Postcolonial Research Articles

Critical Review of Postcolonial Theory of Homi Bhabha’s Hybridity: A Study of “The Location of Culture”

Homi K. Bhabha's The Location of Culture, published in 1994, is one of the foundational texts of the branch of literary theory known as postcolonialism. Although postcolonialism has many facets, the central question lies in the interpretation and understanding of the encounters between the Western colonial powers and the nations of the world to which they belong, and colonization is not only an economic, military or political process but also a process that profoundly affects cultures and identities around the world. This is an area in which interpretation takes centre stage, and its strength depends in large part on its ability to address the complex legacy of colonial encounters with careful and constant attention to the significance of the marks they left on colonial cultures. What Bhabha do writings show, like so much other postcolonial thought, is that the art of clarification and definition underpinning good interpretation is rarely the same as simplification. Indeed, making good interpretations often involves pointing out and dividing the different types of complexity going on within a single process or term. For Bhabha, the main object is identity, as embodied in the idea of colonial powers. According to his interpretation, what at first glance appears to be the cohesive set of ideas behind colonialism quickly breaks down into a complex mass of shifting views – creating something much closer to postcolonial thought than it might seem at first glance.

Основні напрями протидії «русскому миру» в Україні: завдання деколонізації

Despite the fact that there is now a general public agreement in Ukraine regarding the need to oppose the “russian world”, there are quite diverse and sometimes contradictory proposals among Ukrainian citizens regarding the ways to implement such an opposition. In state policy, the main line of implementing such countermeasures is gradually beginning to emerge, however, it is necessary to logically and organizationally substantiate the main stages of its implementation. The essence of opposition to the “russian world” lies in the consistent implementation of decolonization in Ukraine, since it was russia that for centuries carried out the largest and for a long time quite successful project of colonization of Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to clarify the post-colonial situation for Ukraine, and, accordingly, the tasks of decolonization for it as a key direction of counteraction to the “russian world” in Ukraine. The degree of colonization of Ukraine is analyzed on the basis of a comparative analysis with other known histories of colonization in the world. Thanks to this, the degree of applicability of postcolonial studies and the theory of decolonization to modern Ukraine has been clarified. Ukraine repeats many classic features of a post-colonial country, but has every chance to make a significant new contribution to the theory of decolonization – thanks to its success in confronting the russian empire, which is now the russian federation, in its expansionist militarist foreign policy. Decolonization in Ukraine is carried out in three stages, during each of which the necessary institutional changes are successively implemented, each of which makes it impossible to return to the previous stage. Thus, the mirror opposition to russian colonization, the adoption of the best world experience of decolonization, and finally, the development of a self-sufficient Ukrainian world are three stages of successful decolonization in Ukraine, which can become a model for other former colonies.

Interpreting the Blind Man's Garden through a Post-Colonial Lens of Ideological Racism

This research paper explores the novel The Blind Man's Garden through the lens of ideological racism, offering a critical analysis within the framework of post-colonialism. Written by Nadeem Aslam, the novel delves into the complex dynamics of power, identity, and the consequences of Western imperialism in the post-9/11 era. By examining the characters, plot, and themes, this paper aims to unravel the layers of ideological racism prevalent in the narrative and contextualize them within the broader spectrum of post-colonial literature. The term ‘colonialism’ is all about manipulation and oppression over the people of third world countries but post-colonialism, on the other hand is the ‘reaffirmation of colonialism’ through the narratives of colonized people. Now- a-days, post-colonialism is related to trans-nationalism which is all about diaspora and hybridity. This paper explains the same traces of hybridity and diasporic culture through the narration of different characters portrayed in the novel. Moreover, this paper also gives a clear glance of Nadeem Aslam’s novel The Blind Man’s Garden as the traces of colonialism and imperialism through the lens of ideological racism in the light of Post-Colonial theory as explained by Edward Said (1978) and Bhabha (1994). The Blind Man’s Garden, presents pain, loss and grief of Pakistani community which they suffer at the hands of colonizers after being colonized. The researcher has selected the above- mentioned text to find out the traces of post colonialism to show the basic cause of all the sufferings which Asian community had with them since long after the period of colonialism. For this purpose the researcher has used the qualitative approach to analyze the basic elements of post-colonial literature through the lens of ideological racism in the selected text. The findings of the study indicate that the selected novel exactly explains the perspectives of Post-Colonial theory with reference to ideological racism by highlighting the issues of otherness, third -space hybridity, diasporic feelings and marginality among the aboriginals portrayed in the novel.

