Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital

Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital
Author Vivek Chibber
Language English
Subject Postcolonialism
Genre sociology
Publisher Verso[1]
Publication date
 March 12th 2013
Media type Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages 256 pp
ISBN 9781844679768 [2]

Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital is a 2013 book by the Indian sociologist and New York University professor Vivek Chibber.

Coming from the radical Enlightenment tradition, this book is a critique of Postcolonial Theory. Chibber focuses on the Subaltern Studies section of the theory, and demonstrates how its foundational arguments are based on a series of political and historical misunderstandings. [1]

The book received positive reviews from American linguist Noam Chomsky and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek. It also received a critical response from Indian postcolonial theorist Gayatri Spivak in Cambridge Review of International Affairs to which Chibber replied in the same journal.[3]

Reception

Praise

Noam Chomsky termed it a "scrupulous and perceptive analysis", and "a very significant contribution." According to him, Chibber has succeeded in showing that "universalizing categories of Enlightenment thought" emerge unscathed from postcolonial criticism.[1]

Slavoj Zizek also gave it a strong positive review, calling it "the book we were all waiting for." According to Zizek, "this book simply sets the record straight, and puts postcolonialism into its place: at the heart of global Capitalist processes."[1]

According to historian Robert Brenner, "Vivek Chibber has written a stunning critique of postcolonial theory as represented by the Subaltern Studies school."[1]

American quarterly magazine Jacobin called it a "strong case for why we can—and must—conceptualize the non-Western world through the same analytical lens that we use to understand developments in the West."[1]

In its review, Los Angeles Review of Books wrote "Chibber does a good and important job criticizing some of the fundaments of Subaltern Studies. Postcolonial Theory is a book that should be read by all engaging with postcolonial theory".[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Verso Reviews". Verso.
  2. ↑ "Goodreads.com".
  3. ↑ Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. "Postcolonial theory and the specter of capital.". Cambridge Review of International Affairs (27).
  4. ↑ "Obscuring Capitalism: Vivek Chibber's Critique of Subaltern Studies". lareviewofbooks.
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