Neil Lazarus' "Nationalism and Cultural Practice in the Postcolonial World" (Book Note)

 

"Nationalism and Cultural Practice in the Postcolonial World" serves as a self-consciously Marxist endeavor within the realm of postcolonial studies, seeking to offer a historical materialist alternative to the prevalent idealist and dehistoricizing approaches dominating the field. This critical stance, according to Lazarus, responds to what he perceives as the high cost incurred by postcolonial scholarship due to its premature dismissal of systematic theory. Ahmad's "In Theory" emerges as a direct contender, yet Lazarus distinguishes his work by aligning, akin to Fredric Jameson, with a commitment to acknowledging the genuine insights of postcolonial criticism while demonstrating the superior conceptual breadth of Marxism.

 

The first chapter, titled "Modernity, Globalization, and the ‘West,’" vigorously defends a fundamental Marxist principle—the categorical primacy of capitalism as the enduring and systemic force shaping modernity, globalization, and the West. Lazarus contends that theories giving precedence to these terms over capitalism succumb to various forms of idealism and tend to overestimate present restructurings, leading to sensationalistic or exaggerated philosophical conclusions. The crux of the book lies in the second chapter, "Disavowing Decolonization: Nationalism, Intellectuals, and the Question of Representation in Postcolonial Theory." Here, a significant struggle unfolds over Fanon's legacy, pitting tendentious poststructuralist appropriations by Bhabha against Miller's argument that Fanon's representation of Africans is an ethnocentric imposition akin to colonialism itself. Lazarus critiques Fanon's "intellectualism" while cautiously avoiding a complete dismissal, highlighting the danger of "intellectualist anti-intellectualism" that prematurely rejects all representation, collapsing diverse nationalisms without regard for their ideological distinctions or consequences.

 

Lazarus frequently accuses those advocating readings too subtle for a comprehensive framework like Marxism of "empirical insufficiency." He consistently emphasizes real-world implications and concludes the chapter with an ode to the enduring value of successful decolonization struggles.

 

The Introduction exhibits some rhetorical and strategic shortcomings—raising the question of whether Adorno is the most fitting starting point for this project. The chapter dedicated to cricket and C. L. R. James appears somewhat disjointed, and the final chapter on Afropop lacks the necessary forcefulness to deliver a conclusive impact. Although these concluding chapters offer interesting insights, they fall short of providing a compelling and transformative model for the future of postcolonial studies. The emphatic affirmations of the socialist anti-imperialist tradition, concluding several chapters, do not entirely seem sufficient to dispel or navigate us through the postcolonial uncertainty that gave rise to academic "postcolonialism" in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

Francoise Lionnet & Shu-mei Shih (eds.), "Minor Transnationalism" (Book Note)

 "Minor Transnationalism" presents a compelling collection of essays that addresses the often overlooked cultural experiences in transnationalism, emphasizing the significance of the term "minor" in the context of this volume. The central concern, as eloquently articulated in the introduction, revolves around the failure of globalization and transnationality theories to inherently validate minority subjects. Even in models that stress lateral and nonhierarchical networks, the gravitational pull of the center establishes a binary framework for studying the minor.

 

The collection challenges the prevalent tendency to perceive minorities as extraneous to the nation, highlighting that they are integral to the national imaginary with legitimate perspectives. The transnational, encompassing diaspora and multicultural polity, is examined without resorting to utopian/dystopian readings or romanticized counter-critical models. The transnational, as argued by Lionnet and Shu-Mei Shih, transcends the binary of the local and the global, manifesting across various spatialities and temporalities.

 

Minority cultures are positioned within the transnational moment, necessitating nuanced analysis and critique of their "productive relationship" with major and minor networks. The essays delve into the permanent presence of minorities within nations, emphasizing their struggles, anxieties, and the need for redefinition. The volume probes how minor transnationals seek recognition as full citizens and transform token cultural representations into integral components of national culture.

 

Organized into four sections—(1) theorizing, (2) historicizing, (3) reading, writing, performing, and (4) spatializing—the collection comprises fourteen essays. The essays cover a range of topics, from Suzanne Gearhart's exploration of the ambivalent structuring of subjectivity in the West to David Palumbo-Liu's return to aesthetics as a site for judging emotional orders. Two standout essays—Françoise Lionnet's exploration of translating Shakespeare in Mauritius and Ali Behdad's examination of postcolonial theory through a purposeful "misreading"—exemplify the collection's depth and significance.

 

The transcultural dimensions of literary production are reexamined, moving beyond traditional binaries and hierarchies. The collection advocates for a lateral postcolonial reading that emphasizes the interconnectedness of minor literatures without the necessity of passing through a metropolitan center. Lionnet's case study of the Indo-Mauritian Creole writer Dev Virahsawmy highlights the complexities of linguistic politics in Mauritius, illustrating how Creole becomes an indispensable language for expressing Mauritian emotions amid state efforts to compartmentalize the population.

 

Lionnet's exploration of Dev Virahsawmy's Creole play "Toufann" provides a fascinating lens through which to examine the dynamics of 'minor' literature and its deviation from hierarchical and center-oriented postcolonial theories. The play, partly dedicated to Lionnet, challenges conventional notions by utilizing a 'minor' language, Creole, to express local realities and resist diasporic nostalgia.

 

The title, "Toufann," carrying both Hindi and Creole semantics, disrupts fixed canons and showcases the resilience and openness of Creole as a subaltern language. Lionnet underscores Creole's unique position as a language of hybrid identities, lacking external cultural history, and serving as a symbol of 'transcolonial' solidarity. The play's significance lies in regional connections between texts rather than a vertical engagement with canonical influences.

 

Virahsawmy's use of Creole, with its rich cultural connotations, underscores the play's immediate relevance to local culture and politics. The essay highlights how Virahsawmy skillfully incorporates elements from Bollywood cinema into the narrative, reinforcing the play's grounding in Mauritian cultural dynamics. Unlike a mere condemnation of Shakespeare's portrayal of Caliban, "Toufann" delves into the reconstructions of characters, questioning the morality of the local state.

 

Ali Behdad extends these insights into a broader theoretical discussion of 'minor' literature. He critiques prevailing postcolonial theory language, emphasizing opposition, hegemony, resistance, and exile, for oversimplifying complex imperial and post-imperial situations. Behdad challenges the romanticization of exile, highlighting its often painful and non-redemptive aspects. He advocates for a more nuanced examination of specific manifestations of transnational formations, urging a shift from displacement-focused narratives.

 

Behdad's analysis draws on the work of historians and sociologists to stress the importance of contextualizing the lives of migrants within specific historical and geographical frameworks. He critiques postcolonial critics for prioritizing theories of displacement over location, arguing that this approach overlooks the contingent and uneven nature of transnational flows. In revisiting Driss Chraïbi's novel, Behdad demonstrates how a historical and localized perspective enriches our understanding of the complexities inherent in transnational experiences.

Reina Lewis, "Gendering Orientalism:Race, Femininity and Representation" (Book Note)

 

Gendering Orientalism investigates the overtly orientalist paintings of French artist Henriette Browne and the implicitly orientalist portrayal of Jews as the orientalized Other in George Eliot's novel Daniel Deronda to trace the gendered agency of these cultural producers and its contribution to the imperial project. Lewis utilizes contemporary art criticism to examine the racialization of gender discourses and the gendering of race discourses. She argues that the production and interpretation of culture in nineteenth-century France and Britain were shaped by the construction and exclusion of a racialized and orientalized other. The complexities of women's imperial positionings in the second half of the nineteenth century are unraveled, exploring their simultaneous positioning within different experiences of imperialism, gender, class, and in relation to discourses of creativity. In this context, 'race, femininity, and representation' are interwoven constitutive elements in processes of both affirmation and negation. Lewis contends that women's differentiated gendered access to the positionalities of imperial discourse generated a gaze on the Orient and orientalized 'other' that registered difference less categorically than Edward Said's orientalism.

