Publisher's Synopsis
Why is the female black body so threatening to the male eye?
From Algeria to the Antipodes, the female black body represents all that is dangerous and unknown in an alien land. In Black Body Radhika Mohanram shows that it is the key to understanding the tensions between coloniser and indigene that characterise the colonial experience.
She argues that the significance of the female black body can only be understood through place, an aspect which has been submerged in postcolonial theory. A 'black body' can only come into being if it is perceived as being out of place - a female black body is doubly out of place.
Black Body interrogates theories produced in the Northern hemisphere and questions their value and significance for the Southern hemisphere. The relationship between the female black body and the unmarked white male body is seen as parallel to the relationship between the two hemispheres.
'While I know Mohanram's work I was not prepared for the originality, boldness and brilliance of this new work.' Professor Robert Con Davis, Department of English, University of Oklahoma
