Across Continents: Writing Goans, Making Worlds (African Perspectives) - Softcover

Ferrao, R. Benedito

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0472058215 ISBN 13: 9780472058211

Publisher: The University of Michigan Press, 2026

Synopsis

Across Continents employs Goan literary subjectivity as epistemology to critique a specific limitation of postcolonial thought, one that does not account for the situations or afterlife of Portuguese colonialism. Employing various novels, R. Benedito Ferrão considers the relationship between Portuguese and British colonialisms through the displacement of Goan characters betwixt Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. The experiences of these figures in dealing with the processes of nation, statecraft, and political intrigue at various historical junctures offer a comparative understanding of the tumultuous conditions of postcoloniality in the making of marginalized subjectivity across continents. In examining the mobility and diversity of Goan experiences as represented in works by Salman Rushdie, M. G. Vassanji, Roger King, and Margaret Mascarenhas, this book calls into question limits of citizenship, nationality, and notions of belonging. Ferrão centers seemingly minor figures to exemplify the effects of colonial and postcolonial changes that connect diverse geopolities.

About this title

About the Author

R. Benedito Ferrão is Associate Professor of English and Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies at William & Mary.

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472058215
• ISBN 13: 9780472058211
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 188