Introduction: “Emergence: Stuart Hall And Cultural Studies Across The World” by M. Madhava Parsad
“Emergence: Stuart Hall and Cultural Studies Across the World” by M. Madhava Prasad first appeared in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies in 2014, published by Routledge. In this reflective and semi-autobiographical essay, Prasad underscores the global impact of Stuart Hall’s intellectual legacy and the formation of Cultural Studies as a field uniquely suited to addressing questions of identity, politics, and the transformation of social consciousness. Rooted in the personal narrative of his academic initiation at the University of Pittsburgh during the early 1990s—a time when British academics, including Colin MacCabe, sought refuge in American universities—Prasad weaves his journey of encountering Hall’s work with broader geopolitical and cultural transformations. Central to the article is the idea of emergence: the rise of new political subjectivities and the reconstitution of public discourse through them, a recurring theme in Hall’s work. Prasad critically examines the unique evolution of Cultural Studies in the Indian context, emphasizing how the postcolonial subject, once objectified by colonial knowledge systems, now challenges and reorients those very epistemologies. Drawing from Hall’s insights—particularly concepts like “conjuncture,” “hegemony,” and “common sense”—Prasad situates Cultural Studies as a critical response to both Western objectivism and indigenous elitism. This essay is significant in literary theory and cultural critique for illustrating how theory becomes transformative when tethered to lived histories and collective emergence, especially in contexts where identity and knowledge production are under contestation.
Summary of “Emergence: Stuart Hall And Cultural Studies Across The World” by M. Madhava Parsad
🔸 Cultural Studies as an Interdisciplinary Formation
- Cultural Studies is not defined by conventional disciplinary boundaries but rather functions as “an interdisciplinary space for asking new questions” across the humanities and social sciences (Prasad, 2014, p. 191).
- At the University of Pittsburgh, Cultural Studies operated as a “meeting ground” across departments, reflecting its inherently hybrid and collaborative nature.
🔸 Learning from Stuart Hall: Hegemony, Conjuncture, and Social Reading
- Prasad credits Stuart Hall for his understanding of “hegemony” and “conjuncture”, concepts that challenge traditional notions of class struggle and encourage reading social realities as texts (Prasad, 2014, p. 191).
- Hall’s critique of the Left’s failure in “shaping the culture and educating desire” deeply resonated with India’s own political struggles during its neoliberal shift.
🔸 English Literature and Its Cultural Prestige in Postcolonial India
- In 1970s India, English Literature promised upward mobility and symbolic capital but masked its political function as a colonial holdover.
- Despite the presence of radical professors, there was “little or no consciousness of the political significance of the persistence of English as the ‘queen of the humanities'” (Prasad, 2014, p. 192).
🔸 Cultural Studies and Social Shifts in Indian Academia
- As students from marginalized backgrounds entered universities, the symbolic and cultural authority of English was “radically redefined” (Prasad, 2014, p. 192).
- Cultural Studies offered these students a more inclusive and responsive intellectual space, aligning with Hall’s commitment to emergent political identities.
🔸 British vs. Indian Cultural Studies: Sociology vs. Anthropology
- British Cultural Studies arose in response to sociology’s objectification of the working class (e.g., Hoggart’s “scholarship boy”), while in India, anthropology played this role.
- The story of an Indian student discovering his “own widowed mother” in an anthropological journal epitomizes the postcolonial shock of seeing one’s life objectified by Western academia (Prasad, 2014, p. 192).
🔸 Knowledge, Modernity, and the Postcolonial Subject
- Prasad argues that the “Indian subject is a stain in the field of knowledge”—an unsettling presence in structures that were meant to objectify the colonized (Prasad, 2014, p. 193).
- Postcolonial intellectuals must disrupt the inherited knowledge apparatus rather than “acquiesce in one’s own subjective effacement.”
🔸 The Subaltern Elite and Suppression of Indigenous Voices
- The Indian ruling class, described as the “subaltern elite” (via Partha Chatterjee), seeks Western approval while suppressing grassroots voices (Prasad, 2014, p. 193).
- Cultural Studies in India positions itself “on the side of the indigenous challengers” rather than the postcolonial elite allied with English literary traditions.
