Colonial Signs of International Relations - Softcover

Himadeep Muppidi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184904015X ISBN 13: 9781849040150

Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, 2012

Synopsis

Himadeep Muppidi's book traces the subtle influence of colonial forms of knowledge on modern schools of international relations and follows the translation and transformation of this knowledge within post colonial settings. Concentrating on the way in which individuals and institutions read their historical past in light of contemporary criticisms and concerns, Muppidi finds that certain methods for discussing or representing the colonized have become acceptable while others have been condemned. Both, however, can be equally colonial in intent and purpose, and the difference in their reception lies in the 'processes of translation' that make one visible, the other invisible, and ultimately maintain the framework of a global colonial order.

About this title

About the Author:

Himadeep Muppidi is associate professor on the Betty Goff Cook Cartwright Chair in International Studies, Department of Political Science, Vassar College. He is the author of The Politics of the Global and editor, with Andrew Davison, of Europe and Its Boundaries: Words and Worlds, Within and Beyond and The World is My Home: A Hamid Dabashi Reader.

Review:

Himadeep Muppidi's indictment of international relations as complicit with contemporary colonialism, with imperial violence, is powerful. But it is more than that. Muppidi lets none of us off the hook, including contemporary postcolonial theorists of IR. There is no innocent position, and we are all made to feel our complicity. Each essay explodes our taken-for-granted categories and ethical and emotional responses, bringing the reader to tears and laughter. Chapters insinuate themselves into our very soul, refusing to let go. This book will be used widely, and it deserves to be.

(David Blaney, Macalester College)

About this edition

• Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 184904015X
• ISBN 13: 9781849040150
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 193