Postmodernity's Histories

The Past as Legacy and Project

By (author) Arif Dirlik

Not available to order

Publication date:

18 October 2000

Length of book:

272 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780742501669

Challenges to the conventional study of history have been raised by the recent paradigm of globalization and by new intellectual transformations linked to postmodernism and postcolonialism. In this book the noted historian Arif Dirlik argues for a new approach to the practice of historical research. Moving beyond mere critique, he synthesizes traditional historical methods with new approaches that emphasize historical memory, indigenous writing, place based history, and the dual processes of integration and fragmentation in a globalized world.

Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 How the Grinch Hijacked Radicalism: Thoughts on Postrevolutionary Histories Chapter 3 Revolution in History and Memory: The Politics of Cultural Revolution in Historical Perspective Chapter 4 Is There History after Eurocentrism? Globalism, Postcolonialism, and the Disavowal of History Chapter 5 Theory, History, Culture: Cultural Identity and the Politics in the Twentieth Century China Chapter 6 Reading Ashis Nandy: The Return of the Past, or Modernity with a Vengeance? Chapter 7 Formations of Globality and Radical Politics Chapter 8 Bringing History Back In: Of Diasporas, Hybridities, Place and Histories Chapter 9 The Past as Legacy and Project: Postcolonial Criticism in the Perspective of Indigenous Historicism Chapter 10 Places and Transcommunality: A Comment on John Brown Child's Idea of the Transcommunal

This is a feisty and extremely intelligent book. It is urgent reading for anyone committed to understanding and improving the world.