The Limits of the Postcolonial Theory in the Caribbean Context: “Nearing Forty” as a Case Study

The present paper examines the limits of the postcolonial theory as a critical and historical approach to the Caribbean: its history, its literary and cultural products. To contextualize this examination, the paper starts by comparing the approaches of two contemporary historians to the region’s history, namely, B. W. Higman and Carrie Gibson who traversed and chronicled the region’s checkered past. The comparison aims to isolate the exclusivist-inclusivist dynamics at work in Higman’s linear approach in A Concise History of the Caribbean and Gibson’s episodic approach in Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day. The paper, then, addresses the analogous manifestations of these dynamics in literary criticism. Concretely, the dynamics are traced in the postcolonial critical approach to Caribbean literature via conducting a close reading of Derek Walcott’s “Nearing Forty” and a critical assessment of John Lennard’s ‘postcolonial’ reading thereof as a case study. The paper concludes with a call for similar reevaluations of the corpora of Caribbean writers and a critical (re)assessment of the attendant postcolonial readings that framed them for long. Being mainly library-based, this paper relies on books, articles, reviews, and interviews.

Этническая идентичность в теории и цифрах: на примере коренных малочисленных северных народов

The actual study of ethnic identity is conditioned by the previous socio-political context. In the West, attention to ethnic identity is a marker of post-colonial studies, while in Russia it is a departure from the formation of a new historical community "Soviet people". Accordingly, the cognitive goals of studying ethnic identity also differ from the manipulation of ethnic identities, leading to the split in a previously unified society, to identifying factors that contribute to the preservation of ethnic minority cultures. Defining the content of ethnic identity as consisting of cognitive and behavioral components makes it possible to use the concepts of "ethnic identity" and "ethnicity" as synonyms. The instrumentalist approach combining the ideas of primordial and constructivist concepts was used in a concrete sociological study of the ethnic identity of the aboriginal people. The hypothesis put forward by the study about the threat to the ethnic identity of the minorities from the processes of globalization was confirmed, but required clarification. The influence of globalization on ethnic identity is indirect; the dominant national culture acts as a buffer between them.

Pandemic Poetry and Interventions in World on the Brinks: An Anthology of Covid-19 Pandemic: A Postcolonial Reading

Unarguably, the Covid-19 pandemic has remained a global experience that has altered aspects of life in all spaces. As global citizens adjust to the “new normal” protocols of living, most engagements of critics with literary works on the pandemic have found ecocriticism as a veritable theoretical tool in harnessing mirrored ordeals of the pandemic. However, this paper adopts the postcolonial theory to engage with the pandemic verses in Ikechukwu Otuu Egbuta and Nnenna Vivien Chukwu’s World on the Brinks: An Anthology of Covid-19 Pandemic. The paper contextualises the studied text within the evolution of the anthology genre in modern Nigerian poetry and harnesses the critical perspectives on the expediency of poetry as intervening tool in crisis situations. After its rigorous analyses of the selected poems which slant the impacts of the pandemic into universal and domestic domains, the conclusion of the paper harps on the urgency to re-awake humane values for a better universe. However, for Third World nations, where the pandemic exposed vulnerability and dystopias, the urgent call remains the recovery of leadership and institutions which are in the throes of total collapse.

Karl Polanyi against postcolonial theory: beyond Eurocentric anti-Eurocentrism

AbstractPostcolonial theory has been at the forefront of attempts to remedy the problem of Eurocentrism. This article argues that postcolonial theory has not progressed far enough in successfully treating the problem of Eurocentrism, for it has not sufficiently abided by its own methodological underpinnings, i.e., it has not satisfactorily developed its own critique of the “presentist” conceptions of history. More precisely, postcolonial theory has not shown how to make a complete departure from the methodologically presentist conceptions of capitalism, which, in turn, limits our ability to overcome hierarchical readings of global modernity. To problematize and fill this gap, I take an unconventional tack, turning to a seldomly cited figure in debates on Eurocentrism: Karl Polanyi. I contend that although Polanyi places the origins of capitalist modernity in Europe, his historical sociology provides an alternative and more definitive solution for presentism and Eurocentrism. Polanyi’s rejection of the “economistic” and “dualistic” understandings of human life, his insistence on the commonality and diversity of human degradation in the face of capitalist modernity, and his historically specific conception of the “counter-movement” enable a decidedly non-presentist, non-triumphalist, and non-hierarchical narrative of the genesis and development of the modern present.

