Cosmos and Colony

Abstract

COSMOS AND COLONY Robert Spencer, Cosmopolitan Criticism and Postcolonial Literature, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011; 240pp, hardback £50 A certain sense of malaise and exhaustion has been evident in Postcolonial Studies for some time now in terms of its strategic goals, with a host of commentators seeking to 'relocate' it, wondering when it was (past tense) or seeking its abolition. While the production of postcolonial literary criticism continues unabated, the theoretical orientations and political investments of both its proponents and opponents have changed little in the last decade or so. Robert Spencer attempts to inject a fresh sense of direction and urgency into the field by drawing on theories of 'cosmopolitanism', to promote both 'a defence of the moral and political efficacy of postcolonial writing' and to recuperate the reading of such texts as a means of 'fostering a sense of mutual obligation and even ... solidarity' between die western reader of such work and non-western constituencies which have suffered, and continue to suffer, the depredations of imperialism. Following figures like Walter Mignolo, 'cosmopolitanism' is seen to provide a potentially powerful critique of the discourses and processes of globalisation, which the author righdy sees as all too often providing a fig-leaf for new dispensations of imperialism in the contemporary world. There is much to admire about this text, the arguments of which deserve close attention. Its moral energy is refreshing, particularly in some finely outraged passages about the cant surrounding contemporary imperial adventures like the invasion of Iraq. It also offers a compelling call-to-arms on behalf of the idea of the efficacy of literary studies as one means, amongst others, towards the creation of a less unequal world-system. Spencer's premise is that a genuinely democratic, just and new 'New World Order,' to which 'cosmopolitanism' properly aspires, is 'a cultural as well as political undertaking and therefore entails not just the regulation of economic activity but also the re-imagining and even the invention of new and more meaningful forms of human relationship'. The author draws productively on an impressive range of cultural theory to scaffold his argument, including some figures, notably Paul Ricoeur, and even ER. Leavis, whose work has hitherto been under-utilised as a resource for postcolonial literary studies. His close readings of individual postcolonial texts are often penetrating and admirably attentive to issues of form as well as to thematic or political issues. Further, he convincingly demonstrates die value of drawing on a wider range of Said's writing than is customary in Postcolonial Studies - while also showing a commendable willingness to critique or supplement aspects of his mentor's diinking. Spencer also usefully reminds his readers that imperialism and colonialism are not the exclusive property of the West. As his chapter on Timothy Mo demonstrates, even recendy decolonised nations like Indonesia are prone to quickly pick up the bad habits of erstwhile European masters, a trend which is likely to increase as western power wanes. Yet Spencer's programme for a reinvigoration of postcolonial literary criticism is debatable in certain key respects. In the first place, his typology of 'cosmopolitanism' is over-schematic. He divides approaches to the discourse within Postcolonial Studies into three schools, the 'sceptical', the 'celebratory' and the 'socialist'. It's surprising to find Gayatri Spivak, whose substantial and complex oeuvre is summarised in Chapter 2 in a few brief lines, assigned to the first group, which is allegedly characterised by its investment in 'local identities and communities as the natural units of affiliation and action' and its lack of interest in 'the relationship between colonialism and capitalism'. This is not only simplistic as a description of the thrust of Spivak's work, but contradicted by Spencer's later praise for her promotion of 'transnational literacy' as an analogue of his own programme of 'cosmopolitanism. …