Knowledge Production and Epistemic Decolonization at the End of Pax Americana

This book critically analyzes the global hegemony of the United States – a hegemony whose innovative aspect consists in articulating postcoloniality to imperial control – in relation to knowledge and knowledge production.

Through targeted case studies on the historical relationship between regional areas and the United States, the authors explore possibilities and obstacles to epistemic decolonization. By highlighting the connection between the control of work and the control of communication that has been at the core of the colonial regimes of accumulation (‘classic colonialism’), they present an entirely new form of disciplinary practice, not based on the equation of evolution and knowledge. An extensive introduction outlines the historical genealogy of Pax Americana epistemic hegemony, while individual chapters examine the implications for different regions of the world and different domains of activity, including visual culture, economy, migration, the arts, and translation.

This interdisciplinary collection will appeal to students and scholars in many fields, including Asian studies, American studies, postcolonialism, and political theory.

Naoki Sakai is a distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Asian Studies Emeritus at Cornell University, USA, and has published in the fields of comparative literature, intellectual history, translation studies, the studies of racism and nationalism, and the histories of textuality.

Jon Solomon is a professor of Chinese literature at the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, France, and a researcher attached to the Centre de Recherches Pluridisciplinaires et Multilingues, Université de Paris Nanterre, France.

Peter Button is an independent researcher living in New York City, USA. He has published Configurations of the Real in Chinese Literary and Aesthetic Modernity (2009).