Colonial Slavery, the Lord-Bondsman Dialectic, and the St Louis Hegelians

AbstractHegel's lord-bondsman dialectic has been of especially great interest to progressive and radical Hegelians—broadly speaking, politically left-leaning interpreters of Hegel who object to certain social hierarchies and demand their abolition. They read Hegel as giving an account of how ‘lordship’ over others is an inherently unstable and unsatisfying social formation, even for its supposed beneficiaries. Marxists, feminists and post-colonial theorists have all found inspiration in Hegel's analysis of the lord and bondsman by applying it to concrete relations of oppression, such as capitalism, patriarchy, or racism. In contrast, recent scholarship on Hegel's views on race and colonialism has cast doubt on whether his systematic political philosophy and philosophy of history can be of similar use to progressives. Hegel was undeniably a Eurocentric thinker, but philosophers like Robert Bernasconi and Alison Stone have convincingly shown that he was also a racist and a defender of colonialism. Crucially, however, few of the scholars who write on Hegel's pro-colonialism have analysed this feature of Hegel's thought in connection with the lord-bondsman dialectic. In this article, I argue for two connected theses. First, I argue that contrary to the hopes of some progressive defenders of Hegel, we cannot easily separate the lord-bondsman dialectic from Hegel's pro-colonialism. This is because Hegel himself appealed to the lord-bondsman dialectic to argue that colonial slavery educated its victims, and could therefore be temporarily justified. Second, I argue that this pro-colonial reading of the dialectic, though largely ignored by contemporary interpreters, was in fact recognized and embraced by a group of Hegelians in North America known as the St Louis Hegelians. They used the lord-bondsman dialectic as a basis for a qualified defence of pre-Civil War American slavery.

Un-Tainting Ars Erotica: The Orient’s Perspective

This study examines the evolution of the Kama Sutra within the context of Hinduism and its subsequent misrepresentation through colonial interpretations, particularly focusing on the impact of Western scholar Sir Richard Francis Burton. Within Hinduism, the concept of Purusarthas encapsulates the foundational pursuits of human existence: Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. While Dharma, Artha, and Moksha have historically held elevated positions, Kama's significance has been marginalized over time. Originally an autonomous pillar akin to the other three, Kama underwent censorship and degradation, notably evidenced in the Manu Shastra, attributing its decline to a deviation from righteous living. The translation of the Kama Sutra into English by Burton in the 19th century propelled its misinterpretation globally, transforming it from a comprehensive guide celebrating love and fulfilment to a sensationalized sex manual. This shift obscured the text's spiritual essence and cultural context, perpetuating Orientalist stereotypes and reinforcing Western sexual fantasies. Burton's translation, influenced by colonial agendas, not only erased the agency of women but also distorted the original intentions of the text, presenting a skewed narrative that catered to Victorian ideals and patriarchal norms. This paper examines the translation, portrayal through the lens of Orientalism, and the intricate gender dynamics the Kama Sutra embodies. Employing critical frameworks of translation theory, feminist analysis, and postcolonial perspectives, this study reveals how the Kama Sutra, as a historical and sexual text, underwent transformation under the influence of Western cultural impositions. Through the prism of translation theory, the paper unravels the colonial lens shaping the Western interpretation, thereby altering the original text to fit Eurocentric ideals. The feminist analysis exposes the erasure of female agency within the text, reinforcing patriarchal norms rather than liberating women. This analysis engages post-colonial theories, notably Edward Said's Orientalism, to illuminate the intricate power dynamics entrenched in the colonial interaction. It exposes how the Western perspective imposed its cultural prism upon Eastern texts, perpetuating a dichotomy between the Occident and the Orient. This division rendered the East a subject of both fascination and apprehension, leading to a reductive depiction that obscured the multifaceted and nuanced tapestry of Eastern cultures. Additionally, the paper integrates feminist and post-colonial theories to comprehensively investigate the profound impact of this representation.

