Overview

Social scientists have long resisted the radical ideas known as postcolonial thought, while postcolonial scholars have critiqued the social sciences for their Euro-centric focus. However, in Postcolonial Thought and Social Theory, Julian Go attempts to reconcile the two seemingly contradictory fields by crafting a postcolonial social science. Contrary to claims that social science is incompatible with postcolonial thought, this book argues that the two are mutually beneficial, drawing upon the works of thinkers such as Franz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak. Go concludes with a call for a ""third wave"" of postcolonial thought emerging from social science and surmounting the narrow confines of disciplinary boundaries.

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9780190625146

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Reviews

Go's main thesis is that the social sciences could and should be transformed by an encounter with postcolonial theory... wondering whether postmodernism was worth all the fuss, Go's book leaves us in no doubt as to the value of postcolonial thought for social theory... sociologists would do well to consider Go's important and provocative book. -- Joel Isaac, European Journal of Sociology A revolution is coming in social theory, and here is one of its prophets. Julian Go's scholarly and vigorous argument shows why the global-North hegemony in social science can't survive. Even better, he shows how the bases of social science can change, with an epistemology that is realist without being dogmatic, multiple without being fragmented. Everyone concerned with the future of social thought will learn from this book. -Raewyn Connell, author of Southern Theory and Gender in World Perspective' If ideas are shaped by social environments then the imperial culture in which American sociology was born and flourished has left its imprint on the discipline. In this wonderful, erudite, accessible, and deeply sociological look at sociology, Julian Go shows us the analytic misrecognitions wrought by its refusal to incorporate the structuring forces of colonialism into the core of its theoretical repertoire. But he does not stop at critique. Rather, he sifts through various strands of postcolonial theory, feminism, and early sociological theorizing of race and empire, to create the possibility of a new, relevant, relational, and genuinely global, sociology. -Raka Ray, Professor of Sociology and South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley My brief summary cannot adequately capture the clarity of Go's writing, quality of his synthesis, and significance of his theoretical manifesto. Nevertheless, I hope that the wider relevance of Go's book is obvious to readers of Pacific Affairs. In my view, Postcolonial Thought and Social Theory is a key text for scholars seeking to critique the mainstream paradigms of their particular fields and create alternative approaches. --Pacific Affairs

A revolution is coming in social theory, and here is one of its prophets. Julian Go's scholarly and vigorous argument shows why the global-North hegemony in social science can't survive. Even better, he shows how the bases of social science can change, with an epistemology that is realist without being dogmatic, multiple without being fragmented. Everyone concerned with the future of social thought will learn from this book. -Raewyn Connell, author of <em>Southern Theory and Gender in World Perspective'</em> If ideas are shaped by social environments then the imperial culture in which American sociology was born and flourished has left its imprint on the discipline. In this wonderful, erudite, accessible, and deeply sociological look at sociology, Julian Go shows us the analytic misrecognitions wrought by its refusal to incorporate the structuring forces of colonialism into the core of its theoretical repertoire. But he does not stop at critique. Rather, he sifts through various strands of postcolonial theory, feminism, and early sociological theorizing of race and empire, to create the possibility of a new, relevant, relational, and genuinely global, sociology. -Raka Ray, Professor of Sociology and South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Author Information

Julian Go is Professor of Sociology at Boston University. His previous books on the US empire have won prizes from the American Sociological Association, the International Studies Association, and the American Political Science Association.

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