Postcolonial Studies

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Globalization and the Future of Postcolonial Studies: A Critical Examination (Click Here)

1. How Globalization Reshapes Postcolonial Identities

Globalization challenges the traditional binary frameworks (such as colonizer/colonized or center/margin) that have long underpinned postcolonial studies. Instead, it encourages:

• Transnational Networks: Identities are now increasingly shaped by global flows of capital, technology, and culture, rather than solely by national or colonial histories.

• Hybridity and Fluidity: Cultural identities become more hybrid and fluid as individuals interact with global media, migration, and digital platforms.

• Erosion of Geographic Borders: The physical and cultural boundaries that once defined postcolonial societies are becoming blurred, resulting in more layered and complex identities.

As Ania Loomba observes, globalization compels postcolonial studies to move beyond the center/margin model and to engage with transnational, networked, and decentralized forms of power.

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2. Influence of Global Capitalism on Postcolonial Societies

Economic Dimensions:

• Market Fundamentalism: Scholars like Joseph Stiglitz and P. Sainath critique the role of global financial institutions (such as the IMF and World Bank) for imposing neoliberal economic policies that often deepen inequality and poverty in postcolonial countries.

• Supply Chain Capitalism: Thomas Friedman’s “Flat World” theory argues that global supply chains promote economic interdependence and reduce conflict. However, critics like Stiglitz and John Gray argue that they often intensify exploitation and unequal development.

• Corporate Power: Noam Chomsky points out that multinational corporations operate like “private tyrannies,” prioritizing profit over public welfare—often to the detriment of postcolonial economies.

Cultural Dimensions:

• Cultural Homogenization vs. Hybridization: While globalization can lead to Western cultural dominance (e.g., Americanization), it also fosters cultural blending and resistance.

• Reinvention of Tradition: In response to global pressures, postcolonial societies often reinterpret and reaffirm traditional cultural identities.

• Digital and Media Influence: The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Globalization 4.0) speeds up cultural exchange, but it also gives rise to new forms of digital colonialism.

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3. Relation to Films and Literature

Many literary works and films portray the complex relationship between globalization and postcolonial identity:

Films:

• Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Reflects the influence of global media and economic disparity in India, portraying how local identities are shaped by global narratives.

• Babel (2006): Follows interconnected lives across different cultures, revealing miscommunication, social inequality, and the emotional toll of globalization.

• The Constant Gardener (2005): Offers a critique of multinational corporations exploiting postcolonial Africa under the pretense of development.

Literature:

• The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga: Uncovers the darker realities behind India’s economic rise, showing how global capitalism can produce both opportunity and deep inequality.

• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: While focused on the Biafran War, the novel also indirectly addresses neocolonialism and the global community’s apathy.

• The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh: Explores the ecological and cultural consequences of global development projects in postcolonial Bengal.

Globalization reshapes postcolonial identities by dissolving old hierarchies and creating new, often ambiguous, forms of cultural and economic interaction. While it offers opportunities for connection and growth, it also perpetuates inequalities and power imbalances that postcolonial studies must continue to critique. Films and literature serve as vital mediums for exploring these complex dynamics, offering nuanced portrayals of identity, resistance, and adaptation in a globalized world.

GLOBALIZATION AND FICTION: EXPLORING POSTCOLONIAL CRITIQUE AND LITERARY REPRESENTATIONS

Globalization is not a neutral or benign force, but rather a complex and often coercive system with profound economic, political, and cultural ramifications. A postcolonial critique, as applied through fiction, moves beyond traditional "center vs. margin" models (as noted by Loomba and Hardt & Negri) to examine how this new, "deterritorialized" form of power (Empire) operates. Fiction becomes a vital tool for this critique because it can humanize abstract economic theories, give voice to the marginalized, and expose the contradictions and violence inherent in the globalized world order.