An Eco-heritage or an Eco-curse? - A Postcolonial Ecocritical Study of Helon Habila’s Oil on Water

Nigerian literature has been strewed with much political activism and ecological degradation. It has brought to the fore the connivance of oil companies, government agencies and a few members of the local communities in devouring the sacred land of Nigeria. The fictional literature of the Niger Delta takes into account the socio-cultural and political factors that revolve around the management of environmental problems in Nigeria. Rapid industrialization and excessive oil mining leave devastating ecological imprints on the flora, fauna and the landscape of the Delta. The fundamental issues of capitalism, globalisation, and exploitation of natural resources that cause the obliteration of Nigeria’s ecosystem are the themes of numerous literatures seeping out of the Niger Delta. Helon Habila’s Oil on Water works in the creative space to divert attention towards real-life issues that threaten the ecological sustenance of Niger Delta. The present paper analyses the novel by raising questions about the unethical practices being executed in the name of development. While being socio-ecologically intertwined, the novel also provides a postcolonial discourse on the corruption of moral order that plagues the fabric of Nigerian society.

Silent Processes in Higher Education: Examining Ableism Through an Ability‐Critical Lens

Universities are regarded as critical institutions that shape society, which on the one hand have a great influence on (successful) social processes, but on the other, are traditionally very privileged and exclusive places of education. Despite various demands to open up to plural perspectives, they are still strongly characterized by powerful, meritocratic, and discriminatory structures, cultures, and orders. (Social) inclusion efforts are always linked to the need to analyze processes of exclusion. This article therefore examines the question: Which ableist practices and culture of silence are revealed in the context of higher education and how can these be linked to the findings of postcolonial studies on the topic of silence? On the one hand, established perspectives (lecturers and students), but above all the perspectives of marginalized and unheard (groups of) people (lecturers with (learning) disabilities) are involved. The results from two group discussions (N = 9) with perspectives from these three different positions are presented to work out implicit and explicit processes of silence. The (power) theoretical reference is the concept of ableism, which is linked with (postcolonial) perspectives on the ideas of “silence” according to Brunner (2017a). This article emphasizes that, in addition to formal access restrictions to university education, there are also implicit barriers oriented towards non‐transparent ableist expectations of ability, which in turn (re‐)produce processes of silence. The case study concerns one German university and shows that formal access to higher education is only one aspect of reducing ableism; above all, it is the creation of transparent structures with regard to set ability expectations, critical‐reflective spaces, and a culture of “unlearning” biographically characterized ableist notions of normality. This article therefore focuses on the connection between ableist experiences and the findings of postcolonial discourses of silencing.

Being a good citizen in a postcolonial context: Justice-oriented citizenship implications of Nigerian teachers’ civic education ideologies

ABSTRACT Drawing on a Nigerian example and framed around postcolonial theory, this study explored teachers’ conceptions of a good citizen and civic education ideologies in postcolonial hybrid-identity contexts, using qualitative data collected from 21 civic education teachers. Results revealed that personally responsible and participatory citizenship ideologies, along with a communitarian perspective, dominate teachers’ beliefs about good citizenship and civic education, with participation in traditional African sociopolitical systems omitted. Justice-oriented citizenship was rarely emphasized. Teachers’ reference to social change as a civic education goal emphasized individuals’ responsibilities with limited consideration of structural impediments. Lessons learned include that civic education is used to maintain power structures; ethnocentrism, violence, and government’s non-accountability limit teachers’ engagement with critical citizenship; structural violations are excluded from human rights classroom discourses; active participation is centered at national spaces; and teachers frame leadership as the only efficient avenue for meaningful active participation. Consequently, the author recommends a rethinking of critical civic education to incorporate Indigenous civic practices and the realities of challenging asymmetric structures to better position the subject for justice-oriented citizenship and democracy development.

Going Nowhere, Being No One: Navigating Space and Identity in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea

Identity has arguably been the most prominent theme in the works of postcolonial theorists and has been approached from various viewpoints that generally fall into two groups: a melancholic idiom of ‘in-betweenness’ or a celebratory focus on hybridity and multiculturalism. These conceptions of identity implicitly rely on notions of (cultural) space as largely homogenous and demarcated by boundaries, which can either (I) exclude, resulting in artificial, essentialised identities and in-between non-identities, or (II) include, enabling connections that can result in multicultural assemblages. As such, they seem to reflect what Marie-Laure Ryan, Kenneth Foote and Maoz Azaryahu in their work Narrating Space/Spatializing Narrative (2016) have called the two principal ways for conceptualising space: space as container and space as network. For writer and theorist Stephen Clingman, however, these abstractions fail to reflect the complexity of reality in which spaces, and by extension identities, are culturally entangled rather than determined by a single culture or a composite of cultures. Consequently, he seeks to transcend these categories by emphasising identity as a transcultural process of linguistic and physical navigation; an idea he maps out in his revolutionary work The Grammar of Identity (2009) aided by an analysis of several novels, including Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (1966).

