International Journal of Urban and Regional Research· 2015Q1
Who's Afraid of Postcolonial Theory?
- 417citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2015year
Short summary
Postcolonial theory reveals fundamental flaws in recent urban theory that dismisses its value, arguing for a reconceptualization of critical urban theory attentive to historical difference in global urbanization.
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Key points
- Recent urban theory has incorrectly dismissed the value of postcolonial critique.
- Postcolonial theory exposes fundamental flaws in these dismissive theoretical formulations.
- Studying urbanism in the global South is crucial for reconceptualizing critical urban theory.
- Historical difference, not a universal grammar of cityness, is a key constituent of global urbanization.
- Eurocentric theory limits concepts of the urban and political economy; focusing on place, knowledge, and power can create new theoretical practices.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract Recent assertions of urban theory have dismissed the value of postcolonial critique in urban studies. This essay draws on postcolonial theory to demonstrate key flaws in such theoretical formulations. In doing so, it returns to the puzzle of how and why studying urbanism in the global South might matter for the reconceptualization of critical urban theory. Instead of a universal grammar of cityness, modified by (exotic) empirical variation, the essay foregrounds forms of theorization that are attentive to historical difference as a fundamental constituent of global urbanization. What is at stake, the essay concludes, is a culture of theory, one that in its Eurocentrism tends to foreclose multiple concepts of the urban and alternative understandings of political economy. A concern with the relationship between place, knowledge and power—a key insight of postcolonial critique—might make possible new practices of theory in urban studies.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2015 · DOI ↗
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Field: Urban Studies
Urban StudiesSocial Sciences