 

Chapters 1 and 2 serve as introductions, establishing the groundwork for a critique of Said's orientalist thesis. Lewis draws on Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak to emphasize the necessity of considering imperialism in nineteenth-century Britain due to its role in constituting England to the English. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on Henriette Browne and her depictions of nuns and harems, with Chapter 3 exploring the gendered, generic, and national aspects of Browne's work. Lewis argues that Browne's authorial persona was constructed from responses to her major paintings, delineating a class-, gender-, and nation-specific persona focusing on her representation of female labor, sexuality, and space. Chapter 4, 'Only women should go to Turkey: Henriette Browne and the female Orientalist gaze,' marks a departure from Said's totalizing and masculinist thesis on Orientalism.

 

In Chapter 5, Lewis examines how her reformulations of the orientalist gaze can reshape the analysis of George Eliot's representation of racial difference in Daniel Deronda. Lewis demonstrates how Eliot's anti-discriminatory project relies on an orientalist construction of the Jewish other. Introducing Freud's concept of the 'uncanny,' Lewis discusses the repulsion readers feel for the character Daniel as a Jew based on the unpleasant confrontation with repressed elements of their own unconsciousness. Jews in Daniel Deronda are presented as the uncanny, simultaneously representing a projection of the self and something alien to the self. While enjoyable, this chapter, with its cursory use of Freudian analysis, feels somewhat appended at the end of the book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meyda Yegenoglu's "Colonial Fantasies:Towards a Feminist Reading of Orientalism" (Book Note)

 

In "Colonial Fantasies," Yegenoglu posits that the complex impacts of orientalism and its agents cannot be simply dismissed as a challenge to hegemonic power or the unity of the Orientalist tradition. Yegenoglu's primary focus in revising Said is on the veil, employing a Lacanian psychoanalytic approach. She argues that the veil functions as a prototypical orientalist and modernist fantasy. In the imagination of Western male observers, the veil fetishizes the "oriental" woman while simultaneously rendering the observer invisible, especially to himself. This usage of the veil in orientalist discourse is likened to the fantasy of the liberal, autonomous Western subject and is integral to the discursive dynamics that establish a sovereign subject for the West.

 

Yegenoglu's essays draw on a range of scholars, including Nietzsche, Derrida, and Bhabha, emphasizing the centrality of the unconscious in feminist analyses of orientalism. The veil serves as a heuristic site for exploring colonial desire and sexuality in her work.

 

However, the passage notes certain drawbacks in Yegenoglu's writing, including repetitiveness and the potential loss of critical points in extensive genealogical expositions of scholars like Robert Young and Judith Butler. Yegenoglu is criticized for rarely addressing specific historical events, with the exception of a brief examination of the resistance of Algerian women during the struggle for independence from the French. Notably, her treatment of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's harem writings aligns well with Lewis's analysis of Browne's travels to Turkey. Together, these discussions highlight that, for many Westerners since the eighteenth century, "the Orient" was often conceptualized as the vast Ottoman Empire, accessible both imaginatively and geographically due to its proximity to Europe.

 

In a brief exploration of more recent instances where Western female observers subjected "Eastern" women to scrutiny, Yegenoglu specifically addresses Ruth Woodsmall's writings from the 1930s and Juliette Minces's from the 1980s. Her aim is to critique Western feminism's association with the enduring legacy of academic and popular orientalism. While sympathetic to this project, the author expresses a desire for greater precision regarding the identities and political commitments of Woodsmall and Minces, and how they represent Western feminism across different historical contexts. Without such details, the critique appears somewhat arbitrary, potentially diminishing its effectiveness.

 

However, Yegenoglu provides a captivating narrative on how Mustafa Kemal utilized women's attire as a symbol of modernity within the framework of programmatic nationalism in twentieth-century Turkey. The discussion around "feminist orientalists" raises curiosity about applying the psychoanalytic framework developed in the initial part of the book to this specific scopic regime of modernity. Doing so could unveil the intricate dynamics of sexual desire that Yegenoglu compellingly argues for, shedding light on its presence not only in imperialist projects but also in nationalist and anticolonialist endeavors.

 

 

 

 

 

Maggie Kilgour, "From Communion to Cannibalism: An Anatomy of Metaphors of Incorporation"(Book Note)

 

From Communion to Cannibalism undertakes an exploration of metaphors of incorporation across various Western literary traditions, drawing on psychoanalysis, literary criticism, and religious studies. Starting with the binary oppositions emphasized in structuralist and post-structuralist frameworks, she particularly delves into the inside/outside antithesis and its totalizing tendency to transform outsiders into insiders in Western thought. Kilgour analyzes the metaphor of the host, uncovering the potential for cannibalism in the Eucharist sacrament.

