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Topic · Literature and Literary Theory

Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies

Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies is a research topic within Literature and Literary Theory. Science Explorer counts 13k research works in it since 1952. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the complex intersections of postcolonial literature, globalization, identity, and cultural theory. It delves into themes such as nationalism, feminism, human rights, and the impact of colonial history on contemporary literary expression. The discourse also encompasses the dynamics of cosmopolitanism and the evolving landscape of African studies.

  • Postcolonialism
  • Literature
  • Globalization
  • Identity
  • Cosmopolitanism
  • Feminism
  • Nationalism
  • African Studies
  • Human Rights
  • Cultural Theory
Research works
13k
fractional, since 1952
In the world top 10%
1.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+26%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
India
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies

Which countries lead Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies research?

By volume, India and the United States publish the most (707 and 630 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 India 707 works
  2. 2 United States 630 works
  3. 3 Nigeria 245 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 242 works
  5. 5 Pakistan 170 works
  6. 6 South Africa 165 works
  7. 7 China 91 works
  8. 8 Canada 89 works
  9. 9 Germany 87 works
  10. 10 Australia 84 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

India: 28.2%United States: 25.1%Nigeria: 9.8%United Kingdom: 9.6%6 others listed: 27.3%28%largest
India707 · 28.2%United States630 · 25.1%Nigeria245 · 9.8%United Kingdom242 · 9.6%6 others listed685 · 27.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce College publishes the most Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies research, followed by University of South Africa and University of Nigeria.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce CollegeIndia 43 works
  2. 2 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 29 works
  3. 3 University of NigeriaNigeria 21 works
  4. 4 University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 17 works
  5. 5 Sanskriti Samvardhan MandalIndia 17 works
  6. 6 University of DelhiIndia 17 works
  7. 7 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 15 works
  8. 8 Film IndependentUnited States 15 works
  9. 9 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 15 works
  10. 10 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 14 works

Who are the leading researchers in Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies include George Davey Smith.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies?

The most cited paper in Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies is "Diasporas" (James Lowry Clifford, 1994), with 1,871 citations. Next come "Writing the World from an African Metropolis" (817) and ":Conscripts of Modernity: The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment" (805).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Diasporas James Lowry Clifford · Cultural Anthropology Open access Aug 1994 1,871
2 Writing the World from an African Metropolis Achille Mbembé, Sarah Nuttall · Public Culture Open access Sep 2004 817
3 :Conscripts of Modernity: The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment Rosemarijn Hoefte · The American Historical Review Dec 2005 805
4 In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics Lina M. Fruzzetti · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Sep 1988 653
5 The Class Consciousness of Frequent Travelers: Toward a Critique of Actually Existing Cosmopolitanism Craig Jackson Calhoun · South Atlantic Quarterly Oct 2002 638
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies research done?

The largest centres of Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies research in 2022-now are Pretoria (South Africa), London (United Kingdom), New York (United States) and Akola (India). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Akola, Nanded and Nsukka.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 PretoriaSouth Africa 47 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 44 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 44 works
  4. 4 AkolaIndia 43 works
  5. 5 LahorePakistan 37 works
  6. 6 New DelhiIndia 33 works
  7. 7 JohannesburgSouth Africa 33 works
  8. 8 Los AngelesUnited States 27 works
  9. 9 TorontoCanada 27 works
  10. 10 KolkataIndia 26 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. AkolaIN · 43.3 works39×
  2. NandedIN · 22.8 works37×
  3. NsukkaNG · 21.4 works23×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies than the world average.

See Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, University of South Africa, University of the Witwatersrand and University of Warwick score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 16.75%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of WarwickUniversity of South …University of the Wi…University of Johann…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of South AfricaSouth Africa 77.320.2%20.9×29 +45.7%
2University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 68.816.1%12.8×18 +20.3%
3University of WarwickUnited Kingdom 67.720.8%6.8×10 +17.0%
4University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 63.715.2%6.9×14 +13.9%
5University of the Free StateSouth Africa 57.913.6%17.7×13 +87.1%
6G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce CollegeIndia 55.55.6%81.3×43 -
7Yale UniversityUnited States 55.522.0%2.8×10 +129.6%
8University of NigeriaNigeria 54.67.4%26.6×21 +34.5%
9Stellenbosch UniversitySouth Africa 54.526.3%7.0×8 -44.6%
10University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 53.720.3%3.1×12 +10.6%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies, country by country

Is Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 26% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies0.018% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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