ASNEL/GAPS Papers 24

Often thought of as a thing of the past, nationalism remains surprisingly resilient in the postcolonial era, especially since the concepts of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism have lost authority in recent years. The contributions assembled in Nationalism and the Postcolonial examine various forms, representations, and consequences of past and present nationalisms in languages, popular culture, and literature in or associated with Australia, Canada, England, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Bringing together perspectives from linguistics, political science, cultural studies, and literary studies, the collection illustrates how postcolonial nationalism functions as a unifying mechanism of anti-colonial nation-building as well as a divisive force that can encourage discrimination and violence.

Table of Contents

FRONT MATTER

SANDRA DINTER: Nationalism and the Postcolonial: An Introduction

PART 1 THE LANGUAGES OF NATIONALISM

MICHAEL WESTPHAL: The Nationalist Ideology of Monolingualism in Postcolonial Theory

NATASCHA BING: Talking Kenya*n: Dynamic Practices for a Heterogeneous Nation

PRACHI GUPTA: The Hindi Language and the Imagination of the Indian Nation: Ramchandra Shukla’s Construction of Indian Civilization

PART 2 THE SONGS AND SOUNDS OF NATIONALISM

ARHEA MARSHALL: Singing the Postcolonial Independent in Trinbagonian Calypso

SINA SCHUHMAIER: Singing the Nation: The Condition of Englishness in the Lyrics of PJ Harvey and Kate Tempest

PART 3 NATIONALISMS IN POSTCOLONIAL POPULAR CULTURE

IDREAS KHANDY: Pop Culture: A Vehicle of State Nationalism in India

HANNA TEICHLER: Meet the ‘Holy Family’: From Multicultural Australia to Enforced Reconciliation in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia (2008)

THERESA KRAMPE: Intersections of Race, Sexuality, and National Identity in BioWare’s Mass Effect

PART 4 NATIONALISMS IN POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURES

RALF HAEKEL: Blind Spots: Nationalism and the Photographic Gaze in Teju Cole’s Every Day Is for the Thief

HANNAH PARDEY: Emotional Nationalism in the New Nigerian Novel

LUKAS LAMMERS: The British Empire and the ‘Laureate of Its Demise’: Postimperial Nostalgia in Jane Gardam’s Old Filth Trilogy

KATHRIN HÄRTL: ‘Bastardizing’ National Belonging: Derek Walcott and Joseph Conrad

BACK MATTER