SOAS Research Online

A Free Database of the Latest Research by SOAS Academics and PhD Students

[skip to content]

Laffey, Mark and Nadarajah, Suthaharan (2016) 'Postcolonialism.' In: Collins, Alan, (ed.), Contemporary Security Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 122-138.

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

In this chapter, we introduce postcolonialism as a recent and increasingly influential set of positions and perspectives within the wider discipline of International Relations, and sketch its implications for security studies. We begin with postcolonialism’s genealogies, tracing its emergence in a set of transnational debates about the mutually constitutive relations between knowledge and imperialism. The chapter then lays out the standard account of world history as organized around Westphalian sovereignty which informs security studies and shows how postcolonialism puts it in question, forcing us to reconceive of the international as the context within which security is defined, practised, and studied. Third, we put postcolonialism to work and discuss what it might mean to decolonize security studies. In a short conclusion, we return to the question of the tense and contested relations between security studies and postcolonialism itself.

Item Type: Book Chapters
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > Interdisciplinary Studies > Centre for International Studies & Diplomacy
Legacy Departments > Faculty of Law and Social Sciences > Department of Politics and International Studies
ISBN: 9780198708315
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1093/hepl/9780198708315.003.0009
Date Deposited: 27 Sep 2015 15:38
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/20929

Altmetric Data

Statistics

Download activity - last 12 monthsShow export options
Downloads since deposit
6 month trend
0Downloads
6 month trend
1,496Hits
Accesses by country - last 12 monthsShow export options
Accesses by referrer - last 12 monthsShow export options

Repository staff only

Edit Item Edit Item