Political Modernity in the Postcolony.pdf (original) (raw)
Postcolonial Modernity and the Rest of History
Postcolonial Moves: Medieval through Modern, 2003
Postcolonial studies have often based their critiques of colonialism on critiques of modernity. As a result, they tend to limit their purview to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The essay collection "Postcolonial Moves" challenges these conventional limits by questioning prevailing assumptions about periodization. This essay is an introduction to postcolonial studies from the perspective of medieval studies.
Postmodern politics and the battle for the future
New Political Science, 1998
The postmodern turn which has so marked social and cultural theory also involves conflicts between modern and postmodern politics. In this study, we articulate the differences between modern and postmodern politics and argue against one-sided positions which dogmatically reject one tradition or the other in favor of partisanship for either the modern or the postmodern. Arguing for a politics of alliance and solidarity, we claim that this project is best served by drawing on the most progressive elements of both the modern and postmodern traditions. Developing a new politics involves overcoming the limitations of certain versions of modern politics and postmodern identity politics in order to develop a politics of alliance and solidarity equal to the challenges of the coming millennium. ******* In the past two decades, the foundational claims of modern politics have been challenged by postmodern perspectives. The grand visions of emancipation in liberalism, Marxism, and other political perspectives of the modern era have been deemed excessively totalizing and grandiose, occluding differences and neglecting more specific oppressions of individuals and disparate groups. The liberal project of providing universal rights and freedoms for all has been challenged by specific groups struggling for their own rights, advancing their own specific interests, and championing the construction of their own cultures and identities. The Marxian project of revolution, worldwide and global in scope, has been replaced in some quarters by more localized struggles and more modest and reformist goals. The result is a variety of new forms of postmodern politics whose discourses, practices, and effects we shall interrogate in this study. In our view, the contemporary world is undergoing major transformations and the discourse of the postmodern serves to call attention to the changes and novelties of the present moment. In this context, the postmodern turn in politics describes the new forms of political conflict and struggle. The present conjuncture is highly ambiguous, positioning those in the overdeveloped Western and Northern areas between the era of modernity and a new epoch for which the term postmodernity has been coined, while people in other parts of the world are still living in premodern social and cultural forms, and on the whole the developing world exists in a contradictory matrix of premodern, modern, and postmodern forms. The rapid transformation of the world and development of novel cultural forms generates new dangers, such as the potential loss of the modern traditions of humanism, the Enlightenment, and radical social traditions, as well as innovative possibilities, such as emerge from new technologies, new identities, and new political struggles. The old theories, concepts, modes of thought and analysis, will only go so far in theorizing, analyzing, and mapping the emerging constellations, thus requiring novel modes of thought, strategies, discourses, and practices. Accordingly, in addition to the transformations in
Academia Letters, 2021
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the concept of postsocialism became prominent in various academic discourses. Postsocialism, as a term, was used in relation to the former members of the USSR and other socialist countries in Europe and Asia. These public utterances arose amid a new naming and analysis of a 'neoliberalism after socialism in Europe and Asia' and 'decolonialism in the postsocialist and capitalist Europe and Asia'. How did all these constructions, practices, and discourses intersect? To put it differently, was postsocialism only associated with Europe and Asia, and how were neoliberalism and decolonialism analysed under the auspices of the term 'postsocialist'? As I write, the contemporary debates on postsocialism redefine the concept from multiple perspectives. Instead of re-evaluating postsocialism within the monolithic framework which is to associate postsocialism with the former members of the USSR and other socialist countries in Europe and Asia, contemporary debates reshape the concept around the diversity of socialisms and postsocialisms. This is the broader context for 'Postsocialist Politics and the Ends of Revolution', published by the journal-Social Identities in 2018. In the 'Introduction', editors, Atanasoski and Vora explore postsocialism as an analytic term that has the capacity to reshape "teleological narratives of oppositional consciousness tangled to a need for a change or revolution" (p. 141). Their focus is well taken. One part of the conclusion and agreement in these elusive articles is this: postsocialism is not a monolith of solid, unified knowledge, and therefore, postsocialism allows for space to collaborate through current legacies of different socialisms in the present. By applying di
Political Geography, 2006
failure. The future points to more complex Islamic identities, and that requires a leap of faith, but it does not mean the end of Muslim civilization'' (p. 209). In general, the author succeeds in his stated objectives, although themes such as the politics of paralysis may obscure the broader view he presents. The book provides a valuable synthesis of issues influencing the Middle East. Its best use may be as a supplemental text for graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses in Middle East studies and other thematic disciplines.