ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. This study explores the differences between these approaches within postcolonialism, while also revealing the potential overlap between them, the overlap that critics such as Parry believe is under-analysed. Controversy has arisen in the confrontation between political and ethical thinkers, but closer inspection reveals that the two approaches are not directly opposed, but can be conceived as related, if not identical in their aims. Moreover, while it may seem reasonably clear that a militant such as Fanon requires a different framework and vocabulary from a philosopher as ethically minded, and indeed as 'textualist', as Derrida, thinkers such as Spivakand Mudimbe oscillate constantly between ethics and politics as if to stress their necessary contiguity. These latter theorists also include criticisms of both Marxism and deconstructive ethics in their work, and use strands of each to reveal the shortcomings associated with the unequivocal embrace of either school.
