Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader
Select Format
Select Condition 
Book Overview
Equally suitable for undergraduates and specialists in the humanities, this collection provides an in-depth introduction to debates within post-colonial theory and criticism. The readings are drawn from a diverse selection of Third World and Western thinkers, both historical and contemporary. "Post-colonialism" is taken by the editors to include Third World and diasporic experience; like "colonialism," it is understood to contain a complex set of cultural, ethnographic, political, and economic processes and conflicts.
This volume explores such issues as the nature of colonized cultures and anti-colonial resistance; subaltern historiography; constructions of Western subjectivity, knowledge, and gender; the formation of post-colonial intellectuals; the metropolitan institutionalization of post-colonialism; neo-colonialism; and the nature of minority and post-colonial identity and discourse. One section is devoted to the application of theoretical formulations to cultural criticism, and contains a number of textual analyses. A general introduction to the volume as well as introductions to each section provide historical, theoretical, and poltical contexts for the readings. The book concludes with an extensive bibliography.Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0231100213
ISBN13:9780231100212
Release Date:April 1994
Publisher:Columbia University Press
Length:570 Pages
Weight:2.04 lbs.
Dimensions:1.0" x 6.8" x 9.2"
Age Range:22 years and up
Grade Range:Postsecondary and higher
Customer Reviews
1 rating
By far the most complete anthology on the subject
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 16 years ago
This book is an excellent introduction to the field of postcolonial theory, and because it gives you both historical and more recent texts, it really gives you a sense of how the field developed and the directions it's moved in. It is a bit out of date now, but it is still the anthology I use the most, and is the one I'm putting on my syllabus for the introduction to postcolonial lit class I'm teaching. Its major advantage over Ashcroft's The Post-Colonial Studies Reader is that this anthology gives you the full text of the essays it includes - Ashcroft's reader is basically the Reader's Digest version of postcolonial theory, except that in many cases (like Spivak's "Can the Subaltern Speak") condensing the essays makes them more difficult to understand. (I own that one, too, and find it utterly useless; haven't referred back to it in years.) For an introduction to the field, you really can't beat this one. (And if you already know your theory, this contains most of those articles that you refer to all the time and of which you have tatty old copies that you can never find, so this will save you headaches!)
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