 

In the first chapter, titled "Classical Incremental Visions," Kilgour examines metaphors of consumption in the Odyssey and Ovid's Metamorphoses, tracing the transformation of the Golden Age from Homer's depiction to Ovid's vision of dismembered individual identity. Moving to Christian metaphors, the second chapter, "The Word and Flesh," explores the concept of incarnation in Augustine and Dante, mediating oppositions between letter/flesh and spirit, inside/outside. The third chapter, "The Reformation of the Host," analyzes the unsettling of this delicate balance by Rabelais, Ben Jonson, and Milton, with Milton embodying a form of cannibalism where ultimate authority shifts from outside to inside.

 

Chapter four, "Under the Sign of Saturn," explores the transition from medieval communion to modern individualism, focusing on Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. Kilgour argues that the modern individual is a fractured melancholic, differentiating identity from various others while nostalgically hoping for an unassimilable outside. This understanding informs chapter five, "The Reformed Deformed," examining the Gothic novel and the works of Coleridge and Melville.

 

The book, titled "From Communion to Cannibalism," concludes ironically with "In Which Everything Is Included and Nothing Concluded," echoing the introduction's "The Text That Ate the World." Kilgour turns to theorists Freud and Frye to explore the structured opposition between inside and outside in texts and the methods of approaching texts. The conclusion suggests avenues for further study, including cross-cultural examinations of metaphors of consumption in various cultural contexts, such as Indian literature. The book is praised for its insightful analysis and saucy sense of humor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Francis Barker et.al (eds), "Colonial Discourse/Postcolonial Theory" (Book Note)

 

Colonial Discourse, Postcolonial Theory  begins with an editorial introduction that traces the chronology of postcolonial studies, summarizes the theoretical ambiguities surrounding the terms 'colonial discourse' and 'postcolonial theory,' and outlines the main points of the contributions. Barbara McClintock questions the utility of the term 'postcolonialism' in a diasporic, neo-colonial world. While the papers cover a variety of topics, they can be broadly categorized into three themes: autoethnography and transculturation, hybridity and identity, and nationalism and minority cultures.

 

In the realm of autoethnography and transculturation, Mary Pratt introduces the concept of the 'contact zone,' exploring the space where the colonized respond and resist colonial intervention. She uses Guaman Poma's 1613 New Chronicle and the 1980 tabla de Sarhua as examples of autoethnographic texts, where the colonized reimagine themselves through the idioms of the colonizing power. Annie Coombes examines the Benin bronzes to illustrate how museums and exhibitions may inadvertently reinforce or conceal the asymmetries of colonial power while emphasizing hybridity and heterogeneity in postcolonial conditions. Zita Nunes delves into Brazil's modernista movement in the 1920s, highlighting its political project to establish a national identity independent of European models while contending with a modernist ethnographic discourse on miscegenation and racial hierarchization.

 

The theme of hybridity and identity is explored by Simon During, who analyzes Enlightenment antifiliative theory in Rousseau and Diderot as embedded in processes of 'self-othering.' Peter Hulme uses the novel Wide Sargasso Sea to demonstrate how postcolonial readings can be reconstructed by acknowledging the multiple local histories and identities impacting global culture. Gayatri Spivak contrasts R. K. Narayan's The Guide with its later filmed version, examining the 'neocolonial traffic in cultural identity' through the interplay of English and vernacular languages. David Lloyd seeks to redefine the distinctions between 'minority discourse' and 'ethnic culture,' transforming both concepts for self-critique.

 

The third theme, nationalism and minority cultures, is addressed by Graham Pechey, who shows how the emancipatory project outlined in South Africa's 1955 Freedom Charter has been overshadowed by micro-political practices in the 'post-Apartheid' state. Benita Parry, contrary to Pechey, argues for the indispensability of anti-colonial nationalism to the decolonizing project, emphasizing the political strengths of 'nativism.' Neil Lazarus revisits Fanon's critique of bourgeois nationalism while leaving space for 'nationalitarian' consciousness. Renato Rosaldo critiques Benedict Anderson using the Ilongots in the Philippines, proposing 'cultural citizenship' as a way to reconcile nationalitarian solidarity and ethnic diversity.

