Postcolonialism: Very Short Introduction by Robert Young
Postcolonialism is a critical academic study of the cultural, political, and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism. In this book, Robert J. C. Young examines the key strategies that postcolonial thought has developed to engage with the impact of western political and cultural domination.
He draws on examples such as the status of indigenous peoples, those dispossessed from their land, Algerian rai music, and global social and ecological movements.
The book explores the political, social, and cultural effects of decolonization, continuing the anti-colonial challenge to western dominance. Young argues that postcolonialism offers a political philosophy of activism that contests the current situation of global inequality, which in a new way continues the anti-colonial struggles of the past and enables us to decolonize our own lives in the present.
The main themes of the book include the negotiation of two identities, the split consciousness of being both yet neither completely; the multiple identities or solidarities; or in extreme cases, reassertion of native cultural identity as manifest in cultural fundamentalism. The book also discusses the history and key debates of postcolonialism and considers its importance as a means of changing the way we think about the world.
What I Liked
It’s a Very Short Introduction, so everything. It’s concise, well-sourced, readable, and useful.
What I Did Not Like
Nothing – VSIs are always worthwhile.
