Literary figurations of colonial degeneration around 1900 from a comparative postcolonial perspective.

This research project focuses on literary figurations of colonial degeneration and the degenerating colonial in European prose texts, seen in relation to public debates about the civilising mission around 1900 in Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain and France. On the one hand, this project aims to analyse intersections between colonial literature, historically contingent public debates about the ethics of empire, and the history of the idea of degeneration during the fin-de-siècle. On the other hand, it intends to move beyond the traditional (Anglophone and to a lesser extent Francophone) focus of postcolonial inquiry by taking it to a new comparative level.

Keywords:Postcolonial perspective

Disciplines:History, Language studies, Literary studies, Theory and methodology of language studies, Theory and methodology of linguistics, Theory and methodology of literary studies, Other languages and literary studies