Abstract
Jameson was in fact echoing an idea that, since the early nineties, has been a dehning feature in postcolonial theory, an idea canonized in the seminal postcolonial volume The Empire Writes Back (1989) through Bill Ashcroft's pronouncement; "universalism is a hegemonic European critical tool" (149). Majumdar's recent book, The World in a Grain of Sand: Postcolonial Literature and Radical Universalism (2021), offers an interesting and fresh reading of contemporary debates in postcolonial studies surrounding the position of universalism within discourses of ethics, identity, and culture. While providing an in-depth evaluation of the broader sociocultural implications of such mischaracterizations, she offers an alternative way of thinking about the relationship between universals and particulars, one that carefully avoids the pitfalls of mainstream postcolonial critique. The crux of her book is thus dedicated to the development of what she calls "radical universalism," "a universalism rooted in local realities but also capable of unearthing the needs, conflicts, and desires that stretch across cultures and time" (11).