🔸 Hall’s Legacy: Subjective Experience Without Theoretical Abandonment
- Stuart Hall’s method blends autobiography with rigorous theory. His essays, such as “Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies” and “New Ethnicities”, insist that subjectivity should “not be mistaken for an indifference to theory” (Prasad, 2014, p. 193).
- Hall provides a model for how marginalized identities can write themselves into public discourse without reducing intellectual inquiry to confession.
🔸 Emergence as Political and Epistemological Transformation
- The central concept of emergence refers to the appearance of new political subjectivities and their impact on knowledge and society.
- Prasad echoes Hall’s insight that “for the process of emergence to be successful, it must be simultaneously a transformation of the world into which we emerge” (Prasad, 2014, p. 193).
Theoretical Terms/Concepts in “Emergence: Stuart Hall And Cultural Studies Across The World” by M. Madhava Parsad
| Term with Symbol | Explanation (as used in the article) |
| 📚 Cultural Studies | Not a fixed discipline but “an interdisciplinary space for asking new questions”, bridging humanities and social sciences to examine culture as a site of power and resistance. |
| 🔄 Conjuncture | A term from Hall, signifying the historical moment where different political, economic, and cultural forces converge, demanding new ways of understanding social change. |
| 👑 Hegemony | Borrowed from Gramsci and central to Hall’s thought; refers to the ways dominant ideologies become normalized as “common sense” through cultural, not just economic means. |
| 🧠 Common Sense | Another Gramscian term used by Hall to describe the internalization of dominant values; Thatcherism’s success lay in reshaping the nation’s “common sense”. |
| 📖 “Reading” (with quotation marks) | Signifies interpreting cultural and social phenomena like texts. As Prasad notes, Hall taught how to “read something that is not a text, but a piece of social reality.” |
| 🧭 Subject-in-Emergence | Describes new political subjects entering public life and knowledge systems—“a subject-in-emergence will necessarily disturb… the apparatuses” of older epistemologies. |
| 👥 Subaltern Elite | From Partha Chatterjee, used to critique postcolonial Indian elites who seek Western validation while silencing domestic, marginalized voices in public discourse. |
| 💬 Autobiographical Method | Hall’s distinctive way of blending personal narrative with theory—“individual autobiography is also the narrative of a collective identity”—as a tool of critical reflection. |
| 🧩 Emergence | The article’s central theme: “the advent of new subjectivities” and the idea that their appearance must also lead to structural transformation, not just visibility. |
Contribution of “Emergence: Stuart Hall And Cultural Studies Across The World” by M. Madhava Parsad to Literary Theory/Theories
🟣 1. Contribution to Postcolonial Theory
- 🪷 Re-centering the Postcolonial Subject: Prasad underscores how formerly colonized subjects struggle to move from being objects of knowledge to subjects of intellectual production. He writes that “the Indian subject is a stain in the field of knowledge. A subject-in-emergence will necessarily disturb and seek to reconstitute the objective apparatuses” (Prasad, 2014, p. 193).
- 🧵 Threading Subjectivity into Postcolonial Critique: Prasad uses the metaphor of emergence to map how the postcolonial subject both inhabits and destabilizes colonial epistemologies—an insight that aligns with and expands the concerns of postcolonial theorists like Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha.
🔵 2. Contribution to Cultural Materialism & Marxist Literary Theory
- 🛠️ Focus on Cultural Hegemony over Economic Determinism: Influenced by Hall’s reading of Gramsci, Prasad shows how Thatcherism succeeded not economically, but by reshaping “common sense”, i.e., cultural hegemony (Prasad, 2014, p. 191). This shifts focus in literary theory from base/superstructure models to cultural power and meaning.
- 📦 Literature as Part of Ideological Apparatuses: English literature’s role in Indian academia is examined not just as pedagogy but as ideology. Prasad notes the absence of reflection on “the political significance of the persistence of English as the ‘queen of the humanities’ in independent India” (p. 192).
🟡 3. Contribution to Reader-Response and Reception Theory
- 🔍 Social Texts as Objects of Interpretation: Prasad extends the act of “reading” beyond traditional literary texts, echoing Stuart Hall’s insight that we can “read something that is not a text, but a piece of social reality” (p. 191). This broadens interpretive practice to include culture itself as a text, a hallmark of reception theory.
