The Postcolonial Careers of Santha Rama Rau

“[A] valuable contribution to postcolonial studies. . . .” - Christina Klein, Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History

“Burton combines the archival precision of the historian with the insights of the literary critic . . . [and] demonstrates how an apparently minor figure can open up an era.” - Kate Teltscher, American Historical Review

“Burton skillfully leads her readers to appreciate what major lessons can be learned from a close examination of the minor. Burton uses Rama Rau to work through a complex argument about the complicities and continuities between British and U. S. imperialism, between colonial identities and cosmopolitanism, and between orientalist writing and a critique of the same.” - Rosemary Marangoly George, Journal of British Studies

“The issues Burton raises have been taken up before . . . but Burton extends and revises previous arguments. Highly recommended.” - S. E. Gikandi, Choice

“In The Postcolonial Careers of Santha Rama Rau, Antoinette Burton produces a notably intelligent and counterintuitive reading of the forgotten and/or trivialized genealogies of colonial/postcolonial cosmopolitanism. Focusing on the career of a putatively minor writer with a complex relationship to the project of decolonization, Cold War politics, U.S. civil rights movements, and corporate publishing, Burton re-inflects the ways we have been accustomed to thinking about gendered professionalism, celebrity status, minoritization, and the history of postcolonial theory. What is most impressive is the way that she manages to make something densely textured and timely out of materials that might otherwise be relegated to antiquarian interest alone.” - Parama Roy, author of Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Postcolonial India

“Once again Antoinette Burton proves to be a trailblazer in the study of imperial culture. Here Burton breaks new ground by forcing us to think anew the place of the postcolonial public intellectual. She takes a risk by focusing on the admittedly ‘minor’ and yet remarkable career of Santha Rama Rau, whose moment of celebrity in the United States was shaped by the particular conjunction of postwar decolonization with Cold War–U.S. imperialism and Nehruvian Indian nationalism. Burton’s dazzling account of Rama Rau’s career, told with characteristic verve and imagination, pays handsome dividends: it offers nothing short of a rich and multilayered genealogy of postcolonial cosmopolitanism. Her virtuoso reading of the production and reception of Rama Rau’s writings provides the mediation between an individual career and the larger social forces of the time.” - Mrinalini Sinha, author of Specters of Mother India: The Global Restructuring of an Empire