Postcolonial Lack: Identity, Culture, Surplus (Suny Series, Insinuations: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Literature)

Basu Thakur, Gautam

ISBN 10: 1438477708 / ISBN 13: 9781438477701

Published by State Univ of New York Pr (edition ), 2021

About this Item

It's a well-cared-for item that has seen limited use. The item may show minor signs of wear. All the text is legible, with all pages included. It may have slight markings and/or highlighting.

Seller Inventory # 1438477708-8-1

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Postcolonial Lack: Identity, Culture, Surplus (Suny Series, Insinuations: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Literature)
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr (edition )
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1438477708
• ISBN 13: 9781438477701
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Examines representations of surplus enjoyment in postcolonial literature and film to focus on self-other relations rather than difference.

Postcolonial Lack reconvenes dialogue between Lacanian psychoanalysis and postcolonial theory in order to expand the range of cultural analyses of the former and make the latter theoretically relevant to the demands of contemporary narratives of othering, exclusion, and cultural appropriation. Seeking to resolve the mutual suspicion between the disciplines, Gautam Basu Thakur draws out the connections existing between Lacan's teachings on subjectivity and otherness and writings of postcolonial and decolonial theorists such as Gayatri Spivak, Frantz Fanon, and Homi Bhabha. By developing new readings of the marginalized other as radical impasse and pushing the envelope on neoliberal identity politics, the book moves postcolonial studies away from the perennial topic of identity and difference and into examining the form and function of the other as excess-surplus and/or lack-in colonial and postcolonial literature, film, and social discourse. Looking at writings by Mahasweta Devi, Amitav Ghosh, Leila Aboulela, Narayan Gangopadhyay, Katherine Boo, and films by Gillo Pontecorvo, Clint Eastwood, Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), and Tony Gatlif, Basu Thakur highlights a new set of ethical and political considerations emerging as a direct result of this shift and stakes a fundamental rethinking of postcoloniality through what he calls the "politics of ontological discordance."

About the Author

Gautam Basu Thakur is Associate Professor of English at Boise State University. He is the author of Postcolonial Theory and Avatar and coeditor (with Jonathan Michael Dickstein) of Lacan and the Nonhuman.