ABSTRACT
Recent research trajectories in the field of postcolonial studies have tended to cover an ever larger geographical area, and in doing so, have discovered new aspects for analysis. This has led scholars away from the initial exclusive focus on European empires and their possessions overseas or, in other terms, away from the First and the Third World. Postcolonial studies is by now, more or less, unanimously looked upon as a research field dealing with issues on a global scale. In addition to inter-continental relationships, it takes into account intra-continental aspects. This approach has contributed to the growing significance of discussions of European internal colonialism, as well as opening up a space for tackling the role of the Russian empire, and in the twentieth century, also including the Soviet Union’s function in creating and stimulating colonial discontents.
