Postcoloniality, spatiality and cosmopolitanism in the Open City

Abstract

This paper considers the performance of postcolonial spatiality in Teju Cole’s 2011 novel, Open City. Arguing against theoretical positions which view the production of postcolonial space as inherently liberatory, the article considers how, through its textual deconstruction of neoliberal visions of cosmopolitanism, Cole’s novel produces a reading of postcolonial spatiality as a continuation of the abstract formations of colonial space. The paper begins by exploring the doubly voiced concept of the ‘open city’ as it functions in the novel, arguing that the titular catachresis gestures towards a vision of space in which the illusion of freedom of movement serves as a mask for the continuation of violence. It then traces the centrality of spatiality to postcolonial studies, suggesting that, despite the importance of geography to the discipline, the study of literary space remains undertheorized. By applying a robust spatial reading to Open City, the article suggests a more nuanced view of postcolonial spatiality in which the performative nature of the literary text opens avenues for greater inquiry into the legacies of fragmentation of subordination which continue to function in an allegedly cosmopolitan present.