Authors from postcolonial backgrounds are uniquely positioned to navigate this terrain. Their works often engage with the following themes as a form of critique:

1. Resistance to Economic and Cultural Hegemony:
   Postcolonial authors depict globalization not as a unifying force but as a new form of imperialism driven by multinational corporations and financial institutions (a point emphasized by Stiglitz and Chomsky in the article). This resistance is not to a colonial flag but to the "Gospel of St. Growth" (Sainath) and market fundamentalism.

Example from the text: Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger is a searing critique of the inequalities exacerbated by globalization in India. Balram Halwai’s journey from servant to entrepreneur is not an uplifting tale of trickle-down economics but a violent, amoral rebellion against a system still rigged by caste and class, even amid new economic opportunities. The novel critiques the illusion of mobility within a globalized economy that continues to exploit the poor.

Example from the text: Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness links global capital, state power, and the displacement of marginalized communities in India. The resistance here is fragmented and personal, yet deeply political, reflecting the "diverse and fragmentary character" of social movements that Gupta identifies.

2. Hybridity and Identity Crisis:
   Globalization creates fractured identities. Characters navigate a world where local traditions collide with global (often Western) consumer culture, leading to a sense of dislocation and crisis.

The article suggests that Empire "manages hybrid identities, flexible hierarchies, and plural exchanges." Fiction explores the human cost of this "management." Authors show that this hybridity is not a peaceful synthesis but a site of constant tension. Characters may adopt global symbols of success (e.g., Balram’s desire for a Honda City car) while being painfully aware of their exclusion from the system that produces those symbols. This results in a profound identity crisis, where one is neither fully traditional nor fully modern, neither local nor global, but suspended in between.

3. Unveiling the "False Dichotomies" of Globalization:
   The article references Klaus Schwab's argument that Globalization 4.0 requires moving beyond false choices like "free trade vs. protectionism" or "growth vs. equality." Postcolonial fiction excels at deconstructing these very dichotomies. It shows how "free trade" often means freedom for capital to exploit, and how "growth" can coincide with deepening inequality. The novels listed don't present a simple anti-globalization message; instead, they explore the messy reality where characters are both victims and complicit participants within the system they critique (e.g., Balram murdering his master to seize a piece of the globalized economy).

Analysis of a Film: Parasite (2019) by Bong Joon-ho

While the article focuses on novels, Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-winning film Parasite serves as a perfect cinematic counterpart, addressing these same issues through a postcolonial lens, even within a single national context (South Korea) that is deeply integrated into the global economy.

Critique of Economic Hegemony and Inequality:

Parasite directly critiques the extreme class divisions that are a hallmark of globalized capitalism. The Park family’s wealth is tied to global tech corporations (Mr. Park is the CEO of a company like Apple or Samsung), while the Kim family lives in a semi-basement, struggling with precarious gig-economy jobs. The film visually reinforces this hierarchy by literally framing the wealthy above ground and the poor below. This is a powerful depiction of Stiglitz's argument that globalization has been "disadvantageous to the poor."

Resistance and Co-option:

The Kim family’s attempt to infiltrate the Park household is a form of micro-level resistance. They are not protesting in the streets like in Cosmopolis or The Fountain at the Center of the World, but using cunning and deception to survive and climb the economic ladder. However, their resistance is ultimately co-opted; they become dependent on the very system that exploits them, and their internal conflict (between the poor families) underscores Gupta's point about the "fragmentary character" of resistance, where the oppressed are pitted against each other rather than the overarching system.

Identity Crisis and the Smell of Globalization:

The most potent symbol of the immutable class barrier in Parasite is Mr. Park’s distaste for the "smell" of the Kim family. This smell is not just of poverty but of a specific, marginalized space (the semi-basement) that is inextricably linked to their identity. No matter how well they dress or act the part of elite servants, this marker of their "otherness" remains. This brilliantly captures the identity crisis under globalization: economic participation does not grant social acceptance or erase the ingrained hierarchies of class, which function like an internalized form of colonialism.

