What effects does globalization have on the study of postcolonial literature? A Programmatic Survey

DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L314.21

Authors: Kai Wiegandt

Abstract: Globalization has changed the nature of migration and notions of home. The paper proposes how to study the ways in which these processes are not only reflected but aesthetically re-imagined in postcolonial literature of the last decade addressing issues of migration and home. I argue that Homi Bhabha’s notion of hybridity must be updated within a framework that takes into account factors as different and geographically diverse as reactive nationalisms and religious fanaticisms; increased possibilities of travel; professional transnational immigrants who do not live ‘in exile’; hybridity that involves more ethnicities than those of a place of origin and of a place of destination; reinforcement of national borders and increased policing of immigrant populations.

Keywords: Postcolonial Literature, Globalization, Migration, Nation, Etienne Balibar, Homi Bhabha