BOOK REVIEW

Book Review of “After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture?”

Book review of “After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture?”

Introduction

The book “After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture?” was published in 2004. It was written by Paul Gilroy who being one of the finest political and social theorists is considered one of the most controversial writers as well. He was given birth by Guyanese and English parents in London. His mother was a proficient Caribbean writer. Gilroy got his degree of doctorate from the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham and since then got involved in teaching at renowned institutions like Goldsmith College, Yale University and South Bank University (Gilroy, 2000, pp.59). He at present owns the esteemed Professorship of Anthony Giddens in Social Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Though a dependant of Hall, Gilroy, in the vein of Caliban by C. L. R. James's, has led the way into areas, acquiring his individual idiosyncratic position in academic circles internationally (Philips, 1997, pp.15). In 1987, his book “There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack” manifested an intrusion into conceiving the connections of nation and race in the political traditions and the Diasporas political thoughts in Great Britain (Gilroy, 1987, pp.103). In 1993, through the publication of the book “The Black Atlantic”, he steered in a different area of study dedicated to the identities of New World Black and procedures of realisation and double awareness in the formation of the contemporary world (Gilroy, 1993, pp.112). After approximately seven years, in the year 2000, Against Race by Gilroy signalled an unequivocal twist to the denial of racial instructions and by extending the thought of race as well. Though advocating Paul Gilroy or not, academic researchers might be inattentive to overlook the philosophical thoughts of his composition. This time, After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture? presents a brave consideration by Paul Gilroy on the devastating outcomes of Empire and race thoughts in the wake of 9/11 on the postcolonial world. Initially introduced at the University of California, Irvine, as the Lectures of Wellek Library in Critical, the book employs an approach of writing reminiscent of both the planetary responsiveness of Cosmopolitanism (2006) by Kwame Anthony Appiah's and Judith Butler's incisive analysis of the American “war against terror” in Precarious Life (2004). After Empire includes a Preface, Introduction, and 4 chapters separated into 2 Parts titled as “The Planet” and “Albion” correspondingly. The titles of the chapters on their own present a sight into the region of the planet around which the book is principally revolving that is the Great Britain and the gloomy relation of Britain with her past colonies. Paul Gilroy gets back to his intellectual and social pedigree for the idea of identifying the explanations why race-thinking and Empire carry on to work as ailments at the brain of the culture, public policy and political discourse of the postcolonial British (Bhabha, 1994, pp.115). 'Albion' is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the earliest name of Britain and ...