The Post-Marked World: Theory and Practice in the 21st Century

Product Description It is a cliche now to claim that we live in a post-marked world, and indeed the post-isms are some of the most used, and abused, expressions in the language. In a general sense, the various kinds of post-isms are regarded as a rejection of a prevailing number of cultural certainties on which our life in the so-called Western world has been structured since the eighteenth century. Engaging with the post-isms can be regarded as both a philosophical and political endeavour, which demonstrates, among other things, the instability of language, meaning, narrativity and generally any formal systems. In the wake of such theoretical aporia, this volume represents an investigation in the (re)thinking of the implications of the term post in current theoretical parlance. Is there a politics always/already embedded within the post? Do we need the post any more? Did we, in the first place, need it at all? Is it possible to counter essentialism with the post prefix? These are some of the questions the volume raises and explores by examining the post-marked terms in the theoretical market. The essays included in this volume address different and relevant issues related to the idea of the post, and those that are representative of different parts of the globe. Thus a reader of the volume will not only have a bird's eye view of the various disciplines where the concept of the post is used, but also an eclectic range of contributions about issues that engage with different socio-political dynamics from various parts of the world. About the Author Krystyna Kujawinska Courtney is Associate Professor at the University of Lodz, Poland, where she chairs the British and Commonwealth Studies Department and serves as Vice-Dean at the Faculty of International and Political Studies. Her research interests focus mainly, but not exclusively, on literary theory, especially gender and New Historicist studies. She has also published, both internationally and locally, numerous articles and essays on the long-term global cultural authority of Shakespeare's plays and on his dramatic works in relation to theatre and early modern and modern culture. She is a member of the World Shakespeare Bibliography, and a co-editor of Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation, Performance. Izabella Penier is an Assistant Professor in American Literature. Her research is focused on the prospects and potential rewards of breaking down theoretical and disciplinary barriers that have tended to separate African American and postcolonial scholarship, and particularly on the transformations that Black studies has recently undergone due to critical interventions from such global frameworks of analysis as postcolonialism, cultural studies, and Black Atlantic and diaspora studies. Sumit Chakrabarti is Associate Professor of English at Presidency University, Kolkata, India. He was previously a Visiting Faculty in the Department of British and Commonwealth Studies, University of Lodz, Poland. His chief academic interests are postcolonial studies and cultural theory.