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| Postcolonial Studies Association | |
|---|---|
| Name | Postcolonial Studies Association |
| Type | Learned society |
| Founded | 1990s |
| Headquarters | United Kingdom |
| Leader title | Chair |
Postcolonial Studies Association is a learned society dedicated to the study and promotion of postcolonial scholarship and intellectual exchange. It engages scholars, writers, and institutions involved with Decolonization, Empire of India, British Empire, French Empire, Portuguese Empire, Spanish Empire, Belgian Congo, Ottoman Empire and related historical and cultural processes. The association connects researchers working on topics associated with figures and events such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Homi K. Bhabha, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Aimé Césaire, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Chinua Achebe, Jamaica Kincaid and texts like Orientalism (book), The Wretched of the Earth, Can the Subaltern Speak?.
The association emerged in the context of academic institutionalization during debates around Postcolonialism, Subaltern Studies, Commonwealth Literature, Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, Area Studies, and the aftermath of political events including Indian independence, Algerian War of Independence, Vietnam War, End of Apartheid in South Africa, and the collapse of Portuguese Carnation Revolution. Its founders drew on intellectual lineages associated with scholars and activists such as Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall, Elaine Showalter, Dipesh Chakrabarty and worked alongside institutions like SOAS University of London, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Cape Town, Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of the West Indies, McGill University, and archives such as the British Library. Early debates referenced canonical works and events including Orientalism (book), The Wretched of the Earth, The Black Atlantic, Nation and Narration, Subaltern Studies Collective and conferences influenced by venues like Modern Language Association, American Comparative Literature Association, Association for Asian Studies.
The association aims to advance research on decolonization, cultural contact, settler colonialism, migration, diaspora and transnational networks by organizing symposia, promoting pedagogy, supporting early-career researchers, and engaging with museum and archival projects. It links scholarship on topics represented by figures and sites such as Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, W. E. B. Du Bois, Toni Morrison, Derek Walcott, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Edward Said, and institutions like Institut Français, Tate Modern, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Archives (UK), Library of Congress and policy fora including United Nations, UNESCO, European Union, Commonwealth of Nations. Programs have engaged archival projects related to Transatlantic slave trade, Atlantic slave trade, Indian Ocean slave trade, Mabo case, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa), and literary recoveries linked to authors such as Phillis Wheatley, Zora Neale Hurston, J. M. Coetzee, Salman Rushdie, V. S. Naipaul, Rudyard Kipling.
Governance typically comprises elected officers (chair, secretary, treasurer) and committees responsible for programming, publications, ethics, and outreach; these bodies interact with universities, funding agencies, and learned societies including British Academy, Arts and Humanities Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, National Endowment for the Humanities, Leverhulme Trust, Wellcome Trust, Council for the Humanities, and international partners such as African Studies Association, Association of Commonwealth Universities, Latin American Studies Association, Asian Studies Association, and Modern Language Association. The association negotiates collaborations with editorial boards of journals like Interventions (journal), Journal of Commonwealth Literature, Small Axe, Postcolonial Studies (journal), MELUS and presses such as Routledge, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Duke University Press, and Columbia University Press.
Membership is open to academics, independent scholars, graduate students, curators, and activists with interests spanning former imperial metropoles and colonies, and engages contributors working on regions that include South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Africa, West Africa, North Africa, Caribbean, Latin America, Pacific Islands, Middle East and archives connected to events like Partition of India, Suez Crisis, Berlin Conference (1884–85), Scramble for Africa, Mexican War of Independence and figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Ho Chi Minh, Simón Bolívar, José Martí, Toussaint Louverture, Marcus Garvey. Member benefits often include access to prizes, fellowships, teaching resources, and collaborative networks across institutions such as University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, Yale University, King's College London, University of Toronto, University of Sydney.
The association organizes annual or biennial conferences that host panels featuring research on topics linked to texts and figures like Orientalism (book), The Wretched of the Earth, Imagined Communities, The Black Atlantic, Can the Subaltern Speak? and invites keynote speakers from institutions such as SOAS University of London, University of Oxford, Columbia University, University of Cape Town, University of the West Indies, University of Delhi. It produces newsletters, position statements, edited volumes, and collaborates with journals and publishers including Postcolonial Studies (journal), Small Axe, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Duke University Press, and digital projects that partner with archives like British Library, National Archives (UK), Digital Public Library of America.
The association has shaped curricula, bibliographies, and research agendas across universities and cultural institutions, influencing debates involving scholars such as Edward Said, Homi K. Bhabha, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Stuart Hall, Paul Gilroy, Dipesh Chakrabarty, and practitioners in museums, archives, and policy. Criticisms echo broader controversies in the field, engaging interventions by figures like Aijaz Ahmad, Niall Ferguson, Prasannan Parthasarathi, David Cannadine, Ilan Pappé and debates around canons, methodological nationalism, reparations, and relation to activist movements such as Black Lives Matter, Land Back, Decolonize This Place. These critiques appear in exchanges across venues like Modern Language Association, American Historical Association, Royal Historical Society, Times Higher Education, and scholarly forums hosted by Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press.
Category:Learned societies