Theory in an Uneven World

How can we handle the unevenness between the West and the Rest? Howinevitable is the binary logic of winners and losers? How cantheory help us resolve our ethical and political problems? Cantheory help us think beyond the winner talks all model by articulating strong connections between ethics andpolitics?

This major intervention into debates about the postcolonial andthe global proposes that theory should embody unevenness.Radhakrishnan s thought–provoking engagement with theoristsand writers from around the world will fascinate readers across awide range of disciplines.

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

1. Postmodernism and the Rest of the World.

2. The Use and Abuse of Multiculturalism.

3. Globalization, Desire, and the Politics ofRepresentation.

4. Derivative Discourses and the Problem of Signification.

5. Theory in an Uneven World.

Notes.

Index

R. Radhakrishnan is Professor of English at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Diasporic Mediations: Between Home and Location (University of Minnesota Press, 1996). His articles and essays have appeared in a wide range of scholarly journals and in collections such as Nationalisms and Sexualities (Ed. Parker, Russo, Sommer and Yaeger, Routledge, 1992), The Nature and Context of Minority Discourse (ed. Mohamed and Lloyd, OUP, 1991), Orientations: Mapping Studies in the Asian Diaspora (ed. Chuh and Shimakawa, Duke University Press, 2001) and Identities: Race, Class, Gender, Nationality (Ed. Alcoff and Mendieta, Blackwell 2003).

"R. Radhakrishnan belongs to a generation of critics which hasenriched contemporary literature by revolutionizing the literarycanon. He is one of the foremost of this generation and deservedlyso." Amitav Ghosh, author of The Glass Palace<!––end––>

"Written with a magnanimous spirit and vision, Theory in anUneven World is a welcome reminder of the challengestheoretical thinking continues to pose. I applaud R. Radhakrishnanfor countering the fashionable gesture of theory–bashing with suchintensely engaging critical discussions." Rey Chow, BrownUniversity

"In a world ridden with unevenness, Radhakrishnan sintense analyses invoke the need for shattering the self–reflexivediscourses of the academy so as to open them up to the demands ofthe oppressed." Robert J.C. Young, New York University