Introduction: Decolonising Gothic

Abstract

This introduction to the special issue – ‘Decolonising Gothic’ – provides an overview of major existing approaches to gothic in the international context – namely postcolonial- and globalgothic – and highlights developments in contemporary Gothic production that demand a critical shift beyond these frameworks. The article outlines decolonial thinking as one productive response to this situation, and reflects both on what it might mean to ‘decolonise’ Gothic Studies, and on Gothic fiction’s own decolonising possibilities. The article concludes by introducing the essays collected in the special issue, foregrounding how each takes up the questions of decoloniality and decolonising in relation to gothic imaginaries from different regions of the world.