Description
Book SynopsisAsking whether it is possible to develop an approach to studying political life that reflects its heterogeneity, Jane Anna Gordon offers the creolization of political theory as a response. Offering a critique of mere comparison, Gordon demonstrates the generative capacity of creolization through bringing together across time and place the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Frantz Fanon.
Trade ReviewThis book offers a fresh perspective on the concept of creolization and on salient debates in political theory concerning multiculturalism, comparative analysis, (trans)nationalism, and globalization, just to name a few; it therefore makes an important contribution to the field of political theory, as well as to many others." -- -Charles Walls Bard College or Independent Scholar "Creolizing Political Theory is a brilliant and innovative exercise in political theory. Through its creolized and highly nuanced reading of Rousseau - through Fanon - on the challenges confronting the practice of politics in the modern age, this work succeeds in taking both political theory and creole theory in new and enlightening directions. Further, it demonstrates ever so clearly the valuable contributions that Africana political theory can make to core concerns of Western political theory. A must read for scholars in the fields of political theory, Africana thought, and creole theory." -- -Paget Henry Brown University "Hello, Jean-Jacques! Hello, Frantz! An unexpected encounter between Rousseau, eighteen-century Swiss-born philosopher, and Fanon, twentieth-century psychiatrist and political visionary of Caribbean origin, is theory from the North meeting theory from the South. And thinking with creolization, a multifaceted notion with a history of crossing boundaries, opens new challenges for political studies as it does for other human sciences. Jane Anna Gordon is an incisive guide to its potential." -- -Ulf Hannerz Stockholm University, author of Transnational Connections
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Delegitimating Decadent Discourses of Inquiry 2. Decolonizing Disciplinary Methods 3. Squaring the Circle: Rousseau's General Will 4. Creolizing the General Will: Fanonian National Consciousness 5. Thinking through Creolization Conclusion Notes References Index