Violence as a Consequence:

The film’s explosive, violent climax is the inevitable result of these pent-up tensions. It mirrors the "violent occurrences" that Barad's article argues are "integral to the phenomenon we commonly refer to as Globalization." The violence is not from an external anti-globalization protester but from within the system itself, erupting from the unbearable pressure of its contradictions.

 Both the novels and films like Parasite use the power of narrative to deliver a compelling postcolonial critique of globalization. They go beyond economic analysis to portray the human realities of hegemony, resistance, and fractured identity. Ultimately, they argue that while the globalized world is interconnected, it remains a landscape marked by profound inequality and conflict, one that continues to call for critical artistic engagement.

The Intersection of Postcolonial Studies and Environmentalism in the Anthropocene

The Anthropocene—the proposed geological epoch in which human activity has become the dominant force shaping the climate and the environment—demands a profound reevaluation of traditional postcolonial studies. Scholars like Dipesh Chakrabarty (cited in Barad’s article) have argued that the planetary crisis of climate change exposes the limitations of critiques focused solely on human-to-human power dynamics, such as colonizer/colonized relationships. Postcolonialism must now expand to address the human-nature relationship and the ways in which colonial histories are deeply entwined with the current ecological collapse.

At the heart of this intersection are several key themes from the article:

Colonialism as the Origin of Ecological Crisis

Environmental activist Vandana Shiva's work, highlighted by Barad, underscores that the logic of colonialism—extraction, exploitation, and the reduction of land and people to mere resources—is fundamentally the same logic that drives ecological destruction today. Colonialism marked the beginning of large-scale natural resource plundering (timber, minerals, agricultural products) and dismantled sustainable, localized economies. These were replaced with monoculture plantations and extractive industries serving the imperial core.

Spatial Amnesia and the Wilderness Myth

Rob Nixon’s concept of “spatial amnesia” explains how Western environmentalism frequently erases the history of colonized peoples in relation to the land. The idealized vision of “wilderness” as untouched, pristine space—often seen in American environmental literature—fails to acknowledge that these landscapes were frequently managed and inhabited by indigenous communities for millennia before colonial dispossession. This amnesia enables conservation models that continue to displace local populations in the name of preserving “nature.”

Internal Colonialism and Ongoing Dispossession

Formal decolonization did not end exploitative dynamics. Barad discusses examples like the Narmada Dam project in India to illustrate how internal colonialism persists. In this context, nation-states, often in collaboration with global capital (multinational corporations), continue to colonize their peripheral territories and indigenous populations. Resource extraction (mining, logging, damming) for global markets results in ecological degradation and displacement of local communities, perpetuating the exploitative patterns of classical colonialism.

Accumulation by Dispossession

David Harvey's concept of "accumulation by dispossession," as explored in the article, offers an update to Marx’s idea of "primitive accumulation." Harvey’s theory explains how capital continues to generate wealth by dispossessing people of their assets—land, water, forests, and even financial security (as evidenced by microfinance schemes and subprime mortgages). This process disproportionately affects the poor and marginalized in the Global South, who are often the descendants of colonized peoples.

Disproportionate Impact on Colonized Peoples

Colonized and formerly colonized peoples bear the brunt of climate change and ecological degradation due to structural reasons rooted in their histories:

• Geographic Vulnerability: Many former colonies are situated in tropical or low-lying coastal regions, making them particularly susceptible to climate change effects like sea-level rise, extreme cyclones, and droughts.

• Economic Dependence: These economies often remain shaped by colonial-era roles as resource providers (agriculture, mining), making them especially vulnerable to climate disruptions like failed harvests or depleted fisheries.

• Weakened Infrastructure: The legacy of colonial underdevelopment, compounded by ongoing neoliberal policies, often results in inadequate infrastructure, healthcare, and social safety nets to mitigate the effects of climate disasters.

• Loss of Traditional Knowledge: Colonialism disrupted and devalued indigenous knowledge systems that had been adapted to local environments. This loss of resilience leaves communities more vulnerable to new environmental shocks.

