Page 203 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1504 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

marked by a rejection of traditional social, religious, and agency of human beings.With many of its creators them-
political ideas and an emphasis on rationalism] thought, selves migrants to the “First World,” it is not surprising
science, the modern state, and colonial knowledge) have that postcolonial analyses are particularly interested in
shaped our world, engendering dangerous stereotypes, the dynamics by which social identities based on class,
misrepresentations, and inequalities.Writers have given caste, gender, nationality, ethnicity, race, and sexuality
special attention to questions of religious conversion, are informed and unsettled by global phenomena such
Western science and education, travel writing, literature, as capitalism, colonialism, migration, and international
and nationalism. politics. Postcolonial writers frequently engage in self-
Postcolonial analysis is a valuable addition to the rep- criticism, or auto-critique, and so postcolonial narratives
ertoire of approaches being used by world historians to can seem to break up no sooner than they take shape.
conceptualize global flows, processes, and connections Nevertheless, postcolonial analysis has contributed
across time. It has provided world historians with a significantly to the study of world history by cautioning
repertoire of tools for analysis drawn from feminist stud- against the development of simplistic macro (large-scale,
ies, literary criticism, Marxism, philosophy, and psycho- general) frameworks and categories that usually end up
analysis. Postcolonial analysts study global phenomena losing sight of the variety of historical actors and the
such as imperialism, colonialism, decolonization, capital- nuances that make up global processes. World history
ism, world systems, nationalism, and migration not only practiced in this vein becomes theoretically sophisti-
in terms of neatly bounded nations, culture regions, civ- cated, thematically focused, and self-critical, its dominant
ilizations, time periods, and abstract processes but also narratives and grand theories constantly breaking down
in terms of complex flows that embrace a wide range of to reveal the world full of differences, contradictions, and
actors across societies and time periods. The advent of variations. Although we cannot yet see the full impact of
subaltern studies approaches has impressed on world these trends in world history, postcolonial analysis con-
historians the need to critique structures of power and tinues to offer one of the most exciting frameworks for
social inequalities and to recognize the presence of dis- cultural study and will invigorate the study of world his-
empowered and subordinated groups (women, indige- tory for some time to come.
nous peoples, peasants, tribals, low castes, gays and les-
Bernardo A. Michael
bians) throughout the history of the world. Recent
postcolonial writers have taken a philosophical turn in See also Colonialism, Decolonization
their attempt to critique the very discipline of history—
especially its intellectual debts to Western thought.These
Further Reading
writers seek to include alternative understandings of the
Ahmad, A. (1992). In theory: Classes, nations, literatures. London:
world that do not conform to the standards of Western
Verso.
reason or modern disciplinary conventions. Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (Eds.). (1998). Key concepts in
postcolonial studies. London: Routledge.
Bhabha, H. (1994). The location of culture. London: Routledge.
Implications Chakrabarty, D. (2000). Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial thought and
Yet, this focus on complexity and agency in the study of historical difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Chatterjee, P. (1993). The nation and its fragments: Colonial and post-
historical processes has not always transitioned neatly to
colonial histories. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
the study of large-scale processes. Perhaps what distin- Dirlik, A. (1997). The postcolonial aura:Third World criticism in the age
guishes postcolonial analysis from other forms of writing of global capitalism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Escobar, A. (1995). Encountering development: The making and unmak-
in world history is its reluctance to produce grand theo- ing of the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
ries or analyze large-scale processes and instead to focus Gandhi, L. (1998). Postcolonial theory:A critical introduction. New York:
Columbia University Press.
more on specific texts and historical situations con-
Gilroy, P. (1993). The black Atlantic: Modernity and double consciousness.
cerned with the politics of identity formation and the Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.