Postcolonial Empires: Rhetorics of Resistance 2008-09
Alternate Wednesdays 5.00- 7.00pm
CRASSH, 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge
First meeting on Wednesday 15 October.
Conveners:
Jarad Zimbler (Faculty of English)
Natalie Krol (Latin American Studies)
From its inception, postcolonial theorists have drawn on a great many disciplinary backgrounds. Significant contributions have been made by historians, anthropologists, philosophers and cultural and literary theorists working in various languages and in relation to various geographical regions. Our group’s primary objective is to question the territorial integrity of this fundamentally inter-disciplinary space. Thirty years on from the publications that established the field, we feel it is time to take stock of the strengths and weaknesses of postcolonial theory, to measure its achievements and failures.
Our seminars will revolve around a number of central
questions: does postcolonial theory¬ remain relevant to critical
investigations of twenty-first century empires, commercial, cultural
and geographic? Has it not itself become something of an imperial
formation, a master-narrative effacing regional and temporal
specificities? To what extent has postcolonial theory enabled new and
effective forms of resistance? Who are postcolonial intellectuals and
how do they intervene outside of the academy to confront imperialism as
it operates in the spheres of economics, culture and geopolitics?
While addressing ourselves to these and other questions, we will ground
our discussions and research by examining a set of key texts and
debates, oriented in each of the three terms in relation to a
particular geographical region that either has been or that will be
important for the development of postcolonial studies. Hoping to engage
with empires of the past, present and future, we have chosen as our
themes Algeria for Michaelmas, Cuba for Lent and China for Easter. In
each term our seminars will be supplemented by film screenings and
exhibitions.
Administrative contact: Esther Lamb (Grad/Fac Programme and Office Manager)
