The Cruel Optimism of Decolonization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9284331 |
|---|---|
| Authors | C J Lee (0000-0001-5612-5927, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 541-545 |
| Publication date | 2022-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Comparative Studies of South Asia Africa and the Middle East (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1089-201X • E-ISSN: 1548-226X |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/1089201x-9988035 |
| OpenAlex | W4295047614 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 5 |
This roundtable intervention applies the concept of cruel optimism, as formulated by Lauren Berlant, to situations of decolonization with the purpose of understanding the myths and fantasies of political self-determination. It also examines the idea of a Jacobin spirit, as explored by C. L. R. James, as a counterpoint to the limits of cruel optimism. This intervention subsequently concludes that interpretations of decolonization that assert either tragic or utopian outcomes must be redrawn to accommodate these competing perspectives. Decolonization and revolution, as mutual political phenomena of the “Third World Historical,” inhabit temporalities of incompletion, of unsustained dialectics, that require the continuation of political struggle by other means
Aesthetics · Counterpoint · Decolonization · Dialectic · Epistemology · Intervention (counseling · Mythology · Optimism · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Temporalities · Anthropological Studies and Insights · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |