Hegel and Empire: From Postcolonialism to Globalism

by M.A.R. Habib

Overview

This book provides a clear and nuanced appraisal of Hegel’s treatment of Africa, India, and Islam, and of the implications of this treatment for postcolonial and global studies. Analyzing Hegel’s master-slave dialectic and his views on Africa, India, and Islam, it situates these views not only within Hegel’s historical scheme but also within a broader European philosophical context and the debates they have provoked within Hegel scholarship. Each chapter explores various in depth readings of Hegel by postcolonial critics, investigating both the Eurocentric and potentially global nature of his dialectic. Ultimately, the book shows both where of this profoundly influential thinker archetypally embodies certain Eurocentric traits that have characterized modernity and how, ironically, he himself gives us the tools for working towards a more global vision.

Offering a concise introduction not only to an important dimension of Hegel’s thought – his orientation towards “empire” – but also to the various issues raised by postcolonial theory and global studies, this book will be of use to philosophers as well as advanced students of literary and cultural theory alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319684123
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	11/24/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	164
File size:	537 KB

About the Author

M.A.R. Habib is Professor of English at Rutgers University, USA, and currently Visiting Professor at the Gulf University of Science and Technology in Kuwait. He is the author of A History of Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present (2005) and Hegel and the Foundations of Literary Theory (2018). 

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.- 2. Hegel’s Dialectic of Master and Slave.- 3. The Master-Slave Dialectic in Theory.- 4. Hegel on Africa.- 5. Fanon.- 6. Slavery, Capitalism, and the Imperial Dialectic.- 7. Hegel on India.- 8. Gayatri Spivak.- 9. Hegel on Islam.- 10. Reading Hegel’s Islam.- 11. The Dialectic of Empire.- Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Habib's Hegel and Empire is unique in being both highly ambitious in its far-reaching scope and at the same time painstakingly precise in all its details. I sense that it will soon emerge as a classic in the field.” (Aakash Singh Rathore, author of Hegel's India: A Reinterpretation, with Texts, 2017)

Editorial Reviews

As with racism or sexism, the site of contestation cannot be reduced to the individual but must be considered globally. Habib provides a valuable, concise, and accessible guide to this endeavor. … I would certainly recommend it as an introduction to the vast field of post-Hegelian modernity to which postcolonial arguments must respond, and as a guide to further reading of the work of the many scholars who have engaged in this endeavor.” (Wendy Shaw, New Global Studies, Vol. 13 (3), 2019)

“Hegel and Empire is well organized, clearly written, and thoughtfully reasoned. Together with his thorough command of the history of philosophy, Habib’s capacious knowledge of anti- and postcolonial theories and literatures beggars the interdisciplinary imagination. Alongside recent works such as George Ciccariello-Maher’s Decolonizing Dialectics , Habib’s Hegel and Empire is obligatory reading for those of us ‘working toward a more global vision’ … .” (Garry Bertholf, The Philosophical Quarterly, June 21, 2019)

From the Publisher