Postcolonial Studies across the Disciplines

Jana Gohrisch and Ellen Grunkemeier (eds) Postcolonial Studies Across the Disciplines, ASNEL Papers 18 (Cross /Cultures 170) (Rodopi, 2013)Cross/Cultures 170 provides readings in Post/Colonial Literatures and Cultures in English; however, the editors of Postcolonial Studies Across the Disciplines explain in their excellent introduction to the book that the Association for the Study of the New Literatures in English (ASNEL) originates in German-speaking countries. Notwithstanding that the cultural distinction is clearly framed - geopolitics do matter - the domain of postcolonial studies is understood to be a global and interdisciplinary field of inquiry.The editors of ASNEL Papers 18 suggest that the postcolonial movement manifests ubiquitously within various academic disciplines and institutionalised departments and is often aligned with linguistics, literature and cultural studies - just another framing device in the vast range of critical approaches in literature, history and culture. However, there is an embedded caveat to study in the field. Scholarly engagement is often repressed or marginalised until Master's specialisation and often endowed with a negative aura within establishments because of its challenging nature. Postcolonial studies are concerned with critical consciousness-raising in complex matters 'of racism, colonialism, Orientalism and Eurocentrism while simultaneously engaging the mantra of race, nation, gender, class and sexuality'.1 Inevitably, in exploring the underbelly of colonialism - master/slave relationships, marginalisation, inclusions/exclusions, solidarity and social justice issues - postcolonial scholars are drawn towards deconstruction and revisionist discourses (including the criticism of entrenched Western-style models of knowledge production). And change - especially the transfer of power and privilege that goes with the devolution of master narratives - is often resisted by those authorities with a personal stake in maintaining the status quo. Postcolonial scholars however believe in the possibility of metamorphosis. Attitudes, intentions and life-systems may be moved in response to alterity - something completely strange/familiar in [anjother - and the need for communion. The suggestion here is that they work in a space where altruism and realpolitik must be calibrated in practical application and contemporary issues filtered through sensitive, open minds in proximity and dialogue with that irresistible other.ASNEL Papers 18 is the product of the 22nd Annual conference held in June 2011, a collaborative venture, drawing in the main upon communities surrounding the Atlantic - the Americas, Africa, the Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean and Europe - and for those researchers interested in comparative reflection in areas of specialised interest, despite the spacial distances between their homelands or milieu. This publication cogently reflects current nerve endings in academia; for instance, the editors observe that the dominant school in British cultural studies has tended to exclude literature in its preference for popular cultural forms after the sociological turn in the 1970s. The convenors of this conference see their project as providing an alternative which redresses past omission with the stress primarily although not exclusively on literary contexts. Given these drivers, the essays here are arranged according to regional, thematic and methodological considerations. There are four sections following an introduction by Jana Gohrisch and Ellen Grunkemeier which presents a clear, informative and persuasive overview of the whole venture.'Interdisciplinary Reflections' contains six essays and focuses on neighbouring disciplines: history, textiles, art, linguistics, music and cultural studies. I am particularly fascinated by Johannes Ismaiel-Wendt's analysis of popular music as a paradigm for recent cultural experiences of migration and academic scholarship in the contemporary context. …