Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital

For much of the twentieth century, critical analysis of the developing world drew upon theories born of the Enlightenment tradition, such as liberalism and Marxism. But, over the past two decades, such theories have been widely criticized by scholars as Eurocentric, ahistorical and statist. A call has gone out for a new framework, free of the Enlightenment baggage and attuned to the particularities of the non-Western world. Postcolonial theory has gained wide acceptance among historians, anthropologists and area specialists as just such a framework. The most influential body of work in postcolonial theory has undoubtedly been the Subaltern Studies series, which originated in India but has spawned similar projects in other regions. In this carefully honed dissection, Vivek Chibber offers an assessment of the main arguments that the theorists linked to Subaltern Studies have developed since its inception. Through a close analysis of the works of Ranajit Guha, Partha Chatterjee, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Gyan Pandey and others, Chibber examines whether they offer a plausible framework for understanding the postcolonial world. The book critically examines key Subalternist arguments about modernity, hegemony, the universalization of capital, colonial nationalism, subaltern agency, peasant consciousness and concepts such as historicism, the fragment, and Eurocentrism.

A provocative intellectual assault on the Subalternists' foundational work.

Postcolonial theory has become enormously influential as a framework for understanding the Global South. It is also a school of thought popular because of its rejection of the supposedly universalizing categories of the Enlightenment.

In this devastating critique, mounted on behalf of the radical Enlightenment tradition, Vivek Chibber offers the most comprehensive response yet to postcolonial theory. Focusing on the hugely popular Subaltern Studies project, Chibber shows that its foundational arguments are based on a series of analytical and historical misapprehensions. He demonstrates that it is possible to affirm a universalizing theory without succumbing to Eurocentrism or reductionism.

Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital promises to be a historical milestone in contemporary social theory.

In recent years, postcolonial theory has emerged as the most influential scholarly explanation for the historical trajectory and social anatomy of the Global South. Its leading proponents--many of whom have become academic superstars--not only reject Enlightenment political and economic theories, especially Marxism, but accuse them of complicity in Europe's imperial project.

In this devastating critique, Vivek Chibber offers the most comprehensive response yet to postcolonial theory mounted on behalf of the radical Enlightenment tradition. Focusing on the hugely popular Subaltern Studies project, Chibber carefully examines this project's core arguments about the specificity of the Global South and the deficiencies of Western thought. He shows that their foundational arguments are based on a series of analytical and historical errors, chief among which is a flawed understanding of capitalism's "universalizing" tendency. Once the real history of capital's universalization is reconstructed, aspects of modernity that appear to be unique to the South turn out to be shared with the North--and the history of the Global South can be explained by the very theories that postcolonial theorists urge us to reject.

Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital promises to be a turning point in contemporary social theory.

Vivek Chibber is Associate Professor of Sociology at New York University. He has contributed to, among others, the Socialist Register, American Journal of Sociology, Boston Review and New Left Review. His book Locked in Place: State-Building and Late Industrialization in India won the 2005 Barrington Moore Book Award and was one of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles of 2004.