A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures - Continental Europe and its Empires

by Poddar, Prem; Patke, Rajeev; Jensen, Lars

• ISBN13: 9780748623945
• ISBN10: 0748623949
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-07-02
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Summary

Regional Editors: John Beverley, Charles Forsdick, Pierre-Philippe Fraiture, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Theo Dh'aen, Lars Jensen, Birthe Kundrus, Elizabeth Monasterios, Phillip RothwellThis volume complements A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures in English(Edinburgh, 2005) and is the first reference to integrate an authoritative body of work on the political, cultural, and economic contexts of postcolonial literatures originating in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Latin America, and the Philippines. Comprehensive in its geographical scope, the Companionextends from South America and the Caribbean to Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. It accommodates the literatures and histories of regions in which Europe merges into Asia, as in the cases of Turkey and Russia, and includes essays on the Jewish Diaspora and our current "clash of civilizations".Written by recognized scholars in postcolonial studies, entries cover major events, ideas, movements, and figures. Topics range from Europe's overseas exploration, settlement, and colonization to decolonization and highlight the relevance of colonial histories to the cultural, social, political, and literary formations of contemporary postcolonial societies and nations. Each entry provides a succinct account of an event or topic and suggests further reading in literary works and histories. By outlining the historical contexts of postcolonial literatures, this volume is essential to decoding complex debates on race, politics, economics, colonialism and neo-colonialism, and culture and language.Key Features *Addresses European empires in a new and integrated way *Relates the colonial past to the postcolonial present *Brings literary and historical texts and contexts into contact for the first time *Includes maps, a detailed chronology, lists for further reading, and author/subject indexes

Author Biography

Prem Poddar is Alexander von Humboldt Senior Fellow at the Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin.

Rajeev Patke is Director of the Division of Humanities at the Yale-NUS College, Singapore.

Lars Jensen is Lecturer at Cultural Encounters at the Roskilde University.