The Humanities in the Face of Postcoloniality

As the title of my intervention, I have chosen “The Humanities in the Face of Postcoloniality.” You will notice in due course that I could also have chosen “The Humanities in the Face of the Other,” or “The Humanities in the Face of the Subaltern,” or “The Humanities in the Face of the Masses.” But I could also have chosen what apparently would seem like the opposite title: “The Humanities Facing Themselves.” Indeed, this will turn out to be my proposition this afternoon. It is partly through postcolonial theories and methods that humanist scholars and intellectuals have discovered the critical relation of humanist knowledge to peoples, bodies, objects, and ideas that have had to be excluded in order for this body of knowledge to constitute itself. In what follows, I will argue that this discovery is also a rediscovery, that the critical relation at issue forms part of the legacy of the humanities, though one that is often repressed, and thus also one in need of constant resurrection. This also amounts to saying that postcoloniality now serves as the vehicle for the self-reflexive moment in the humanities. True, it is not the only such vehicle, but it is perhaps the main one.