This anthology, 'History and Myth: Postcolonial Dimensions', seeks to interrogate and dismantle the colonially structured symmetrical interpretations of the histories and mythological narratives of the former European colonies through depolarization, pluriversality, and border thinking. Here, the concepts of history and myth have been addressed from different perspectives and spatiotemporal zones by scholars from different parts of the world, which add to the global value of the book.
It has been argued in this volume that the understanding of postcolonial histories and myths in the contemporary era is highly influenced by the colonially fashioned binaries: valid/ invalid, civilized/barbaric, inclusive/exclusive, relevant/irrelevant, good/bad, etc., which continue to preserve the epistemic citadels of coloniality and selectively promote such historical and mythological narratives that celebrate the superiority of the Global North and the inferiority of the Global South. This book will be of particular interest to scholars, researchers, teachers, and those interested in understanding history, postcolonial studies, decolonial studies, cultural studies, literature, and sociology.
Arti Nirmal (Ph.D.) is a Senior Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the Banaras Hindu University, India. She has authored a book 'Shifting Homes and Transnational Identities: Women Novelists of the Indian Subcontinental Diaspora' (2015) and co-edited a volume titled 'Legal Research and Methodology: Perspectives, Process and Practice' (2019), besides publishing research articles in reputed journals and anthologies. She has delivered talks at various universities and academic institutions and presented more than fifty research papers in national and international conferences in India and abroad. She has guided doctoral dissertations on decolonial studies and gender discourse. She is also a regular speaker at the National Broadcasting Agency, Prasar Bharati, Government of India. Her forthcoming book is 'Myth and History in Postcolonial Consciousness: Theory, Praxis, and Politics' (ed.), Routledge. Her academic interests are in diaspora and migration studies, postcolonial and decolonial studies, law and literature, gender studies, and peace studies.
Sayan Dey grew up in Kolkata, West Bengal and is currently working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of Witwatersrand. He is also the Senior Advisor of the Quality Education Program, Center for Regional Research and Sustainability Studies, India. His research interests are in the areas of postcolonial studies, decolonial studies, race studies, food humanities, and critical diversity literacy.
