Hunger and Postcolonial Writing

Hunger and Postcolonial Writing explores contemporary postcolonial fiction and life-writing from various geo-political contexts, focusing on hunger as a defining feature of colonial and postcolonial experiences. It examines the hungry colonial and postcolonial body, its textual forms, and historical trajectories, and situates it within the food security context of imperialism and its legacies. The book is the first monograph-length study of hunger within a postcolonial/world literary context, producing comparative readings across postcolonial writings to analyze the operations of imperialism and its aftereffects.

Format: Hardback
Length: 184 pages
Publication date: 27 July 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Hunger and Postcolonial Writing delves into the realm of contemporary postcolonial fiction and life-writing, examining these works from diverse geo-political contexts. At the core of this exploration lies the theme of hunger, manifested in both individual self-imposed starvation and widespread famine and food insecurity. The book explores the hungry colonial and postcolonial body, examining its textual manifestations and historical trajectories within the broader context of food security and imperialism. This groundbreaking monograph-length study is the first to examine hunger within a postcolonial/world literary framework, fostering comparative readings across various postcolonial writings to analyze the workings of imperialism and its enduring impacts across diverse colonial zones. By focusing on the social, cultural, historical, and economic engagements generated by colonial and postcolonial encounters, this project interprets hunger as defined by the complex interplay of these factors. Through a Cartesian lens of somatic subjectivity, the book examines the starving colonialized body and its mediation by post-Enlightenment discourses of Modernity and progress. It interrogates the contradictions that arise as the starving colonial body is positioned between the potential for radical protest and the prescriptive colonial discourse.

This book holds significant appeal for scholars and students in Gastrocritical and Postcolonial Studies, as well as those interested in Food Studies more broadly. It offers valuable insights into the complex intersections of hunger, power, and identity in postcolonial contexts, shedding light on the enduring legacies of imperialism and the ongoing struggles for food security and justice.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781138697966