Identity, Ethics, and Nonviolence in Postcolonial Theory

SUSAN ABRAHAM is Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology at St. Bonaventure University, USA.

'This philosophical meditation on presence and defense of the delights of enclosure comes closer to the essence of sanctity, to touching, and being touched by, (saintly) bodies than any I have ever read. Bodies at thresholds, emerging through metonymy, from spaces they never leave, and into which they never really fit - -this is theoretical magic - -unique, queer, and, in every sense, touching. Howie questions the possibility of ever really coming out, of ever owning what one touches, of seeing surfaces as invitations rather than barriers. In his hands, prose becomes poetry and academic prose takes flight.' - Bill Burgwinkle, King's College, University of Cambridge 'Claustrophilia is about the relation of enclosure and proximity to scholarship, medieval devotional practices, philosophy, literary history, and love. Howie explores the poetics of permeable contiguities - ancient and modern, subject and object, text and touch - with a powerfully lyrical resonance that performs, even as it advocates, an ethics and erotics of literary critical practice.' - Carla Freccero, UCSC

• PART I: NEGOTIATING CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITY IN THE POSTCOLONY Introduction Cultural Identity in Homi Bhabha's The Location of Culture Theological Identity in Karl Rahner Hybrid Religious Strategies: 'Hearing the Word' in the Postcolony Conclusion PART II: EMBODIED ETHICS AND LOVE IN THE POSTCOLONY Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Postcolonial Feminist Ethics Existential Ethics in Karl Rahner: the Fundamental Option Embodying Love as the Singular Caress of the Doer of the Word Conclusion PART III: MYSTICISM AND SPIRITUALITY OF NONVIOLENCE IN THE POSTCOLONY Ashis Nandy and Critical Traditionalism Indifferent Freedom in Karl Rahner Seeking the Eternal in the Intimate: Nonviolent Spirituality as Practice of Theory Conclusion