Ato Quayson

Ch. 6 (p. 177-214), "Re-remembering and Forgetting Histories: Memories of Racist Riots in Britain", discusses, inter alia, immediate and long-time reactions to the anti-Jewish pogrom wave of 1911 in South Wales, as well as to the anti-Jewish riots in Leeds and in London's Bethnal Green in 1917. In 1911 the non-Jewish press tried to minimize the antisemitic nature of the pogroms and stressed the economic factor; there was also a tendency to blame the victims themselves. The Jewish press and community generally also tried to deny the anti-Jewish element in the riots, as well as anti-Jewish sentiments in Wales. The riots of 1917 did not receive much coverage in the press, both Jewish and non-Jewish. The common sentiment prevalent among British Jews was that these riots, and especially the Jewish self-defense against them, should be forgotten for the sake of social peace. In the last decades, the memory of the pogroms was reclaimed by the Jewish community in Britain, albeit in a moderate path. Discusses some memoirs written by Jews relating the riots, as well as the feature film "Solomon and Gaenor" by Paul Morrison (1999), based on the events in 1911 in Wales. For both Jews and Blacks, the racial riots shattered their image of tolerant Britain, but the responses were different.

"This book is concerned with the revolutionary history of the non-Western world and its centuries-long struggle to overthrow Western imperialism: from slow beginnings in the eighteenth century, the last half of the twentieth century witnessed more than a quarter of the world's population win their freedom. It was written before the momentous political events of the twenty-first century: published two months before the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and ten years before the Arab revolutions that erupted across the Arab world in 2011. It had been originally commissioned as an introduction to postcolonialism at a time when 'postcolonial theory' formed an innovative body of thinking that was making waves beyond its own disciplinary location. That interest was the mark of a new phase within many Western societies in which immigrants from the global South had begun to emerge as influential cultural voices challenging the basis of the manner in which European and North American societies represented themselves and their own histories. The late Edward Said and Stuart Hall both symbolized the ways in which intellectuals who had been born in former colonies became spokespersons for a popular radical re-evaluation of contemporary culture: a profound transformation of society and its values was underway. That revolution involved the consensus of an equality amongst different people and cultures rather than the hierarchy that had been developed since the beginning of the nineteenth century as a central feature of Western imperialism. Postcolonial critique has been so successful"--Provided by publisher.

This is an innovative and original study which offers a new perspective on a Nigerian literary tradition. The author takes issue with the prevalent use of "oral tradition" in the criticism of Europhone written literature as a kind of cultural matrix out of which the written text emerged, and the essence of which it embodies. He proposes instead a view of literary tradition as the outcome of numerous, and varied, strategic acts of positioning in relation to indigenous resources — which vary according to the individual writer's project but also according to the larger social and political context. He constructs a historical framework in which to view these strategies as performed by Samuel Johnson in The History of the Yorubas (1921 ), Amos Tutuola (1950s), Soyinka (1960s and 70s) and Ben Okri (1980s and 90s).

"Focusing primarily on the work of Samuel Beckett, Toni Morrison, Wole Soyinka, and J. M. Coetzee, Ato Quayson launches a thoroughly cross-cultural, interdisciplinary study of the representation of physical disability. Quayson suggests that the subliminal unease and moral panic invoked by the disabled is refracted within the structures of literature and literary discourse itself, a crisis he terms "aesthetic nervousness." The disabled reminds the able-bodied that the body is provisional and temporary and that normality is wrapped up in certain social frameworks. Quayson expands his argument by turning to Greek and Yoruba writings, African American and postcolonial literature, depictions of deformed characters in early modern England and the plays of Shakespeare, and children's films, among other texts. He considers how disability affects interpersonal relationships and forces the character and the reader to take an ethical standpoint, much like representations of violence, pain, and the sacred. The disabled are also used to represent social suffering, inadvertently obscuring their true hardships." -- Publisher's description.

The Cambridge history of postcolonial literature presents an overview of postcolonial literary history. Postcolonial studies is attentive to cultural differences, marginalization and exclusion. Such studies pay equal attention to the lives and conditions of various racial minorities in the West, as well as to regional, indigenous forms of representation around the world as being distinct from a dominant Western tradition. A mix of geographic and thematic chapters allows for different viewpoints on postcolonial literary history. Chapters cover the most important national traditions, as well as more comparative geographical and thematic frameworks.

The Cambridge Companion to the Postcolonial Novel provides an engaging account of the postcolonial novel, from Joseph Conrad to Jean Rhys. Reflecting the development of postcolonial literary studies into a significant and intellectually vibrant field, this Companion explores genres and theoretical movements such as magical realism, crime fiction, ecocriticism, and gender and sexuality. Written by a host of leading scholars in the field, this book offers insight into the representative movements, cultural settings, and critical reception that define the postcolonial novel. Covering subjects from disability and diaspora to the sublime and the city, this Companion reveals the myriad traditions that have shaped the postcolonial literary landscape, and will serve as a valuable resource to students and established scholars alike.

"A Companion to Diaspora and Transnationalism offers a ground-breaking combined discussion of the concepts of diaspora and transnationalism. Newly commissioned essays by leading scholars provide interdisciplinary perspectives that link together the concepts in new and important ways. A wide-ranging collection which reviews the most significant developments and provides valuable insights into current key debates in transnational and diaspora studies Contains newly commissioned essays by leading scholars, which will both influence the field, and stimulate further insight and discussion in the future Provides interdisciplinary perspectives on diaspora and transnationalism which link the two concepts in new and important ways Combines theoretical discussion with specific examples and case studies "--

In Oxford Street, Accra, Ato Quayson analyzes the dynamics of Ghana's capital city through a focus on Oxford Street, part of Accra's most vibrant and globalized commercial district. He traces the city's evolution from its settlement in the mid-seventeenth century to the present day. He combines his impressions of the sights, sounds, interactions, and distribution of space with broader dynamics, including the histories of colonial and postcolonial town planning and the marks of transnationalism evident in Accra's salsa scene, gym culture, and commercial billboards. Quayson finds that the various planning systems that have shaped the city--and had their stratifying effects intensified by the IMF-mandated structural adjustment programs of the late 1980s--prepared the way for the early-1990s transformation of a largely residential neighborhood into a kinetic shopping district. With an intense commercialism overlying, or coexisting with, stark economic inequalities, Oxford Street is a microcosm of historical and urban processes that have made Accra the variegated and contradictory metropolis that it is today.

"This collection bring together writings on the theme of purdah not just in terms of the burqua worn by Muslim women, but more broadly as the elaborate codes of seclusion and feminine modesty used to protect and control women's lives across the religious divide." "Using nineteenth and twentieth century texts, including personal accounts, biographies, poetry, fiction, satire, and essays, this collection puts together a picture of the hidden aspects of women's lives in all its complexity. The variety of western perspectives on purdah presented here challenge the simplistic postcolonial assumption that they all speak with one voice. Similarly, Indian perceptions vary from a strict adherence to purdah to a belief that the seclusion of women is responsible for societal decay. There are biographical pieces by major reformers, quotations from contemporary newspapers, and a piece on film images of purdah. First-person accounts include the redoubtable Begums of Bhopal who, in or out of purdah, were excellent and enlightened rulers. And finally, there is Purdah in fiction, notably the tragic failure of an experiment in bringing one's wife out of purdah, depicted by Tagore." "This book will be an important resource for scholars of cultural studies, gender studies, and will interest the general reader of religion, culture and society in South Asia."--BOOK JACKET.