{"product_id":"the-postcolonial-volk-hardback-9781509562633","title":"The Postcolonial Volk (Hardback) 9781509562633","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThe Postcolonial Volk\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eBenjamin Zachariah (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781509562633, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 29 May 2026\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e176 pages\u003cbr\u003e21.8 x 14.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.34 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The first two paragraphs of Zachariah's \u003ci\u003eThe Postcolonial Volk\u003c\/i\u003e grabbed me so thoroughly that I instantly knew a sleepless night was ahead of me.... He shows that fascism is coming back not only in Trumpian populism; it is also alive and kicking in the anti-Eurocentrism that permeates today's left. If you seriously want the authentic left to come back, drop everything else and read this book!\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eSlavoj Zizek, University of Ljubljana\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"A tart, sarcastic, and lethal polemic by a highly original thinker who is clearly unwilling and even unable to suffer fools gladly. Each page bristles with irony, insight, and erudition.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eStephen Holmes, New York University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Rejecting the emancipatory claims of postcolonial\/decolonial scholarship, Benjamin Zachariah charges it with indigenism, obscurantism and moral relativism.... Essential reading for all who refuse to avenge Western brutalities by glorifying the worst of the East.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eChandak Sengoopta, Birkbeck College, University of London\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Benjamin Zachariah's original and timely analysis of postcolonial thinking redirects our attention to deeper, structural, almost atavistic forces that linger on in the perpetuation of \u003ci\u003evölkisch\u003c\/i\u003e ideas that have done so much to pervert modern democracies and undermine global humanism.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eRoger Griffin, Oxford Brookes University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"I have been impressed by this book most importantly for its critique of the tendency to consider only 'the oppressed' (or those who claim to speak for them) as legitimated to present and represent their experiences, struggles and resistances, their oppression being the unique basis for the right to speak.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eLuisa Passerini, European University Institute, Florence\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Thought patterns from postcolonial and decolonial studiesthreaten to lapse into a thorough re-ethnicization of belonging of a \u003ci\u003evölkisch\u003c\/i\u003e type, Benjamin Zachariah argues. The critique of universal values as an exclusively Western fabrication facilitates their abrogation in the name of cultural exceptionalism.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eHans Harder, Heidelberg University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePostcolonial theory and its bedfellow, decolonial theory, are the most flourishing products of academia in recent times. Transcending their origins in universities and literary criticism, and clustering around what is coming to be known as 'theory from the Global South', their guiding assumptions have leaked into the public domain and become shibboleths with which to acknowledge historically victimised communities. With this success has come a disturbing trend: political activity operates based on clumsy victimhood analogies, and much of its rhetoric is deliberately anti-rational, reproducing and perpetuating the manufactured categories of racist and sectarian imaginations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin Zachariah examines this phenomenon and its worrying affinities with \u003ci\u003evölkisch\u003c\/i\u003e thinking. A product of nineteenth-century romantic nationalism, \u003ci\u003evölkisch\u003c\/i\u003e is an adjective that indicates a community of blood, soil and race. These aspects are less explicit in its newer guises, which instead invoke communities of collective memory. Nonetheless, Zachariah argues, the older form of collective belonging remains embedded in the apparently new attitudes, as a compulsory community of inherited victimhood and organic belonging.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStriking and thought-provoking, this book is a major intervention that will be of interest to anyone concerned by the more insidious side of postcolonialism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e1. 'How Dare You, Sir! You Must Be a White Man': The Premises of Our Divided World\u003cbr\u003e2. So What is Point, Decolonize?\u003cbr\u003e3. Which Way is South?\u003cbr\u003e4. Postcolonial Heroes, Fascist Heroes\u003cbr\u003e5. Post-Lefts and New Rights: Postcolonial, Decolonial, Neo-Fascist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAcknowledgements\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eIndex\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Literature: history \u0026amp; criticism [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Literature: history \u0026amp; criticism\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Literature:%20history%20\u0026amp;%20criticism%20%5BDS%5D%22\"\u003eDS\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52458438328600,"sku":"9781509562633","price":18.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9781509562633.jpg?v=1785373045","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-postcolonial-volk-hardback-9781509562633","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}