What is post/colonial literature, and why are they saving such terrible things about it?

Why is it that, in a conspicuously neocolonial global environment, the terrn «postcolonialisrn)) has achieved such widespread acadernic currency? This paper analyzes the current vogue for postcolonial studies in western universities, presenting both a challenge to its commodified intellectual status and a defense of its capacity for cultural critique. «Postcolonialism,» the paper argues, does not imply that the colonial era is over; on the contrary, it confronts the «neocoloniality» of our present times