Helen Tiffin
Helen Tiffin has degrees in humanities and science from Australia and Canada, and was formerly a professor of English at the Universities of Queensland and Tasmania. She also held a senior Canada Research Chair in English and postcolonial studies at Queen's University, Canada. She is currently a research fellow in animal studies at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Her research interests include postcolonial literatures and literary theory, the representation of animals in scientific and literary works, and environmental history and the preservation of biodiversity. She is currently working on the philosophical and practical clashes between environmental conservationists and animal welfare proponents, and on problems with traditional conservation measures in an era of climate change. She has published numerous articles on postcolonial literatures and literary theory, animal representation, and, with Bill Ashcroft and Gareth Griffiths, three books on postcolonial subjects. She authored Postcolonial Ecocriticism (2006) with Graham Huggan, and her most recent publication, with Robert Cribb and Helen Gilbert, is Wild Man from Borneo: A Cultural History of the Orangutan (2015). She is a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
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“English” in general and postcolonial studies in particular have yet to
resituate environmental concerns at the very centre of their disciplinary
inquiries. Nevertheless, for postcolonial studies, examination of this interface between ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ is pertinent and increasingly urgent.
Postcolonialism’s concerns with conquest and colonization; with race; with
the imposition (and, more rarely, ‘exchange’) of cultural knowledge; its
investment in theories of indigeneity and diaspora and of conceptions of
and relations between native and invader are also the central concerns of
animal and environmental studies. ...
“English” in general and postcolonial studies in particular have yet to
resituate environmental concerns at the very centre of their disciplinary
inquiries. Nevertheless, for postcolonial studies, examination of this interface between ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ is pertinent and increasingly urgent.
Postcolonialism’s concerns with conquest and colonization; with race; with
the imposition (and, more rarely, ‘exchange’) of cultural knowledge; its
investment in theories of indigeneity and diaspora and of conceptions of
and relations between native and invader are also the central concerns of
animal and environmental studies. ...
Beginning with the scientific discovery of the red ape more than three hundred years ago, this work goes on to examine the ways in which its human attributes have been both recognized and denied in science, philosophy, travel literature, popular science, literature, theatre, museums, and film. The authors offer a provocative analysis of the origin of the name “orangutan,” trace how the ape has been recruited to arguments on topics as diverse as slavery and rape, and outline the history of attempts to save the animal from extinction. Today, while human populations increase exponentially, that of the orangutan is in dangerous decline. The remaining “wild men of Borneo” are under increasing threat from mining interests, logging, human population expansion, and the widespread destruction of forests. The authors hope that this history will, by adding to our knowledge of this fascinating being, assist in some small way in their preservation.
- narratives of development in postcolonial writing
- entitlement and belonging in the pastoral genre
- colonialist 'asset stripping' and the Christian mission
- the politics of eating and representations of cannibalism
- animality and spirituality
- sentimentality and anthropomorphism
- the place of the human and the animal in a 'posthuman' world.
Making use of the work of authors as diverse as J.M. Coetzee, Joseph Conrad, Daniel Defoe, Jamaica Kincaid and V.S. Naipaul, the authors argue that human liberation will never be fully achieved without challenging how human societies have constructed themselves in hierarchical relation to other human and nonhuman communities, and without imagining new ways in which these ecologically connected groupings can be creatively transformed.
The Empire Writes Back was the first major theoretical account of a wide range of post-colonial texts and their relation to the larger issues of post-colonial culture, and remains one of the most significant works published in this field. The authors, three leading figures in post-colonial studies, open up debates about the interrelationships of post-colonial literatures, investigate the powerful forces acting on language in the post-colonial text, and show how these texts constitute a radical critique of Eurocentric notions of literature and language.
This book is brilliant not only for its incisive analysis, but for its accessibility for readers new to the field. Now with an additional chapter and an updated bibliography, The Empire Writes Back is essential for contemporary post-colonial studies.
completion of the journey on next to no rations. The remaining dogs, who until Ninnis’s death had been partly fed on native Antarctic animals (as well as each other), suddenly found themselves fodder for the men, with unpredictable results. In this essay, we examine the relationship between dogs and men during the AAE, and in particular on the Far Eastern sledging journey, looking at who ate whom on the journey, and what the consequences were of eating—or not eating—meat.
Table of Contents
Introduction (Helen Tiffin) pp. xi.
Empire's Proxy: Sheep and the Colonial Environment (Leigh Dale) pp. 1-14.
Representations of Landscape and Nature in Anthony Trollope's The West Indies and the Spanish Main and James Anthony's Froude's The English in the West Indies (Claudia Brandenstein) pp. 15-30.
Polluted River or Goddess and Saviour? The Ganga in the Discourses of Modernity and Hinduism (Meennakshi Sharma) pp. 31-50.
Ecotourism: A Colonial Legacy? (Helen Gilbert) pp. 51-70.
Colonial Nature-Inscription: On Haunted Landscapes (Andrew McCain) pp. 71-84.
'Transported Landscapes': Refections on Empire and Environment in the Pacific (Ruth Blair) pp. 85-112.
The 'I' in Beaver: Sympathetic Identification and Self-Representation in Grey-Owl's Pilgrims of the Wild (Carrie Dawson) pp. 113-31.
The Sandline Mercenaries Affair: Postcoloniality, Globalization and the Nation-State (Robert Dixon) pp. 131-48.
Planting the Seeds of Christianity: Ecological Reform in Nineteenth-Century Polynesian London Missionary Society Stations (Anna Johnston) pp. 149-64.
Five Emus to the King of Siam: Acclimatization and Colonialism (Chris Tiffin) pp. 165-76.