Utsa Patnaik and Prabhat Patnaik "Capitalism and Imperialism" (Book Note)

 

Capitalism and Imperialism traces the historical trajectory of capitalism highlighting its intrinsic connection with colonialism and imperialism. The prevailing economic narratives, critiqued by the authors, have often presented a one-sided view, assuming that capitalism can be comprehended in isolation, divorced from its indispensable ties to colonial exploits and the abundant resources derived from colonization that propelled its trajectory.

 

The authors aim to rectify this historical oversight, asserting that traditional economics has suffered from a blind spot arising from its development primarily within metropolitan settings. The book is structured into six parts, with the initial four sections delving into the theoretical dimensions of the capitalism-colonialism nexus and the evolution of capitalism until the post-World War II era. The latter two segments expound upon the transformations in the post-war and neoliberal periods, dissecting the nuanced shifts in capitalism over time.

 

The historical epochs of capitalism are categorized into five stages: the pre-World War I era, the interwar period, the post-World War II "Golden Age of Capitalism," the era of globalization, and the recent years marked by a resurgence of perennial crises within capitalism, signaling an impasse. Throughout these periods, the book underscores the pivotal yet dynamic role played by colonialism and imperialism, serving as the common thread binding the various phases of capitalism's development. According to the authors, the prosperity of metropolitan centers in the narrative is intricately linked to the assistance provided by colonial and imperialistic plunder.

 

The core argument of the book challenges the conventional wisdom held by mainstream economists, who posit that money in the form of wealth is an anomaly due to its perceived inability to generate profits. In contrast, the authors contend that, historically, this has never been the case within capitalism. They set out to demonstrate that the persistent demand for wealth in the form of money poses a continual threat to the progression of capitalism. In the absence of external stimuli, capitalism in isolation would stagnate. These external stimuli, identified as pre-capitalist markets, state expenditures, and innovations, are crucial for sustaining capitalism on an ever-expanding scale. The authors emphatically reject the notion of capitalism as a self-contained and perpetual system.

 

The authors commence their examination of capitalism by characterizing it as a monetary system, asserting that it not only employs money for transactions but also for wealth accumulation. They argue that many economic schools fail to recognize capitalism's use of money to amass wealth, leading to the imperative of preserving the value of money. This is achieved through income deflation on the supply price of commodities, historically realized through imperialism. Imperialism, as defined by the authors, entails a relationship between capitalism and its environment, emphasizing the imposition of a regime that enforces income deflation to avert the threat of rising supply prices. Through colonial subjugation and plunder, the metropole aimed to maintain a stable supply price of raw materials.

 

The book meticulously traces the enduring centrality of imperialism to capitalism, acknowledging its evolving forms. In the post-war boom era dominated by Keynesian economics, imperialism's income deflation strategies were replaced by state-driven measures, sustaining demand in the metropolis while maintaining a trade balance favoring advanced capitalist nations. Following decolonization, nationalist policies empowered the local bourgeoisie with dirigiste regimes. However, in the neoliberal phase, the local bourgeoisie, once reined in by decolonized states, actively participates in the international finance system.

 

The concluding parts of the book delve into the current scenario, accompanied by the rise of neo-fascist politics, and advocate for a revitalized Left to counteract such trends. However, these sections are considered the weakest in the book. While the prognosis is largely accurate, the authors' visions of transformative politics are criticized as somewhat narrow. The authors contend that the economic order in decolonized states favored the local bourgeoisie, but nationalist policies also benefited petty producers, peasants, and craftsmen. Yet, with the integration of the big bourgeoisie into the neoliberal order, the plight of these groups has worsened, evident in recent protests against farm laws favoring the big bourgeoisie. The withdrawal of these laws highlighted the antagonistic relationship between the neoliberal regime and the masses of decolonized states. The big bourgeoisie now aligns with metropolitan capital, promoting the "opening up" of the world for free capital and goods flows, to the detriment of peasants, petty producers, and small capitalists.