Postcolonial Theory and Psychoanalysis: From Uneasy Engagements to Effective Critique

by Mrinalini Greedharry

Overview

What kind of theoretical engagement can postcolonial theory have with psychoanalysis? Is psychoanalysis still a useful tool for understanding the cultural and psychological dimensions of colonial societies? What would it mean to truly place psychoanalysis in the service of postcolonial critique?

Postcolonial Theory and Psychoanalysis answers these questions through a critical examination of the work of critics such as Fanon, Nandy, Bhabha, Deleuze and Guattari. It includes a consideration of key works by each critic, explores their broader reasons for using psychoanalysis in terms of their own theoretical projects as well as in relation to each other and discusses the problems that follow.

Greedharry's book offers students and researchers alike a clear account of why psychoanalysis has been an important method for postcolonial scholarship as well as suggestions about how we might move forward from psychoanalytic readings of the colony.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230266018
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	04/30/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	233 KB

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements     viii
Introduction: Of Two Minds: The Uneasy Relationship between Postcolonial Theory and Psychoanalysis     1
The Fanonian Psychoanalytic     15
'None of them is true but all of them are realities': Ashis Nandy's Psychology of Resistance     44
Homi Bhabha and the Psychoanalytic Truth     73
Anti-dote: Deleuze and Guattari's Critique of Psychoanalysis     105
Reshaping Postcolonial Relations with Psychoanalysis     135
Notes     159
Bibliography     173
Index     180