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Reinterpreting the margins of theory
Abstract
One of the most troubling features of the contemporary critical scene is the near-total absence of "non-western" theories. My thesis investigates how this absence is constructed not through institutional discursive, or disciplinary constraints, but through the content of hegemonic theories. This requires exploring two main questions, namely, "what makes elite theories imperialist?" and "how can we rearticulate "indigeneity" so that the project of reconstructing indigenous theories is not a nativist project"? Instead of reducing the imperialism of elite theories to their geographical or cultural origins, I look at what they do within specific cross-cultural contexts. No unique definition of cultural imperialism is assumed. Theories become imperialist through a variety of tropes, within specific contexts. One of the predominant ways in which this occurs is by situating the West as Theory, and East as Evidence. This is based on the interpretation of the "indigenous" as necessarily nativist, authentic, ahistorical, pure and autonomous. My thesis also demonstrates how processes of "contextualization," "displacement," "historical erasure," "dislocation," and "homogenization" become tropes of cultural imperialism, silencing the other as theory, in theory. The relationship between theory and cultural difference, central to the project of reconstructing indigenous theories is usually understood in terms of the notion of determination. If problems of reductionism are to be avoided, I argue that it is important to reformulate the relation in terms of the notion of "location." Rasa, a theory indigenous to the Indian context is discussed in order to demonstrate that the absence of "non-western" perspectives is ideologically constituted. All theories are indigenous, that is, local, particular, and situated within specific social and historical contexts. It is in this sense I argue, that the margins of theory need to be reinterpreted so as to reconstitute the heterogeneity of postcolonial space and time.
Subject Area
Mass communications|Ethnic studies|Womens studies|Social research|Sociology
Recommended Citation
Pillai, Poonam, "Reinterpreting the margins of theory" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9329656.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9329656