Lazarus, Neil (2012) Spectres haunting : postcommunism and postcolonialism. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Vol.48 (No.2). pp. 117-129. doi:10.1080/17449855.2012.658243

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Abstract

In this essay, I attempt to take stock of recent suggestions that the literatures and cultures of the former Soviet bloc countries be considered “postcolonial”. I begin by asking what is intended by this suggestion. While it is necessary to recognize that the Russian imperium and the Soviet order that succeeded it were clearly colonial in character, there are some good reasons to wonder whether the assimilation of “post-Soviet” criticism to “the postcolonial” is a good idea. Concerning postcolonial studies itself, I argue that the enterprise has hitherto been animated by a species of third worldism that has retarded understanding of the contemporary world-system; in particular, the postcolonialist idea of “the west” as the super-agent of domination in the modern global order strikes me as being deeply misconceived. On the “post-Soviet” side of the ledger, I worry both about a premature (if understandable) anti-Marxism and a tendency to insist precisely on that narrative of “the west” that postcolonial studies, in its indispensable critique of Eurocentrism, has managed to dislodge.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts > History
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Postcolonial Writing
Publisher:	Routledge
ISSN:	1744-9855
Official Date:	2012
Dates:	Date Event 2012 Published
Volume:	Vol.48
Number:	No.2
Page Range:	pp. 117-129
DOI:	10.1080/17449855.2012.658243
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access

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