The Scholar and her Servants: Further Thoughts on Postcolonialism and Education

This paper considers the subject-positions of the scholar, someone professionally engaged in knowledge production, and that of the largely uneducated informant. The question considered is whether the fancily educated scholar may not contribute something to the necessary education of her less-than-perfectly educated informants? The paper suggests that this sounds unfeasible because of certain problems in our understanding of 'colonialism' and 'culture,' and that these could be resolved particularly by reflecting further on the intersections of these with class and gender. Reprinted by permission of Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.