Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction by Leela Gandhi

Abstract

Reviewed by: Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introductionby Leela Gandhi Chengjian Li (bio) and Lidan Lin 2(bio) Leela Gandhi. Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction. Columbia UP, 2019. Secondedition, Pp. x, 275. US $26.00. Twenty-one years ago, Columbia University Press published the first edition of Leela Gandhi's Postcolonial Theory, when postcolonial studies was, in her words, "the domain of a handful of thinkers. It was very much an emergent field" (ix). 1In this sense, the publication of the book was timely and much needed; indeed, it was released at a time when no such introductory book was available. Since then postcolonial theory has gained tremendous momentum and become a major critical discourse in literary and cultural studies, although it has faced ongoing constructive challenges from such critics as Gayatri Spivak, Timothy Brennan, Dennis Porter, and Lidan Lin ("Legacy"). When Edward Said published Orientalism(1978) and Culture and Imperialism(1993), two of his most influential works, his goal was to get Western academics to think about European colonial and postcolonial history from the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century and this history's lingering impact on the contemporary Western world and its former colonies. Drawing on Antonio Gramsci's notion of hegemony, for example, Said argues in Orientalismthat nineteenth-century European colonialism should be read not only as a historical phenomenon but as a metaphor for racism and oppression in general. When we look back at the trajectory of postcolonial studies, we see that Said and his fellow cultural critics have clearly achieved their goals. Not only is postcolonial theory a major critical discourse but, because of the global dimension of colonialism and postcolonialism, postcolonial studies has joined internationally oriented fields such as international studies, global studies, and transnational studies. In the present, when imperialistic behavior prevails no less than it used to in some quarters of the world (although carried out in different ways), the second edition of Gandhi's book, with its substantial [End Page 191]and thoughtful epilogue, is still much needed. Looking toward the future, the field of postcolonial studies pulls its strength from the continued intellectual leadership of such scholars as Spivak, Homi Bhabha, Robert Young, Gandhi, and Shaobo Xie, to name a few. Reading Gandhi's book in this new context, we find in the second edition indications of new directions in postcolonial studies and its new assemblage, or "network" (Gandhi 178), forming and reforming in an ongoing process. Gandhi defines assemblage as "the interactive totality of subject and object, thought and thing, in any effective design" (178). Like the first edition, the second edition contains two major themes: postcolonial theory's intellectual heritage and the antagonistic exchanges between poststructuralist postcolonial thinkers and Marxist postcolonial thinkers. Gandhi first provides an overarching account of postcolonial theory's intellectual heritage, tracing it back to two historical figures, Frantz Fanon and Mahatma Gandhi, who "contributed to enlightening the anti-colonial project by revealing the 'ethical inadequacy and undesirability' (21) of the West's civilizing mission" (Lin, "Review" 196). Gandhi then outlines Marxist postcolonialism's and poststructuralist postcolonialism's belligerent exchanges. In doing so, Gandhi gives full credit to Said's extraordinary leadership in "single-handedly mov[ing] matters of colony and empire 'center stage' in Anglo-American literary and cultural history" (Gandhi 65). On postcolonialism's troubled relationship with postcolonial feminism, Gandhi shows that while both discourses aim at unsettling the hierarchies of gender/culture/race, postcolonial feminists such as Spivak and Sara Suleri have repeatedly contended that critics have not paid sufficient attention to the double colonization of women under colonialism. In the chapter on postcolonialism's relationship with nationalism, Gandhi reveals the dialectic of nationalism: while metropolitan nationalism faults nativist nationalism for its desire to reclaim cultural roots, both types of nationalisms informed the expansionist politics of empire. In the book's last section, "The Limits of Postcolonial Theory," Gandhi reflects on the limitations of postcolonial theory, including its tendency to essentialize the colonial experience while neglecting the trans-historical implications of imperialism. This means, for Gandhi, that postcolonial theory must find ways to simultaneously engage the colonized world and its indefinite others. This is the...