The "Double Violence"

Colonized peoples suffer from a “double violence”—the historical theft of their resources and land, which fueled the industrial revolution in the Global North (the primary cause of climate change), and the contemporary consequences of that climate change, for which they bear the least responsibility.

Reflection Through Film: Parable of the Sower (2020) by Julie Dash & Others

While numerous direct documentaries address ecological destruction in the Global South (e.g., The Yes Men Fix the World on Bhopal, or Amazon Gold on deforestation), a powerful fictional work that encapsulates these postcolonial-environmental themes is the opera-film Parable of the Sower, an adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s seminal novel.

Although set in a dystopian future America, the film serves as a profound allegory for the issues discussed. It depicts a world ravaged by climate change and corporate greed, where walled communities struggle to survive amidst water shortages, fires, and social collapse. The protagonist, Lauren Oya Olamina, is a young Black woman who embarks on a northward journey and develops a new belief system called “Earthseed,” centered around the idea that "God is Change."

How it Reflects the Postcolonial-Environmental Intersection:

• Climate Apartheid: The film visually represents the disproportionate impact of ecological collapse on marginalized communities. The wealthy reside in fortified enclaves with resources, while the poor (disproportionately people of color) are left to scavenge in the scorched, dangerous world outside. This reflects the global divide between the Global North and the Global South.

• Water as a Contested Resource: Water scarcity and privatization serve as central plot points, directly mirroring contemporary and historical struggles in formerly colonized nations where multinational corporations have privatized water sources, dispossessing local people of this fundamental resource.

• Accumulation by Dispossession: The violent, anarchic world outside the walls of the fortified cities is a literal representation of Harvey’s concept. Armed gangs and corrupt corporate entities (“Jericho”) constantly seek to dispossess people of whatever remains—land, water, labor, and even their lives.

• The Search for a "Promised Land": Lauren’s northward journey evokes the history of migration, displacement, and the search for safety, forces that have historically impacted colonized and enslaved peoples due to ecological and economic pressures imposed by others.

• Indigenous Knowledge and Resilience: Lauren’s hyper-empathy (a condition that allows her to feel others' pain and pleasure) can be interpreted as a metaphor for a more empathetic, interconnected relationship with the world—a rejection of the colonial-capitalist logic of extraction and a movement towards a system based on community and mutual care, reminiscent of the indigenous knowledge systems eroded by colonialism.

Heroes or Hegemons? The Celluloid Empire of Rambo and Bond in America's Geopolitical Narrative

How  Films Project American Dominance

films like Rambo and James Bond project American (and Western) dominance:

Moral and Ideological Justification

These films simplify complex geopolitical conflicts into binary struggles of good versus evil. The U.S. and its allies are portrayed as the "moral center"—the freedom fighters, liberators, and defenders of democracy. The enemies, whether communists, drug lords, or "terrorists," are depicted as dehumanized villains without nuance or legitimate grievance. This framing justifies American interventionism as a righteous crusade.

Historical Revisionism

As seen in Rambo: First Blood Part II, films often rewrite historical narratives to soothe national trauma. The difficult and morally complex reality of the Vietnam War is replaced with a fantasy of heroic victory and betrayed soldiers, erasing the Vietnamese perspective and the devastating impact the war had on their nation.

Militarization and Hyper-Competence

The protagonists in these films are often portrayed as one-man armies (like Rambo) or hyper-competent, technologically superior agents (such as James Bond). This portrayal suggests that U.S. military and intelligence agencies are omnipotent, precise, and ultimately benevolent. These narratives obscure the realities of collateral damage, imperial overreach, and the chaos typically unleashed by foreign intervention.

Cultural and Economic Hegemony

The global success of these franchises normalizes this worldview. Audiences around the world consume and often internalize these narratives, making American-centric perspectives appear as universal, common-sense truths. This is what the text describes as "soft power"—the ability to make others want what you want, and see the world through the lens of American values.