Power, discourse, and student agency in colonial education

This paper aims to glean valuable insights from critical pedagogy in order to apply them to the field of African literary studies. Specifically, I am interested in how approaches inspired by culturally responsive education can help us revisit the important but under-researched topic of student agency as it features in fictional works that deal with colonial education in Africa. Although colonial education in literature has been the subject of intense focus in postcolonial theory, such theorizations largely examine how colonial education reproduces colonial rule through the dissemination of colonial discourse/ideology. When student agency in the colonial education systems is addressed, conventional postcolonial theory sees it as being overwhelmed or assimilated by colonial discourse and power. Ideas emanating from critical pedagogy and culturally responsive education are of value here in that they can elucidate how students interact with and even resist the pedagogical and political power of the colonial education system. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s novel Weep Not, Child is an illustrative example of how such a critical-pedagogy-inspired approach can help us reorient literary studies of colonial education systems.

Some Reflections on Decolonizing Archaeology in a Fragmented World

ABSTRACT What has been achieved—or can realistically be achieved—by calls for the decolonization of archaeology? In the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean, as elsewhere, discourse about the past is often closely entangled with concerns of the present, and the idea of decolonizing archaeological practice in this war–torn region has particular relevance to its intractable ethic and political cultural conflicts. By more deeply examining the ideological roots and possible political outcomes of decolonized archaeology, this contribution attempts to contextualize the increasingly prominent intellectual trend of archaeological activism within the broader field of postcolonial theory and explores its relationship to other forms of authorized heritage discourse. This Forum showcases an essay by Neil Silberman that explores new frontiers in decolonizing archaeology and four book reviews of Yannis Hamiliakis and Raphael Greenberg’s timely book entitled: Archaeology, Nation, and Race: Confronting the Past, Decolonizing the Future in Greece and Israel.

Subversion of neo-imperialist hegemony: A postcolonial study of Red Birds by Mohammed Hanif

Although the erstwhile colonies in the Third World are free from the colonial occupation, the imperialist hegemony continues, to be resisted in the societies. For, such enterprise has provided the pretext for the concepts of ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ followed by occupation, a reign of violence and terror loosened upon the natives. This paper aims to study Red Birds (2018) a novel by Mohammed Hanif to highlight the plight of the ‘Other’ with their aggressive vitality and fervor of resistance to counter the imperialist agenda-hegemony. As qualitative research, it employs the postcolonial method, while seeking theoretical insights from the arguments of Orientalism by Edward Said, and the theory of hegemony by Antonio Gramsci to be interpretive in nature to analyze the text. It explores how the text, gleaned selectively from the novel offered, like Orientalism a fabric of textual analyses that is highly critical of the Eurocentric notions and hegemony of the Western world. It underlines the ways and practices sketched by the novel through the troubling encounter of the characters from the East to the West to offer a subversive narrative to the failure of the efforts and narratives of the West. For better analyses of the text to underline the American neo-imperialism and the native dreams of subversion, it takes to the tone of Gramscian precepts to conclude that the powerful subjugates through hegemony–the geo-political method used to gain indirect imperial dominance which is maintained mainly through ideology instead of using means like economic force, or coercive strategies.

Between Comparative and Postcolonial Studies: the Past and Future of Italian Approaches to East Slavic Literary Intersections

This contribution reflects on the state of comparative studies devoted to East Slavic literatures in Italy. Between the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, Italian scholars of Slavic studies and the editors of Italian journals have made a number of interesting proposals on the subject. However, hyper-specialization has often hampered efforts to put theory into practice. I foreground some of these important methodological contributions by Italian scholars on comparative Slavic studies and discuss them both in the international context and with reference to other methodologies and research fields, most notably postcolonial studies. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in February 2022, comparative studies at the crossroads of Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian cultures have become a thorny issue. Scholars should seek to strike a balance between a philological approach and the ethical need to respect the different cultural orientations of East Slavic nations.

Post-Colonial Feminist Perspectives In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Select Novels

Post-colonial literature as an extensive genre includes diasporic, immigrant feminist genres too. The advocate of Post-colonial theory Edward Said has proposed the concept of ‘otherness’. This is considered to be an important theory, especially for diasporas from South Asia bearing a colonial past. It also helps in understanding the effect of power relations between the colonizers and the colonized, the reason for otherness and alienation experienced by immigrants in their respective host lands. The representation of women as an object, sexual toys, and a maid before post-colonial had its transformation with the debut of postcolonial literature. Simon de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex had a huge effect on the readers in the transformation of stereotyped ideologies and myths about the female gender. Later with the advent of The Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, the females were made to think of their rights, independence, identity, and the need to achieve them. Many post-colonial feminist writers took it as their prime responsibility to propagate and advocate the rights, efficacies, and strengths of women to the patriarchal chauvinists. The writers who move from one country to another occupy significant positions between culture and countries. They realize that their culture or identity doesn’t remain the same as it was earlier. Identity evolves, grows, and is subject to many changes. The act of writing makes him/her explore both cultures of homeland and hostland. Memories of homeland are kept alive in his thoughts and imagination in fact, becomes a channel between the self and the world. (Shailja, 2008, 52)
 Post-colonial feminists, who work for the advancement of women, also challenge the assumption that the gendered oppression is the primary force of 23 patriarchy. They question the approbation of the oppression as it leads to the misrepresentation of their lived experiences. Currently, they struggle to fight the gender oppression within their own society to preserve and safeguard the dignity of their women. Thus, the concepts of freedom, equality, and rights to women, stem from the Enlightenment based on the egalitarian beliefs and principles and have become the main area of concern for the postcolonial feminists of today. In short, postcolonial feminism is not just literature written by women, but literature of women voicing their experiences from within. This principle has created a welcoming ambiance for many of the women writers in Indian Writing in English to use literature as a vehicle to present the true state of Indian society, its treatment of women, and the psychological traumas of women due to their own traditional and cultural barriers. To this school of post-colonial transformed feminist ideologies belong the works of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. This paper aims to discuss the reformed feministic perspectives with special reference to Sister of My Heart and Oleander Girl.

When the Home is not Homely: Postcolonial Realities and Emergence of Human Trafficking in Tina Okpara’s <i>My Life Has a Price and Ifeanyi Ajaegbo’s Sarah House</i>

Human trafficking has been investigated in different fields of scholarship, including psychology, sociology, history and economics. However, its depiction in twentyfirst-century Nigerian novels has not been given critical attention. Hence, this paper examines postcolonial indices fuelling the emergence and continuance of this challenge, as narrated in Tina Okpara’s My Life Has a Price and Ifeanyi Ajaegbo’s Sarah House, to investigate push-and-pull factors responsible for the growth of modern-day slavery. Deploying postcolonial theory, with emphasis on postcolonialist concepts like alterity, othering/ordering, unhomeliness, subalternisation and dislocation to examine power relations between human traffickers and trafficked victims in the selected narratives, it is revealed that the push-and-pull factors amplifying the proliferation of human trafficking in Okpara’s My Life has a Price and Ajaegbo’s Sarah House include poverty, connivance of security personnel with human traffickers, unemployment, family disintegration, leniency of the judiciary, death of the breadwinner, corruption and trafficked victims’ materialistic inclinations. In Sarah House and My Life Has a Price, the factors aid the dispossession, subalternisation, inbetweeness, othering/ ordering and ‘exotopy’ or ‘outsideness’ of victims. Among other narrative strategies, homodiegetic narrative focalisation and preponderant multiple settings are employed to foreground the objectivity of the narratives and the migritudinal temper and restless lifestyle of the victims.

Are tradition and modernity antagonistic? Ambedkar in and against the postcolonial project

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to demystify the antagonistic relationship between modernity and tradition as construed by Ashis Nandy. As a prominent voice in postcolonial scholarship, Nandy saw modernity as a colonial conception of rights, self, and society. Nandy’s critique of modernity laid the grounds for several projects that rejected the modern consensus for its colonial origins. Juxtaposing Nandy’s reiteration of early anti-modern nationalist thought with a multi-dimensional reading of colonial modernity in contemporary Ambedkarite scholarship, this paper explores the ambivalences of negotiating modern liberalism in a postcolonial order of hierarchical group identities. Despite the close imbrication of modernity with the imperial centre, Ambedkarite scholarship demonstrated how B.R. Ambedkar, synthesized a middle ground, where he incorporated the promise of modernity to liberate the ‘individual’ without dismissing the ‘communal’ collective self, construed by traditions. While postcolonial scholarship is heterogeneous, following Nandy, huge postcolonial melancholia has conflated modernity with coloniality. How do we rethink postcolonial theory from its current culturalist posturing to (re)claim the emancipatory potential of both modernity and tradition? Could it be that Nandy’s anxiety and discomfort with modernity fail to ‘contemporise theory’?