Post-colonial questions for global times

As debates on globalization spread across a broad range of analytical domains, the way the meanings associated with the global, the local and the transnational are interpreted is itself increasingly becoming a site of contention. It is a question not only of how we theoretically approach issues associated with global politics and cultural change, but also of who are the subjects of knowledge in such theorizations, and how do a variety of historical and geopolitical contextualizations influence the ideas, concepts and thematic priorities developed by those same subjects or agents of knowledge. This article argues that many of the theories of globalization produced in the west need to be rethought in the light of critical post-colonial perspectives. This entails not only a more pronounced emphasis on the past and present of projects of western power, but also a more sustained treatment of critical research on globalization produced in the non-west. By making a connection between the global and the postcolonial, the article seeks to open up different ways of thinking about politics and culture in global times.