In the late 1990s, postcolonial studies risked imploding as a credible area of academic inquiry, in part due to the emergence of repetitive anthologies and an overemphasis on English-language literatures. In the early twenty-first century, however, the postcolonial began to reveal a new openness towards its comparative dimensions, and French-language contributions to the postcolonial debate--including the work of Edouard Glissant and Abdelkebir Khatibi--have risen to greater prominence in the English-speaking world. This volume, written by scholars working with French-language materials, acknowledges this shift and provides an essential tool for students and scholars seeking a way into the study of Francophone postcolonial debates.

Charles Forsdick is James Barrow Professor of French at the University of Liverpool and the author/editor of eight previous books including Victor Segalen and the Aesthetics of Diversity (Oxford University Press, 2000) and Travel in Twentieth-Century French and Francophone Cultures (Oxford University Press, 2005). David Murphy is Professor of Postcolonial Studies at the University of Stirling and President of the Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies.