Spatial Politics in the Postcolonial Novel

Upstone, Sara

doi:10.4324/9781315610283

Cited by 46 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…93 Yet, when taken together, Kane's and Beti's novels, along with Tutuola's and Ekwensi's, demonstrate that colonial space, abstract space, and any other such ordering functions in a manner which is far from uniform and far from regular. Operating beyond the boundaries of orthodox notions of statehood, the colonial state -and the imperial state within which it serves as a component -maintain a particularity irreducible to any attempt at generalization.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Empire to Independence: Colonial Space in the Writing of Tutuola, Ekwensi, Beti, and Kane

Krishnan¹

2017

Comparative Literature Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms 1 From Empire to Independence: Colonial Space in the Writing of Tutuola, Ekwensi, Beti and Kane AbstractThis article examines the production of space in four early Anglophone and Francophone West African novels, reading Amos Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard (Nigeria, 1952), Cyprian Ekwensi's People of the City (Nigeria, 1954), Mongo Beti's Mission terminée (Cameroon, 1957) and Cheikh Hamadou Kane's L'Aventure ambiguë (Senegal, 1961) alongside broader social, political and economic spatial discourses from the 1950s and 60s. By so doing, the article unpacks the articulated correspondences between literary space and its wider materiality in ways which are both explicit and implicit. Drawing on insights from human geography, this essay explores the extent to which the distinct spatial programs of the British and French empires manifest within Anglophone and Francophone West African writing in the years leading to independence, ultimately arguing that the latter displays a range of discrepant, horizontal formulations in contrast to the more monolithic, vertical spatiality of the latter.Keywords: African literature; space; postcolonial literature Since its inception as a field, postcolonial studies has placed a particularly high emphasis on space as a category of analysis. Drawing on Edward W. Said's foundational exposition of the "imaginative geographies" of colonial conquest, 1 the field since that time has "identified space in all its forms as integral to the postcolonial experience." 2 Space, as Soja reminds us, functions as more than simply an absolute container or matter of lines on a map. Rather, space and spatiality imply "a struggle that is not just about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, images and imaginings, about competition for land and territory and the search for fundamental and egalitarian rights to inhabit space," 3 replete with resonances across the interconnected spheres of the mental, the material, and the social realms of existence. 4 Based upon the premise that it is precisely the manipulation of this multifaceted and allencompassing function of spatiality which served to provide imperial powers with their ostensible 2 mastery of colonized territories, both material and mythic, 5 the field has foregrounded the social and political urgency of re-imagining and re-constructing spatial formations in the post-imperial world. Yet, in its realization, the centrality of spatiality to postcolonial inquiry has remained curiously undertheorized. The discipline, instead, has fallen into what Lefebvre once characterized as the twinned myths of transparency and opacity, viewing space, on the one hand, as something "out there," an instance of "natural simplicity," 6 utterly unknowable in any real or true sense; and, on the other, as entirely ideational by nature, no more th...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Empire to Independence: Colonial Space in the Writing of Tutuola, Ekwensi, Beti, and Kane

Krishnan¹

2017

Comparative Literature Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For the colonial gaze that forms a territory does not only this; it also creates an identity for the colonised'. 13 Postcolonial studies has consistently positioned space as a central tenant of critical inquiry through a focus on theoretical formations including the nation, diaspora and liminality, and the importance of spatial formations in postcolonial literary texts has been well-rehearsed in the discipline, exemplified in the notion that the 'modern postcolonial novel is [. .…”

Section: Postcolonial Theory Literature and Spatialitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Postcoloniality, spatiality and cosmopolitanism in theOpen City

Krishnan

2015

Textual Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Madhu KrishnanPostcoloniality, spatiality and cosmopolitanism in the Open City This paper considers the performance of postcolonial spatiality in Teju Cole's 2011 novel, Open City. Arguing against theoretical positions which view the production of postcolonial space as inherently liberatory, the article considers how, through its textual deconstruction of neoliberal visions of cosmopolitanism, Cole's novel produces a reading of postcolonial spatiality as a continuation of the abstract formations of colonial space. The paper begins by exploring the doubly voiced concept of the 'open city' as it functions in the novel, arguing that the titular catachresis gestures towards a vision of space in which the illusion of freedom of movement serves as a mask for the continuation of violence. It then traces the centrality of spatiality to postcolonial studies, suggesting that, despite the importance of geography to the discipline, the study of literary space remains undertheorized. By applying a robust spatial reading to Open City, the article suggests a more nuanced view of postcolonial spatiality in which the performative nature of the literary text opens avenues for greater inquiry into the legacies of fragmentation of subordination which continue to function in an allegedly cosmopolitan present.

show abstract

“…The borders are made as natural as it is with appropriation. With appropriation, something constructed can generate to natural [5]. The result of appropriation of space is to accommodate political purposes such as colonial territory, administration, and resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the space is not able to be homogenized, like a text that cannot be understood in a single meaning, its traces attempt to escape from any power to totalize. Therefore, spatial politics explains that space is an important context for discussing issues such as power relations and identity negotiation [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Post Space in Michelle de Kretserrs The Questions of Travel Exist(ing) Identity of Ravi and Laura

Ayu¹,

Setiawan²

2018

Proceedings of the 2nd Social Sciences, Humanities and Education Conference: Establishing Identities Through Language, Culture,

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines the implications of post-space to the identity construction of the main characters, Ravi and Laura in the work of Sri Lankan Australian writer, Michelle De Kretser's The Questions of Travel. It investigates the journeys of the characters in Sydney, the meeting point or the post space of Ravi and Laura in which they have to negotiate themselves to the already-existed system. De Kretser's The Questions of Travel, apparently positions the two characters as the representatives of opposing poles, East and West. It can be found out that Ravi and Laura in the end lead the principle of colonial space. Ravi fails to appropriate himself to the Australian environment, while Laura reinforces her status as a white Australian by consistently leading a colonial path.

show abstract

Spatial Politics in the Postcolonial Novel

Cited by 46 publications

References 0 publications

From Empire to Independence: Colonial Space in the Writing of Tutuola, Ekwensi, Beti, and Kane

From Empire to Independence: Colonial Space in the Writing of Tutuola, Ekwensi, Beti, and Kane

Postcoloniality, spatiality and cosmopolitanism in theOpen City

The Post Space in Michelle de Kretserrs The Questions of Travel Exist(ing) Identity of Ravi and Laura

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About