection of essays designed to envision a wide-ranging and productive future for postcolonial studies, this volume assesses the current state of the field and points toward its most promising new developments. In addressing questions about the definition and relevance of postcolonial scholarship, many of the essays consider its relation to the study of globalization. While some contributors offer broad reflections on the two-way influence between postcolonial theory and established university disciplines such as literary criticism and history, others forge ahead into some vital, if nascent, areas for postcolonial research such as media studies, environmental studies, religious studies, and linguistic and semantic analysis. The contributors represent many of the fields altered by postcolonial studies over the past two decades, including literary studies, history, anthropology, Asian and African studies, and political science. They model diverse applications of postcolonial theory to Latin America, East Asia, the Middle East, and the United States. Some essayists highlight topics they feel postcolonial studies has yet to adequately engage, from the postcolonial state to the history of Latin America. Others demonstrate how concepts developed by postcolonial theorists can be applied in unexpected ways, such as to better understand the separation of Christianity and Judaism in late antiquity. Postcolonial Studies and Beyond propels the field forward. It showcases scholars coming from intellectual precincts usually considered outside the purview of the postcolonial finding new ways to deploy classic techniques of postcolonial analysis, and scholars strongly associated with postcolonial studies offering substantial critiques designed to challenge the field's most fundamental methods and assumptions. Contributors Ali Behdad Timothy Brennan Matti Bunzl Antoinette Burton Laura Chrisman Jean Comaroff Vilashini Cooppan Jed Esty James Ferguson Peter Hulme Suvir Kaul Ania Loomba Florencia E. Mallon Nivedita Menon Rob Nixon Elizabeth A. Povinelli Kelwyn Sole Robert Stam