Laura Chrisman

Postcolonial Theory and Criticism - Essays and Studies Laura Chrisman

Publisher Marketing: Contemporary postcolonial studies represent a controversial area of debate. This collection seeks a more pragmatic approach to the subject, taking into account its historical, social and political realities, rather than ignoring a consideration of material conditions. The contributors look at the oppositional power held and exercised by anti-colonial movements, a neglected topic; address the literary strategies devised by metropolitan writers to contain the insecurities of empire, given that unrest and opposition were integral to British imperialism; contest the charges of nativism and essentialism made by postcolonial critics against liberation writings; and investigate the voices of both inhabitants of post-independence nation states, and those scattered by colonialism itself. Dr LAURA CHRISMAN teaches at Sussex University; BENITA PARRY is Honorary Professor at Warwick University. Contributors: Vilashini Cooppan, Fernando Coronil, Gautam Premnath, Ato Quayson, Tim Watson, Lawrence Phillips, Sukhdev Sandhu

Contributor Bio:  Chrisman, Laura Gebreyesus Hailu (1906-1993) was a prominent and influential figure in the cultural and intellectual life of Eritrea during the Italian colonial period and in the post-Italian era in Africa. With a PhD in theology, he was vicar general of the Catholic Church in Eritrea and played several important roles in the Ethiopian government, including that of cultural attache at the Ethiopian Embassy in Rome, member of the national academy of language, and advisor to the Ministry of Information of the Ethiopian government. Hailu's novel, The Conscript, is based on a true story of Eritrean conscripts deployed to Libya by the Italians, whom Hailu met on his way to study in Italy. Contributor Bio:  Parry, Benita Parry is an Associate Fellow in the English Department of Warwick University.