Silvia Nagy-Zekmi – författare

This book articles presents new scholarship on the subject of imperial expansion through colonization and globalization from a variety of postcolonial perspectives. The essays in this volume, grouped in three chapters, scrutinize imperial expansion within the context of national identities and imageries-deconstructing the modernist and utopian idea of a nation as a site of homogeneity, and reviewing the importance of the concept in the different phases of colonization. Hence the first chapter is entitled 'Neo-Imperial Traces or Premonitions in Modernism.' The post-classical phase of colonialism is examined through the representation of the colonized and the once-colonized. Applying postcolonial theories and often moving beyond them, scholars scrutinize such textual and filmic representations as exemplified in Asia. These make up Chapter Two, 'Interference of the Imperial Tradition in Asia,' which allows for the re-articulations of cultural heritage in the region within the different and ever renewed schemes of imperial expansion. Chapter Three, 'Reformulations of the Imperial Project,' seeks to explore the questions surrounding inclusion in and exclusion from the realm of power as the founding principle of empire, suggesting that they are discursive and deliberate. Postcolonial societies inherit the trauma of colonialism that subjected people to a cultural displacement that is exacerbated by renewed efforts of imperial influence through globalization.

Edward Said (1935-2003) has been one of the most influential literary and social critics of the 20th century. His writings extend over topics such as literature, philosophy, music and political activism. His seminal works such as Beginnings: Intention and Method (1975) and especially Orientalism (1978) provide the foundations of postcolonial theory and have been used to critique and theorize on many disciplines. This collection of articles comprises essays that represent a theoretical critique of Said's work by eminent scholars around the world. At the same time, it is an homage to the late critic showing the profound impact of his work on postcolonial and cultural studies, in addition to politics and contemporary literature.