This innovative and lively book is quite unlike any other introduction to postcolonialism. Robert Young examines the political, social, and cultural after-effects of decolonization by presenting situations, experiences, and testimony rather than going through the theory at an abstract level. He situates the debate in a wide cultural context, discussing its importance as an historical condition, with examples such as the status of aboriginal people, of those dispossessed from their land, Algerian raï music, postcolonial feminism, and global social and ecological movements. Above all, Young argues, postcolonialism offers a political philosophy of activism that contests the current situation of global inequality, and so in a new way continues the anti-colonial struggles of the past.
Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction
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About the Author
Robert J. C. Young is Professor of English and Critical Theory at Oxford University and a Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. Recent publications include Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Culture, Theory and Race (Routledge, 1995), and Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction (Blackwell, 2001). He is also General Editor of Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies (Routledge).
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Have you ever been the only person of your own colour or ethnicity in a large group or gathering? Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Have you ever been the only person of your own colour or ethnicity in a large group or gathering? Read the first page
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Oh dear. The author cites a feature film, 'Rabbit Proof Fence', to make his point about the treatment of Aboriginals in Australia.
What he has not done is check the facts behind the tale spun by the scriptwriters. Not one of the many, many books and articles about this event has been consulted. Instead a highly embellished commercially-produced film is treated as equivalent to scrupulously accurate documentary history. It isn't.
And it gets worse.
Working through this book, and having been born, raised and still living in a former colonial nation, there are moments throughout this book when I am torn between laughing and getting angry. I guess it just goes to show the gap between theory and real life.
Particularly galling is the reliance upon European and American theorists, and the inadequate coverage of theorists living in colonial, neo-colonial and post-colonial nations. Why no discussion of cultural cringe? Why no discussion of cultural alienation? These conditions are a key part of our experience.
The book might claim to be enlightened and post-colonial, but like so many texts on the subject it is implicitly Euro-American Colonialist in outlook.
What he has not done is check the facts behind the tale spun by the scriptwriters. Not one of the many, many books and articles about this event has been consulted. Instead a highly embellished commercially-produced film is treated as equivalent to scrupulously accurate documentary history. It isn't.
And it gets worse.
Working through this book, and having been born, raised and still living in a former colonial nation, there are moments throughout this book when I am torn between laughing and getting angry. I guess it just goes to show the gap between theory and real life.
Particularly galling is the reliance upon European and American theorists, and the inadequate coverage of theorists living in colonial, neo-colonial and post-colonial nations. Why no discussion of cultural cringe? Why no discussion of cultural alienation? These conditions are a key part of our experience.
The book might claim to be enlightened and post-colonial, but like so many texts on the subject it is implicitly Euro-American Colonialist in outlook.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Excellent expose on post colonial theory in practice, but very short indeed. It does not cover all aspects of post colonialism, but it is very useful in understanding what this concept means, how to use it, and why we should use it. I am glad I bought it and highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in this topic.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A very useful little book for those wanting to get a quick overall look at this subject. A helpful read.
By Anna M
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I teach postcolonialism and I recommend this to all my students. I'd like to recommend it to everyone, to be honest. It's really top class book.
10 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By Salgado
Format:Paperback
If you don't want to have any of your views challenged or at least put in question, then don't read this book. You can learn something new from this book: it tells you about different worlds, which are probably not your own. If you just want someone to tell you about the world you already know, and confirm what you already think, then there are many many other books around that do that. This book takes you on a journey of discovery around the earth, showing you what it looks like, how it feels, when the third world comes first, not last. It will be different, it may make you feel uncomfortable, you may feel that it is turning your world upside down, but its an amazing, positive and heartening human experience you will never forget.
21 of 39 people found the following review helpful
By Luiza
Format:Paperback
Entirely useless for those who need a quick, encyclopedia-like idea of what this multivalent word actually means. For a reader looking for what the series promises - an introduction - it appears as a confusing hodge-podge of quotes from works of fiction, information about Algerian rai music which the author raves about like a teenager, all-too-familiar diatribes about pet causes of Attac and their ilk (evil western companies exploiting hapless Africans etc.). It drips with political correctness of a mind-numbingly simplistic sort, embraces the rallying cries of postcolonialism (as a political movement) without the slightest hint of distance or criticism or, indeed, without even as much as discussing the merits of the claims in question. This book is a pamphlet of the crudest sort, by no means a work of scholarship. For a solid and readable overview, I recommend Postcolonial Studies: The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides)
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Kyla
Format:Paperback
An insightful, refreshing, creative approach to a fascinating topic. Robert Young is clearly very knowledgeable about the topic, and at the same time never gets tied down in theory. A highly recommended introduction.
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