Celebrity Colonialism: Fame, Power and Representation in Colonial and Postcolonial Cultures

by Robert Clarke (editor)

Celebrity Colonialism brings together studies on an array of personalities, movements and events from the colonial era to the present, and explores the intersection of discourses, formations and institutions that condition celebrity in colonial and postcolonial cultures. Across nineteen chapters, it examines the entanglements of fame and power fame in colonial and postcolonial settings. Each chapter demonstrates the sometimes highly ambivalent roles played by famous personalities as endorsements and apologists for, antagonists and challengers of, colonial, imperial and postcolonial institutions and practices. And each in their way provides an insight into the complex set of meanings implied by novel term celebrity colonialism. The contributions to this collection demonstrate that celebrity provides a powerful lens for examining the nexus of discourses, institutions and practices associated with the dynamics of appropriation, domination, resistance and reconciliation that characterize colonial and postcolonial cultural politics. Taken together the contributions to Celebrity Colonialism argue that the examination of celebrity promises to enrich our understanding of what colonialism was and, more significantly, what it has become.

375 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2009

About the author

Dr. Robert Clarke teaches English studies in the School of Humanities, University of Tasmania, Australia. His research focuses on contemporary Australian fiction and travel writing. He is editor of Celebrity Colonialism: Fame, Power and Representation in Colonial and Postcolonial Cultures and The Cambridge Companion to Postcolonial Travel Writing.

From 2005 to 2007 Robert lectured in literature and Australian Studies in the School of English, Media Studies and Art History at the University of Queensland. In 2007, he taught units in academic writing and critical reading skills, and Australian studies, in the Faculty of Policy Studies at Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan. He joined the University of Tasmania in 2008.