Postcolonial Whiteness: A Critical Reader on Race and Empire

Postcolonial Whiteness examines the interrelations between whiteness and the history of European colonialism, as well as the status of whiteness in the contemporary postcolonial world. It addresses two fundamental questions: What happens to whiteness after empire, and to what extent do white cultural norms or imperatives remain embedded in the postcolonial or postindependence state as a part—acknowledged or not—of the colonial legacy? Presenting a wide range of critical and theoretical responses, the contributors explore these questions by focusing on such diverse topics as the legacy of Princess Diana; queer self-expression; the changing situation of Gypsy, or Romani, minorities in Eastern Europe; literature, including Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Caryl Phillips’s Cambridge, and Gothic impact on the literature of Australia; reconstruction of white South African social identity; cross-cultural discussions of mental illness; Freud’s case history of the Wolfman; and Australia’s national anthems.