Attempt a postcolonial analysis of South Asian literatures written in English.

Much of postcolonial literary theory’s oppositional and specifically anticolonial thrust were anticipated by the contentious concerns of Ngugi wa Thiong’o as early as 1968, when he and his colleagues challenged the dubious cultural and pedagogical pre-eminence of English within a decolonised African context. In a paper entitled ‘On the Abolition of the English Department’ (Ngugi, 1972) a move discussed ever since in varying climes and places, he proposed that the ‘unauthentic discourse of Englishness be replaced by a radical centralization of African literature and language (Gandhi, 1998, 15 1).

In the context of colonial India, Mahatma Gandhi’s total rejection of English education and belief in the legitimate cultural primacy of Indian literatures and language, is comparable. He realised that English has created a gulf between the educated classes and the masses, and called for a rejection of “their civilization”, since it is this that “makes their presence in India possible.” (M.K. Gandhi, 1938,66)