Postcolonial Critiques of These Narratives

Postcolonial theory provides powerful tools to deconstruct these hegemonic narratives:

The "Othering" of the Enemy

Postcolonialism, drawing from Edward Said's concept of Orientalism, argues that the West defines itself in opposition to a constructed "Other." In these films, the Vietnamese, Afghans, Soviets, and Latin American drug lords are depicted as this "Other." They are portrayed as savage, irrational, cruel, and backward, in contrast to the civilized, rational, and heroic Western protagonist. This dehumanization is a classic tool of colonialism, making domination seem natural and necessary.

The White Savior Trope

A central postcolonial critique is the White Savior trope. In these films, the narrative often revolves around a white Western hero (such as Rambo or Bond) who enters a foreign land (Vietnam, Afghanistan) to save the helpless native population from a threat they cannot overcome on their own. This reinforces paternalistic colonial ideologies, suggesting that non-Western peoples are incapable of managing their own affairs and need Western intervention to be free. The agency and political realities of the local people are erased.

Erasing Subjectivity and Voice

These films are told entirely from the American or Western perspective. The people of Vietnam, Afghanistan, or other regions have no voice, no interiority, and no complex motivations beyond being either helpless victims or evil villains. Their lands are merely a backdrop for the hero’s journey. This epistemic violence—the silencing of their stories—is a core feature of colonial discourse.

Justifying Neo-Colonialism

While classic colonialism involved direct territorial control, neo-colonialism operates through economic and political influence. These films provide cultural justification for neo-colonial practices. By framing U.S. intervention as a moral imperative, they make ongoing political, economic, and military influence in these regions seem legitimate and even desirable to a global audience.

Other Films and TV Series that Perpetuate Hegemonic Ideals

The pattern established by Rambo and James Bond is a continuing blueprint in Hollywood.

• Top Gun (1986) & Top Gun: Maverick (2022): Both films are quintessential examples. The original is a Cold War propaganda piece, glorifying U.S. naval air power against a faceless, unnamed enemy (implied to be the Soviets). The sequel updates this formula by shifting the enemy to a generic, unnamed state (with clear echoes of Iran or Russia) possessing "5th-generation fighters." It reinforces the myth of American technological and moral superiority, using nostalgia to package contemporary militarism.

• Zero Dark Thirty (2012): While presented as a gritty, realistic thriller, this film was widely criticized for creating the misleading impression that torture ("enhanced interrogation techniques") was crucial and effective in locating Osama bin Laden. The narrative serves to justify the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program and frames the extrajudicial killing of bin Laden as a flawless, heroic mission, glossing over the legal and ethical quagmires involved.

• Homeland (TV Series, 2011-2020): This series often indulges in intense "Othering." While sometimes attempting complexity, it frequently resorts to the trope of the duplicitous, fanatical Muslim terrorist infiltrating the West. It perpetuates Islamophobic stereotypes and reinforces a narrative of a perpetual, civilizational threat that demands constant, hyper-vigilant (and often extra-legal) American surveillance and intervention.

• The Kingdom (2007): A prime example of the "American team" narrative. After an attack on a U.S. compound in Saudi Arabia, an elite FBI team bypasses diplomatic protocols and local authorities to enter the country and solve the case on their own. It perfectly embodies the critique of the hyper-competent American agent who succeeds where the ineffective, local authorities fail.

• Transformers Series (2007-present): At its surface, this is a simple toy-based blockbuster. However, Michael Bay’s films are deeply embedded with U.S. military collaboration (the Pentagon provided equipment and support). They consistently frame the U.S. military as the planet’s first and only line of defense against existential threats, blending jingoistic patriotism with explosive spectacle.

These films and series continue to project an image of American military and moral superiority, perpetuating a narrative where the U.S. acts as the global arbiter of justice, often in ways that obscure the underlying power dynamics and the complexity of the regions and peoples they portray.

