In-Between Empire - by Raymond Patton (Paperback)

About the Book

This book explores how Polish writers in colonial West Africa positioned themselves as neither colonized or colonizers, employing their unique 'in-between' position to influence international discourse and policy on colonialism and its legacy.

Book Synopsis

Exploring how Polish writers positioned themselves as neither colonized nor colonizers, In-Between Empire analyses their literary works on empire during the 19th and 20th centuries to explore how they negotiated their in-between position in the global imperial hierarchy. Leveraging this vantage point, they claimed the unique ability to represent the South to the West, constructing a Polish national identity in conversation with both imperial and anti-imperial currents, and influencing international discourse on colonialism and its legacy.

Written at the nexus of historical and literary studies of imperial and colonial discourse, Patton centres Poland and Eastern Europe in debates that have frequently excluded these perspectives. Showing how these Polish writers attempted to portray anticolonial solidarity with non-European victims of colonialism, yet also employed European colonial tropes, each writer demonstrated a distinctive ability to identify the tensions and flaws of imperialism, whilst simultaneously reconciling those tensions to themselves as 'exceptional Europeans', innocent of colonialism, by alternating between metropolitan and peripheral perspectives. In doing so, they informed transnational discourses and policies on colonialism, decolonization, the Cold War and beyond.

Review Quotes

"For the manner in which this work continues to complicate and develop our understanding of the history of imperialism and colonialism, and especially its focus on such 'in between' interlocutors as the Poles, Patton's work is a wonderful addition to the field." --Slavic Review

"[Raymond Patton] explores the central concepts of postcolonial theory and their usefulness and translation in the context of Eastern Europe, confirming the book's impression as a highly considered and highly interesting contribution to the debate on the postcolonial turn in Eastern European studies." --H-Soz-Kult [Bloombsury translation]

"Ranging across more than a century of travel writing, this work provides a wonderful array of insights into the complex 'inbetween' cultural geographies of Polish writers, from identification with native populations, to collective colonial fantasies, to orientalist traditions and Eurasianism. Equally, it brings an impressive array of original thematic arguments to bear, around white fragility, the 'imperial gothic', critiques of masculine imperialism, globetrotting celebrities and socialist 'anti-colonial colonials', in order to explore the ways in which a culture, often peripheralised and subordinated within Europe, has made sense of its place in the world. A rich feast from which to consider the evolving nature of Polish writers' global perspectives and imagination." --James Mark, Professor of History, University of Exeter, UK

About the Author

Raymond Patton is Associate Professor of History at The City University of New York, USA. His area of expertise is in 20th century global, transnational and East European History, and he is the author of Punk Crisis: The Global Punk Rock Revolution (2018).