Ideology in Postcolonial Texts and Contexts reflects that critiques of ideological formations occur within intersecting social, political, and cultural configurations where each position is in itself ‘ideological’ – and subject to asymmetrical power relations. Postcolonialism has become an object of critique as
ideology, but postcolonial studies’ highly diversified engagement with ideology remains a strong focus that exceeds
Ideologiekritik. Fourteen contributors from North America, Africa, and Europe focus (I) on the complex relation between postcolonialism, postcolonial theory, and conceptualizations of ideology, (II) on ideological formations that manifest themselves in very specific postcolonial contexts, highlighting the potential continuities between colonial and postcolonial ideology, and (III) on further expanding and complicating the nexus of postcolonial ideology, from veiling as both ideological practice and individual resistance to home as ideological construct; from palimpsestic readings of colonial photography to aesthetics as ideology.
Katja Sarkowsky holds the Chair of American Studies at Augsburg University and is the author of
Narrating Citizenship and Belonging in Anglophone Canadian Literature (2018).
Mark Stein runs the National and Transnational Studies Programme at Münster University, where he has held the Chair of English Studies since 2006. Book publications include
The Cambridge History of Black and Asian British Writing (2020, co-ed. Susheila Nasta).
"[...] the volume offers interesting case studies and meta-critical discussions of ideology – a term that is not only central for postcolonialism, but also crucial in dealing with a public sphere so keen on dividing, judging, and (dis)liking."
- Sarah Heinz and Kevin Potter in
Anglistik 33:3 (2022), Universitätsverlag WINTER Heidelberg
All interested in the study of ideology, postcolonialism, and globalisation in cultural production, from critiques of global capitalism to literary prizes; from censorship and crime fiction to language standards.