Reimagining Resistance: The Appropriation of Tribal Heroes in Rajamouli's RRR

1. How the Film Appropriates and Reimagines Tribal Resistance

From Localized to National Struggle:

The film’s central act of appropriation is the transposition of the heroes' specific, localized fights against regional oppressors (the British colonial forest bureaucracy for Raju, the feudal Nizam of Hyderabad for Bheem) onto a monolithic, pan-Indian struggle against the British Raj. This erasure distorts the unique nature of their grievances, which were not primarily about “nationhood,” but about immediate survival and sovereignty over resources—Jal, Jangal, Zameen (water, forest, land).

From Material to Symbolic Resistance:

Raju and Bheem fought against concrete economic and environmental policies that dispossessed their people. However, the film replaces this material struggle with a symbolic, often spectacular, resistance against a generic foreign villain. The fight is no longer about the right to cultivate land or collect forest produce, but about patriotic valor and the broader idea of freeing “Mother India.”

Dilution of Tribal Identity:

While Komaram Bheem's Gond identity is visually present, his struggle is stripped of its specific cultural and political context. His fight becomes personalized (to rescue a single child) and nationalized (to help his friend fight the British), rather than being depicted as a collective tribal uprising for land and rights. Alluri Sitarama Raju’s spiritual connection to the forest and its people is largely replaced by a more conventional nationalist fervor.

2. How Such Narratives Contribute to or Undermine Postcolonial Struggles

This kind of narrative reimagining has a dual, often contradictory, effect:

How it Can Contribute:

• Popularizing Subaltern Figures:
  It brings figures from marginalized histories into the mainstream national consciousness. For many viewers, RRR was their first introduction to these tribal heroes.

• Fostering Unity:
  It creates a powerful, unifying myth of a shared past where all Indians, regardless of ethnicity or caste, stood together against a common enemy. This can be a potent source of national pride and solidarity.

• Spectacle of Resistance:
  The hyper-stylized, triumphant portrayal of resistance can be emotionally empowering and inspire a sense of agency.

How it Can Undermine (as argued in the pre-print):

• Erasure of Ongoing Struggles:
  The greatest harm is the erasure of continuity. By framing these struggles as a concluded chapter in a war against a foreign colonizer, the film implicitly suggests that the battle has been won. It obscures the fact that the same struggles for land, water, and forest rights continue today against domestic state and corporate powers (e.g., mining projects, dams, deforestation). This disconnects history from its present-day political relevance.

• Co-opting Dissent:
  Nationalist narratives can co-opt radical dissent into safe, state-sanctioned hero worship. The real Komaram Bheem was an anti-state rebel; the cinematic Bheem, however, is portrayed as a national hero. This neutralizes the critical potential of his legacy, transforming it into a tool for celebrating the nation rather than critiquing its failures toward indigenous peoples.

• Oversimplification:
  It flattens complex histories into simplistic binaries (Indian vs. British), ignoring the complicated realities of colonialism and internal oppression. This undermines a nuanced understanding of postcoloniality, which requires grappling with how power structures often persisted or were re-formed after independence.

Relation to Other Films

This phenomenon is not unique to RRR. Many films navigate the tricky terrain of portraying indigenous or subaltern resistance.

Parallel Example - Baahubali (also by Rajamouli):

While fictional, Baahubali similarly creates a myth of resistance that is de-historicized and focused on royal lineage and spectacle, rather than grounded in the material struggles of any specific community.

Counter-Example - Jai Bhim (2021):

This film stands in stark contrast. It is explicitly about the continuity of oppression. It directly connects historical caste-based injustice to present-day state violence and judicial failure. It doesn't appropriate the subaltern hero (Justice Chandru) but uses his story to launch a fierce critique of contemporary society, making it a tool for ongoing postcolonial and anti-caste struggle.

Hollywood Parallel - Pocahontas (1995):

A classic example of appropriation. The real story of a young Native American girl's traumatic encounter with colonialism is transformed into a romantic fantasy that preaches racial harmony. This narrative effectively whitewashes genocide and dispossession, serving as a myth of origin for the American nation that obscures its brutal reality. Like RRR, it substitutes a complex, tragic history with a simplified, uplifting story that serves a nationalist agenda.

