On the Subject of Citizenship: Late Colonialism in the World Today

The volume brings together reflections on citizenship, political violence, race, ethnicity and gender, by some of the most critical voices of our times.

Through its detailed and wide-ranging individual reflections, which take the writings of prominent Ugandan political theorist Mahmood Mamdani as a touchstone for thinking the world from Africa, it argues that we cannot make sense of the political contentions of difference, identity and citizenship today without understanding the legacies of colonial rule on our world. The contributions examine the persistence of the past, and how we must reckon with its tragedies, its injustices, and its utopias-- in order to chart a new politics; the politics of possible futures that are more inclusive and more egalitarian, and that can think of difference in more equitable ways. In a time when the call to decolonize knowledge, and to decolonize politics rings like a clarion call, this is both a timely and a crucial intervention.