Within and Without Empire: Scotland across the (Post)colonial Borderline

The concept of the border evoked by the title of the present volume provides a central interpretative key for our project at more than one level, as it is suggestive both of Scotland as a ‘theoretical borderland’ in relation to the Empire and postcoloniality, and of our attempt at bringing into dialogue scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds, including Scottish, Celtic and postcolonial studies. The ‘Scotland’ of the present volume’s title is thus suggestive of a critical standpoint from which and within which we purpose to productively question disciplinary borders and epistemological fences. Divided into three parts – “Gaelic Perspectives;” “Writing Scotland’s (Post-)Empire;” “Scotland’s Others: Relations and Representations” – Within and Without Empire intends to encourage, by mapping out pathways and patterns of interdisciplinary conversation, more theoretical and theoretically driven empirical research across Scottish and postcolonial studies. Furthermore, by moving beyond the theoretical impasse of a ‘pure’ (post)colonial identity, it also aims, possibly more ambitiously, to foster a re-thinking of discipline-bound ‘truths’ and a shaping of new paradigms for a deeper understanding of a world in dramatic flux and of ever-growing global interdependence