Empire, Colony, Postcolony provides a clear exposition of the historical, political and ideological dimensions of colonialism, imperialism, and postcolonialism, with clear explanations of these categories, which relate their histories to contemporary political issues. The book analyzes major concepts and explains the meaning of key terms.

Acknowledgments viii 1 Introduction 1 2 Empire 7 3 Colony 27 4 Slavery and Race 42 5 Colonialism and Imperialism 52 6 Nation 66 7 Nationalism 77 8 Anticolonialism 85 9 Decolonization 103 10 Neo]colonialism, Globalization, Planetarity 117 11 Postcolony 135 12 Postcolonialism 149 References 178 Name Index 191 Subject Index 195

This key introduction to the field explains in clear and accessible language the historical and theoretical origins of the political formations of empire, colony, postcolony, nation and globalization. Providing a clear and effective historical narrative for students, the text leads readers through the experience of colonization, and in particular, of being colonized.  At the same time, Young provides a lucid exposition of the historical, political and ideological dimensions of the related concepts of colonialism, imperialism, nationalism and postcolonialism, with in-depth explanations of these categories which relate them to historical issues such as slavery as well as to contemporary political issues such as globalization, migration and events in the Middle East. The development and scope of the field of postcolonial studies is vast; this invaluable and unique text distills the subject to the central arguments, ideas and lines of historical development, allowing students access to the most important historical contexts and to a social-political contextualization of postcolonial studies and the world in which we live today.

“This book presents a synoptic, thoughtful, critical survey of key ideas, concepts and historical patterns in the study of empires, colonialisms, and their various `posts’. But it also does much more than that. It offers original, often contentious ideas on many aspects of this huge field. It is a balanced overview, but unafraid of venturing into controversy where needed. The relevant intellectual worlds have often been seen as sharply divided between historians and social scientists on one hand, literary and cultural theorists on the other. Young’s work brilliantly shows how these separate spheres can be brought together.”—Stephen Howe, University of Bristol “Robert Young’s new book develops a lucid and powerful understanding of the postcolonial as affiliated with other sites of a general struggle for justice, including gender, class, and the environment. Modest in size, it is strikingly ambitious, and in effect it delivers a history of the world and the ideas that have shaped it, from a global perspective.”—Douglas Kerr, Hong Kong University

“This book presents a synoptic, thoughtful, critical survey of key ideas, concepts and historical patterns in the study of empires, colonialisms, and their various ‘posts’. But it also does much more than that. It offers original, often contentious ideas on many aspects of this huge field. It is a balanced overview, but unafraid of venturing into controversy where needed. The relevant intellectual worlds have often been seen as sharply divided between historians and social scientists on one hand, literary and cultural theorists on the other. Young’s work brilliantly shows how these separate spheres can be brought together.”—Stephen Howe, University of Bristol “Robert Young’s new book develops a lucid and powerful understanding of the postcolonial as affiliated with other sites of a general struggle for justice, including gender, class, and the environment. Modest in size, it is strikingly ambitious, and in effect it delivers a history of the world and the ideas that have shaped it, from a global perspective.”—Douglas Kerr, Hong Kong University