ABSTRACT
The first chapter begins by working through possible definitions of colonialism. Drawing particularly on empirical social psychology, along with affective and cognitive science and neuroscience, Hogan sets out to articulate a set of interconnected principles of group relations that identify a coherent object of study. A key part of this definition refers to group autonomy, stressing the areas of politics, economy, and culture. Moreover, given his focus on literary narrative, Hogan is particularly concerned with culture. In consequence, the second and third sections of the chapter set out to explain culture and autonomy, again stressing social psychology and affective and cognitive research. The theoretical claims of this chapter are in some ways parallel with those of Kwame Anthony Appiah. Hogan therefore devotes a section of this chapter to how their views are similar, and how they are different. The concluding section briefly treats two poems—one by Bahadur Shah Zafar, the other by Rudyard Kipling—that illustrate a few of the main points made earlier in the chapter.
