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Conscripts of Modernity
The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment
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David Scott
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2004
About this book
Uses C.L.R. James’sThe Black Jacobins as a jumping-off point for a reconsideration of colonial and postcolonial concepts of history, politics, and agency.
Author / Editor information
David Scott is Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. He is the author of Refashioning Futures: Criticism after Postcoloniality and Formations of Ritual: Colonial and Anthropological Discourses on the Sinhala Yaktovil. He is editor of the journal Small Axe.
Reviews
"[R]eaders… will find it a provocative and insightful challenge for postcolonial studies of the Caribbean and other world regions…. Conscripts of Modernity marks a significant step forward in the project of exploring critical histories of the postcolonial present in the Caribbean and around the globe." - Jacob Campbell, Transforming Anthropology
"This book is fascinating, and I recommend it highly. . . . Tremendously thought-provoking and relevant." - Danny Postel, opendemocracy.net
"This is a well-argued, rich book raising pertinent questions about the writing of history. . . . Historians interested in the postcolonial era should take note of this important study." - Rosemarijn Hoeft, American Historical Review
“I derived immense pleasure from reading this book, a book that offers a challenging, insightful set of questions to postcolonial theory and to scholars of C. L. R. James.” - Sophie McCall, Topia
“Conscripts of Modernity is an important contribution to world knowledge. . . . And it should do much to displace the easy assumptions about temporality and power apparently so much a part of the academy’s horizon of possibility today.” - John F. Collins, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History
“Scott’s strikingly original argument about the need for a tragic mode of criticism in the postcolonial present is developed through a stunning critical reading of the foundational text in Atlantic studies. This is C.L.R. James’ The Black Jacobins.” - David Lambert, Cultural Geographies
“The lessons of the book are pertinent to anthropological writing as much as historical writing. . . . Although its focus on theory and history may be disconcerting to the general anthropological audience, Scott moves through his argument slowly, and the book’s novel and powerful theoretical approach make it well worth the effort. It is a significant achievement that contributes to the development of new analytical models fit for a postcolonial world.” - Emma Kowal, Oceania
“Conscripts of Modernity is a highly original and lucidly argued text, a major advance in David Scott’s effort to elaborate a new form of postcolonial criticism in the wake of the collapse of the emancipatory hopes embodied in the anticolonialist moment. Scott’s position will be found controversial by some. But it will not and cannot be ignored.”—Stuart Hall, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, The Open University
"For some time now, David Scott has been puzzling about where critical inquiry goes next. . . . In a radical expansion of [his] argument, his new book, Conscripts of Modernity proposes not that we give better answers to the old questions, but that the questions themselves are no longer relevant--because they belong to a different 'problem space' and need to be radically refashioned."
-- Stuart Hall BOMB
“Conscripts of Modernity is an important contribution to world knowledge. . . . And it should do much to displace the easy assumptions about temporality and power apparently so much a part of the academy’s horizon of possibility today.”
-- John F. Collins Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History
“I derived immense pleasure from reading this book, a book that offers a challenging, insightful set of questions to postcolonial theory and to scholars of C. L. R. James.”
-- Sophie McCall Topia
“Scott’s strikingly original argument about the need for a tragic mode of criticism in the postcolonial present is developed through a stunning critical reading of the foundational text in Atlantic studies. This is C.L.R. James’ The Black Jacobins.”
-- David Lambert Cultural Geographies
“The lessons of the book are pertinent to anthropological writing as much as historical writing. . . . Although its focus on theory and history may be disconcerting to the general anthropological audience, Scott moves through his argument slowly, and the book’s novel and powerful theoretical approach make it well worth the effort. It is a significant achievement that contributes to the development of new analytical models fit for a postcolonial world.”
-- Emma Kowal Oceania
"[R]eaders… will find it a provocative and insightful challenge for postcolonial studies of the Caribbean and other world regions…. Conscripts of Modernity marks a significant step forward in the project of exploring critical histories of the postcolonial present in the Caribbean and around the globe."
-- Jacob Campbell Transforming Anthropology
"This book is fascinating, and I recommend it highly. . . . Tremendously thought-provoking and relevant."
-- Danny Postel Open Democracy
"This is a well-argued, rich book raising pertinent questions about the writing of history. . . . Historians interested in the postcolonial era should take note of this important study."
-- Rosemarijn Hoeft American Historical Review
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
ix -
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Prologue
1 -
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One Futures Past
23 -
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Two Romanticism and the Longing for Anticolonial Revolution
58 -
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Three Conscripts of Modernity
98 -
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Four Toussaint’s Tragic Dilemma
132 -
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Five The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment
170 -
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Epilogue
209 -
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Notes
223 -
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Acknowledgments
271 -
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Index
273
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 3, 2004
eBook ISBN:
9780822386186
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
296
