Bøker av Prem Poddar

The growing debate over British national identity, and the place of "e;Englishness"e; within it, raises crucial questions about multiculturalism, postimperial culture and identity, and the past and future histories of globalization. However, discussions of Englishness have too often been limited by insular conceptions of national literature, culture, and history, which serve to erase or marginalize the colonial and postcolonial locations in which British national identity has been articulated. This volume breaks new ground by drawing together a range of disciplinary approaches in order to resituate the relationship between British national identity and Englishness within a global framework. Ranging from the literature and history of empire to analyses of contemporary culture, postcolonial writing, political rhetoric, and postimperial memory after 9/11, this collection demonstrates that far from being parochial or self-involved, the question of Englishness offers an important avenue for thinking about the politics of national identity in our postcolonial and globalized world.

What is the relationship between the British colonial project and English literature in India? How did official pronouncements on the role of English in culture and education help define modern India? How can postcolonial theory contribute towards an understanding of this history and its aftermath? In this historical study, Prem Poddar shows how colonisers and the nationalists who succeeded them tended to inhabit the same discursive space. True difference and heterogeneity became the first casualty in the name of a united nation. The book details the ´civil violence´ of such policies in independent India. If the study of English is to remain relevant in ex-colonies like India, Poddar argues, it must take cognisance of postcolonial critiques that recognise other voices and locate English literature in its varied cultural and historical contexts. Violent Civilities will speak most obviously to scholars of English, India or postcolonial studies. But it is also for anyone interested in how contemporary academe can negotiate the relationship between national identity, language and culture.