“Literature and Beyond: The Uses of Postcolonial Perspectives in Gaelic Studies.”

Stroh Silke

Abstract

After reviewing some of the ‘classical' paradigms of Postcolonial Studies and their possible uses for the study of literature from and about the Gàidhealtachd, this essay moves on to some more recent developments in international Postcolonial Studies whose relevance to Gaelic Studies has so far remained largely unexplored, but which can offer further useful avenues for future investigation. There is also discussion of other fields in international research on culture contact, culture conflict and minority issues (such as Indigenous Studies and Black Studies) whose concerns and approaches partly overlap with Postcolonial Studies, but which have evolved distinct conceptual and disciplinary configurations of their own that likewise merit further exploration in the context of comparative approaches to Gaelic Studies. The essay also considers how comparative postcolonial and minority studies perspectives in Gaelic Studies can be extended beyond a primary focus on literary readings, to also have productive implications for educational and social practices, including discourses on language revival.