'Back to the World': Reading Ecocriticism in a Postcolonial Context (Susie O'Brien) pp. 177-200.
Views from Van Diemen's Land: Space, Place and the Colonial Settler Subject in John Glover's Landscapes (Catherine Howell) pp. 201-220.
Colonial Cordon Sanitaire: Fixing the Boundaries of the Disease Environment (Jo Robertson) pp. 221-234.
'The Animals are Innocennt': Latter-Day Women Travellers in Africa (Gillian Whitlock) pp. 235-46.
Leading, as well as lesser known figures in the fields of writing, theory and criticism contribute to this inspiring body of work that includes sections on nationalism, hybridity, diaspora and globalization. The Reader's wide-ranging approach reflects the remarkable diversity of work in the discipline along with the vibrancy of anti-imperialist writing both within and without the metropolitan centres. Covering more debates, topics and critics than any comparable book in its field, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader is the ideal starting point for students and issues a potent challenge to the ways in which we think and write about literature and culture.
Preface pp. vii-viii.
Acknowledgements pp. ix.
Progress and Ambivalence in the Colonial Novel (Chris Tiffin) pp. 1-10.
Exiles from Tradition: Women's Life Writing (Gillian Whitlock) pp. 11-24.
Concealing Her Blue Stockings: Femininity and Self-Representation in Susanna Moodie's Autobiographical Works (Misao Dean) pp. 25-36.
Atwood and Drabble: Life after Radiance (Lee Briscoe Thomson) pp. 37-46.
Out of the Blank: Daphne Marlatt's Ana Historic (Stan Dragland) pp. 47-66.
Rite of Reply: Shorter Fiction of Jean Rhys (Helen Tiffin) pp. 67-78.
Sound, Depth and Disembodiment in Mittelholzer's My Bones and My Flute (Russel McDougall) pp. 79-90.
Elements of the Mock-Heroic in West Indian Fiction: Samuel Selvon's Moses Ascending and Earl Lovelace's The Dragon Can't Dance (Victor Chang) pp. 91-.
Table of Contents
Introduction (Helen Tiffin) pp. vii-.
Modernism's Last Post (Stephen Slemon) pp. 1-12.
Narration in the Post-colonial Moment: Merle Hodge's Crick Crack Monkey (Simon Gikandi) pp. 13-22.
Waiting for the Post: Some Relations between Modernity, Colonization and Writing (Simon During) pp. 23-46.
'Numinous Proportions': Wilson Harris's Alternative to All 'Posts' (Hena-Maes Jelinek) pp. 47-64.
'The Empire Writes Back': Language and History in Shame and Midnight's Children (Aruna Srivastava) pp. 65-78.
Breaking the Chain: Anti-Saussurean Resistance in Birney, Carey and C.S. Peirce (Ian Adam) pp. 79-94.
Post, Post and Post. Or, Where is South African Literature in All This? (Annamaria Carusi) pp. 95-108.
SLIP PAGE: Angela Carter, In/Out/In the Post-Modern Nexus (Robert Rawdon Wilson) pp. 109-124.
Decolonizing the Map: Post-colonialism, Post-structuralism and the Cartographic Conection (Graham Huggan) pp. 125-38.
What Was Post-modernism? (John Frow) pp. 139-52.
Being there, being There: Kosinsky and Malouf (Gareth Griffiths) pp. 153-66.
'Circling the Downspout of Empire' (Linda Hutcheon) pp. 167-90.
The White Inuit Speaks: Contamination as Literary Strategy (Diana Brydon) pp. 191-204.
Invitation (J. McQueen).
Hello Camel (A. Badger).
Gamalian's Womann (Subramani).
Swimmers (B. Baer).
Not without Rain (L. Houbein).
The Guru (S. Nandan).
Good old Joe (R. Conway).
Balandja, the Cockatoos (B. Wongar).
When the Ants Look Like People (M. Richards).
The Boss (J. Kolia).
A Good Marriage (O. Masters).
Go, Said the Bird (C. O'Brien).
Dear Primitive (Subramani).
The Well-bred Thief (E. Jolley).
Crocodile (P. Sharrad).
Table of Contents:
Green Postcolonialism (Graham Huggan and Helen Tiffin) pp. 1-11.
Global Designs and Local Lifeworlds: Colonial Legacies of Conservation, Disenfranchisement and Environmental Governance in Postcolonial India (Shalini Randeria) pp. 12-30.
Estranging an Icon: Eucalyptus and India (Paul Sharrad) pp. 31-48.
Conservation in Colonial Indonesia (Robert Cribb) pp. 49-61.
Quantum Landscapes: A 'Ventriloquism of Spirit' (Elizabeth DeLoughrey) pp. 62-82.
Survival Strategies for Global Times: The Desert Walk for Biodiversity, Health and Heritage (Susie O'Brien) pp. 83-98.
'Postcolonial' Describes You as Negative: An Interview with Amitav Ghosh (T. Vijay Kumar) pp. 99-105.
Laughing Out of Place: Humour Alliances and Other Postcolonial Translations In an Antique Land (Christi Ann Merrill) pp. 106-123.
'Daughters Who Know the Languages of Power': Community, Sexuality, and Postcolonial Development in Tess Onwueme's Tell it to Women (Kanika Batra) pp. 124-138.
Book Reviews pp. 139-164.
The RCC Lunchtime Colloquium series allows fellows of the Rachel Carson Center to present their research to other fellows, to staff, and to the general public. It takes place weekly from 12-2 p.m. Entry is free and lunch is provided. Talks last approximately 30 minutes and are followed by a Q&A session.