Rerouting the postcolonial from an east African perspective

Abstract

Some postcolonial critics have recently called for a rerouting of the postcolonial study of literature due to what they perceive as increased globalization that affects the identity and worldview of the subject. Various critics have also called for attention to variants of Cosmopolitanism. Such critical terms invite the global into the local, leading to different readings of postcolonial texts in negotiating the third space of multiculturalism. Depending on the perspective of the critic, the West may be invited into the analysis of the Postcolony, or the focus may be primarily on the African postcolonial subject. What is the input of locally based African literary critics in negotiating this third space? This paper intends to interrogate the question of Postcolonial theory with the view of positing an East African literary perspective as an entry point into the debate on whether or not there is a need to reroute the Postcolonial, and if so, on whose terms?