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© Canadian Review of American Studies/Revue canadienne d’études américaines 30, no. 1, 2000 Disciplining Race: Crossing Intellectual Borders in African American and Postcolonial Studies Kate McInturff One of the common conceits of intellectual work, particularly in postcolonial theory , is that it is cosmopolitan in nature. Postcolonial critic Edward Said has made a virtue of the intellectual who crosses political and cultural boundaries.1 Julia Kristeva has theorized cosmopolitanism as a political and intellectual position in Nations Without Nationalism. In my own research into the recent development of the field of Postcolonial Studies, however, I have found that political borders have been quite effective in reducing intellectual exchanges between individuals working , nominally, on the same topic. In this paper, I will argue that the US–Canadian border exists not only along the 49th Parallel but also extends its reach across academic fields of inquiry—specifically, this paper will be looking to the divisions and potential intersections between Postcolonial and African American Studies. It is precisely because of this divide that I will attempt to provide a superficial outline of the concerns of Postcolonial Studies. Postcolonial Studies, or postcolonial theory, is a field which, roughly defined, addresses the structure and effect of colonial power relations. It examines the role of material, cultural, and psychological forces in maintaining and disrupting those colonial power relations. While some scholars working in this field have addressed non-British Imperial histories —notably Lisa Lowe and Ann Laura Stoler—most scholars working in postcolonial theory have tended to focus on the history of British Imperialism and on the history of the states which were subject to British colonial rule.2 At the moment there are a number of ethical and intellectual problems with which postcolonial theorists are grappling. My first forays into the field of African American Studies have led me to believe that these two disciplines share some of the same problems. As a result, I have begun to investigate the extent to which greater contact between African American Studies and Postcolonial Studies might be productive. Canadian Review of American Studies 30 (2000) 74 Before proceeding to outline those common concerns, I would like to acknowledge that the differences between these two disciplines are also important. As postcolonial critic Aijaz Ahmad has suggested, postcolonial theory has “attracted few Black intellectuals” (87).3 Ahmad argues that the categories first of “Commonwealth” and later of “postcolonial” were understood in the US to refer, by definition, to “other minorities, the ones who were constituted not by slavery but by immigration” (87). This disciplinary and historical divide has also been noted by critics, such as Christine McCleod and bell hooks, working within African American Studies.4 These critics go on to argue, however, that the disciplines of African American Studies and Postcolonial Studies ought to be brought into greater contact—a goal which I obviously share. At the most general level, the intellectuals working in the disciplines of African American Studies and Postcolonial Studies have in common the desire that their work will be, on some level, emancipatory. This is a desire that takes many forms. The history of the ethical aims of these two disciplines is one which ranges from the desire for the emancipation of small intellectual and artistic circles, to the desire for the emancipation of cultural and social groups, and even of nation-states. This work will focus specifically on the interest which some of the intellectuals working in these two disciplines have in creating a cultural and intellectual sphere which is not Anglo- or Euro-centric. It will address the problems that arise out of the use of (European) post-structuralist models of culture in this context. Finally, it will examine the return of the notion of “experience ” to work in these fields. Postcolonial Studies was formed, in part, out of the earlier field of Commonwealth Literary Studies. Commonwealth Literary Studies began with the wider publication and circulation of texts by writers living in countries once colonized by England (Moore-Gilbert 7). Critics Vijay Mishra and Bob Hodge have argued that the publication and critical examination of Commonwealth literatures that began in the 1960s functioned to recreate , in the field of literature, a picture...

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