Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been published in more than 25 languages worldwide. The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics in history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. Over the next few years it will grow to a library of around 200 volumes - a Very Short Introduction to everything from ancient Egypt and Indian philosophy to conceptual art and cosmology. Very Short Introductions available now: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas Simon Critchley THE ANGLO-SAXON ACE COSMOLOGY Peter Coles John Blair CRYPTOGRAPHY ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia Fred Piper and Sean Murphy ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn DADA AND SURREALISM ARCHITECTURE David Hopkins Andrew Ballantyne DARWIN Jonathan Howard ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick ART HISTORY Dana Arnold DESCARTES Tom Sorell ARTTH EORY Cynthia Freeland DRUGS Leslie Iversen THE HI STORY OF TH E EARTH Martin Redfern ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY ATHEISM Julian Baggini Geraldine Pinch AUG U STIN E Henry Chadwick EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BARTHES Jonathan Culler BRITAIN Paul Langford THE BIBLE John Riches THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball BRITISH POLITICS EMOTION Dylan Evans Anthony Wright EMPIRE Stephen Howe BUDDHA Michael Carrithers ENGELS Terrell Carver BUDDHISM Damien Keown ETHICS Simon Blackburn CAPITALISM James Fulcher THE EUROPEAN UNION THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe John Pinder CHOICE THEORY EVOLUTION Michael Allingham Brian and Deborah Charlesworth CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson FASCISM Kevin Passmore CLASSICS Mary Beard and THE FRENCH REVOLUTION John Henderson William Doyle CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard FREUD Anthony Storr THE COLD WAR GALILEO Stillman Drake Robert McMahon GANDHI BhikhuParekh GLOBALIZATION PLATO Julia Annas Manfred Steger POLITICS Kenneth Minogue HEGEL Peter Singer POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY H El DEGGER Michael Inwood David Miller HINDUISM KimKnott POSTCOLONIALISM HISTORY John H.Arnold Robert Young HOBBES Richard Tuck POSTMODERNISM HUME A.J.Ayer Christopher Butler I DEO LOGY Michael Freeden POSTSTRUCTURALISM INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Catherine Belsey Sue Hamilton PREHISTORY ChrisGosden INTELLIGENCE IanJ. Deary PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY ISLAM Malise Ruthven Catherine Osborne J U DAI SM Norman Solomon PSYCHOLOGY Gillian Butler and JUNG Anthony Stevens Freda McManus KANT Roger Scruton QUANTUM THEORY KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner John Polkinghorne THE KORAN Michael Cook ROMAN BRITAIN PeterSalway LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews RO U SS E AU Robert Wokler LITERARY THEORY RUSSELL A. C Grayling Jonathan Culler RUSSIAN LITERATURE LOCKE John Dunn Catriona Kelly LOGIC Graham Priest THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner S. A. Smith MARX Peter Singer SCHIZOPHRENIA MATH EMATI CS Timothy Cowers Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone MEDIEVAL BRITAIN SCHOPENHAUER John Cillingham and Christopher Janaway Ralph A. 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R.Tomlinson THE BRAIN MichaelO'Shea HUMAN EVOLUTION BUDDHIST ETHICS Bernard Wood Damien Keown INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CHAOS Leonard Smith Paul Wilkinson CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead JAZZ Brian Morton CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy MA N D E LA Tom Lodge CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE MEDICAL ETHICS Robert Tavernor Tony Hope CLONINC Arlene Judith Klotzko THE MIND Martin Davies CONTEMPORARY ART MYTH Robert Segal Julian Stallabrass NATIONALISM StevenGrosby THE CRUSADES PERCEPTION Richard Gregory Christopher Tyerman PHILOSOPHYOF RELIGION D E R RI DA Simon Glendinning Jack Copeland and Diane Proudfoot DESIGN JohnHeskett PHOTOGRAPHY DINOSAURS David Norman Steve Edwards DREAMING J. Allan Hobson THE RAJ DenisJudd ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta THE RENAISSANCE THE END OF THE WORLD Jerry Brotton Bill McGuire RENAISSANCE ART EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn Geraldine Johnson THE FIRST WORLD WAR SARTR E Christina Howells Michael Howard THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR FREEWILL Thomas Pink Helen Graham FUNDAMENTALISM TRAGEDY Adrian Poole Malise Ruthven THE TWENTIETH CENTURY H A B E RMAS Gordon Finlayson Martin Conway For more information visit our web site www.oup.co.uk/vsi Robert J. C. Young POST- COLONIALISM A Very Short Introduction OXJORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dares Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sao Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Robert J. C. Young 2003 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as a Very Short Introduction 2003 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 0-19-280182-1 3579 10 864 Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd., Padstow, Cornwall For Yasmine Contents Acknowledgements x list of illustrations xiii Introduction: Montage 1 1 Subaltern knowledge 9 2. History and power, from below and above 26 3 Space and land 45 4 Hybridity 69 5 Postcolonial feminism 93 D Globalization from a postcolonial perspective 121 / Translation 138 References 148 Further reading 157 Index 169