Colonial/Postcolonial (Mis)Recognitions

The chief purpose of this Research Cluster is to explore the rich cultural expressions that have emerged in a variety of colonial and postcolonial intersections, including experiences of diaspora, immigration, migration and other forms of cultural encounter. We seek to participate in a global conversation on a variety of issues, including the effects of colonialism on cultural encounters, neo-colonialism, the impact of colonial legacies on postcolonial state formation and the influences (positive and negative) of Western culture generally in the postcolony. Fundamental to these themes and to this Cluster is the idea of “misrecognition” as it has been theorized in philosophy and in cultural and social theory. Misrecognition is not simply error or misunderstanding; it is a process by which error, promulgated by colonial and neo-colonial power, is recognized as a vital facet of knowledge, one that can be deployed in resistance to power. We seek to overcome simplistic and reductionist views of colonial and postcolonial encounters, in part by focusing on the critical power of misrecognition, in part by pursuing inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to new research questions.