Complex Example - Avatar (2009):

James Cameron's film is a fascinating case. It is a clear allegory for colonial displacement and indigenous resistance (the Na'vi fighting for their land and culture against corporate-military invaders). While criticized for being a "white savior" narrative, its central conflict is unmistakably about environmental justice and anti-displacement—precisely the themes Barad argues RRR misses. It therefore contributes to global awareness of these issues, even through a fictional, allegorical lens.

Citations for the Articles Provided

• Barad, Dilip. "GLOBALIZATION AND THE FUTURE OF POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES." Journal of Higher Education and Research Society: A Refereed International, vol. 10, no. 2, Oct. 2022.

• ---. "GLOBALIZATION AND FICTION: EXPLORING POSTCOLONIAL CRITIQUE AND LITERARY REPRESENTATIONS." Journal of Higher Education and Research Society: A Refereed International, vol. 10, no. 2, Oct. 2022.

• ---. "Heroes or Hegemons? The Celluloid Empire of Rambo and Bond in America's Geopolitical Narrative." ResearchGate, Preprint, 26 Aug. 2024.

• ---. "POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: BRIDGING PERSPECTIVES FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE." Journal of Higher Education and Research Society: A Refereed International, vol. 10, no. 2, Oct. 2022.

• ---. "Reimagining Resistance: The Appropriation of Tribal Heroes in Rajamouli's RRR." ResearchGate, Preprint, 31 Aug. 2024.

Works Cited

• Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Half of a Yellow Sun. Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.

• Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger. Free Press, 2008.

• Avatar. Directed by James Cameron, 20th Century Fox, 2009.

• Babel. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Paramount Pictures, 2006.

• Chakrabarty, Dipesh. "The Climate of History: Four Theses." Critical Inquiry, vol. 35, no. 2, 2009, pp. 197-222.

• Chomsky, Noam. Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order. Seven Stories Press, 1999.

• The Constant Gardener. Directed by Fernando Meirelles, Focus Features, 2005.

• DeLillo, Don. Cosmopolis. Scribner, 2003.

• Friedman, Thomas L. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.

• Ghosh, Amitav. The Hungry Tide. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004.

• Gray, John. False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism. Granta Books, 1998.

• Gupta, Suman. Globalization and Literature. Polity Press, 2013.

• Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. Empire. Harvard University Press, 2000.

• Homeland. Created by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, Fox 21 Television Studios, 2011-2020.

• The Kingdom. Directed by Peter Berg, Universal Pictures, 2007.

• Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2005.

• McEwan, Ian. Saturday. Nan A. Talese, 2005.

• Newman, Robert. The Fountain at the Center of the World. Verso, 2003.

• Parasite. Directed by Bong Joon-ho, CJ Entertainment, 2019.

• Pocahontas. Directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg, Walt Disney Pictures, 1995.

• Rambo: First Blood Part II. Directed by George P. Cosmatos, TriStar Pictures, 1985.

• RRR. Directed by S.S. Rajamouli, DVV Entertainment, 2022.

• Roy, Arundhati. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Alfred A. Knopf, 2017.

• Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Pantheon Books, 1978.

• Sainath, P. Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India's Poorest Districts. Penguin Books India, 1996.

• Schwab, Klaus. The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Crown Business, 2017.

• Shiva, Vandana. Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Survival in India. Zed Books, 1988.

• Slumdog Millionaire. Directed by Danny Boyle, Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2008.

• Stiglitz, Joseph E. Globalization and Its Discontents. W. W. Norton & Company, 2002.

• Top Gun. Directed by Tony Scott, Paramount Pictures, 1986.

• Transformers. Directed by Michael Bay, Paramount Pictures, 2007.

• Zero Dark Thirty. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Columbia Pictures, 2012.