- 📖 Interpreting Emergence as Reading: The idea of emergence as a collective narrative that demands interpretation aligns with reader-oriented approaches to meaning-making in literature and society.
🟢 4. Contribution to Identity Politics & Ethnic Literary Studies
- 🧑🏽🤝🧑🏾 Foregrounding Marginal Subjectivities: Through Hall, Prasad elevates the significance of personal and collective identity in theory, stating that Hall’s autobiography is also “the narrative of a collective identity” (p. 193). This deeply informs ethnic literary criticism and theorizing about voice and representation.
- 🌱 Emergence of New Political Identities: Prasad connects Hall’s ideas of Black British politics with Indian contexts—“it is the emergence of new subjects onto the political stage that is at issue” (p. 193). Such emergence is central to theorizing subaltern and caste-based literature in India.
🔴 5. Contribution to Interdisciplinary Theory
- 🔗 Blurring Disciplinary Boundaries: Prasad reinforces that Cultural Studies is inherently interdisciplinary, with “courses co-taught by faculty from different departments” and insights emerging from diverse fields (p. 191). This encourages literary theory to embrace sociology, anthropology, and political theory.
- 🧪 Literary Studies as Cultural Critique: English literature is no longer isolated but embedded in broader cultural, institutional, and political critiques, helping reposition the role of literature within academic inquiry.
🟤 6. Contribution to Autobiographical and Narrative Theory
- 📘 Life-Writing as Political Theory: Drawing from Hall’s “Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies”, Prasad shows how autobiography becomes a mode of theorization—“individual autobiography is also the narrative of a collective identity” (p. 193).
- 💡 Personal History as Epistemological Entry Point: This approach affirms narrative theory’s argument that personal stories are central to identity formation, cultural memory, and resistance literature.
🟠 7. Contribution to Decolonial Literary Studies
- 🛑 Critique of Imported Theories: Prasad critiques Indian social science for becoming “knowledge as obedience”, simply applying “readymade theories” from the West without questioning their origin or context (p. 193).
- 🧠 Call for Indigenous Theoretical Frameworks: This aligns with decolonial theory’s insistence on knowledge production from within local histories and subjectivities.
Examples of Critiques Through “Emergence: Stuart Hall And Cultural Studies Across The World” by M. Madhava Parsad
| 🌍 Symbol | Literary Work |
| 🟣 1. Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand (1935) | 🔍 This novel can be read through the lens of emergence, where Bakha, the Dalit protagonist, represents a “subject-in-emergence” who disturbs the colonial and caste-based epistemological order. Like Prasad’s emphasis on new political subjectivities, Bakha’s awareness challenges dominant “common sense” about caste (Prasad, 2014, p. 193). |
| 🔵 2. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (1966) | 🧠 Rhys’s novel rewrites Jane Eyre from the perspective of a Caribbean Creole woman. Through Prasad’s critique of postcolonial knowledge and objectification, Antoinette can be seen as the colonized subject who, like the widowed mother in anthropology journals, is objectified and silenced. The novel enacts the struggle to reconstitute the subject’s voice within dominant Western discourse (Prasad, p. 192). |
| 🟢 3. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997) | 💬 This novel critiques social hierarchies and the persistence of English as cultural capital in postcolonial India. Drawing from Prasad’s observation that English literature remained the “queen of the humanities” (p. 192), Roy’s depiction of caste, family, and language reveals the contested space of cultural knowledge and elitism, aligning with Cultural Studies’ project of deconstructing ideological normalcy. |
| 🔴 4. Native Son by Richard Wright (1940) | ✊🏾 Wright’s portrayal of Bigger Thomas aligns with Stuart Hall’s theory of Black subjectivity and Prasad’s idea of the “autobiographical narrative as collective identity” (p. 193). The novel embodies the emergence of a racialized subject whose marginalization is shaped by hegemonic structures, and whose violence is both a symptom and critique of social containment. |
🌟 How This Table Connects to Prasad’s Essay:
- Each work illustrates the emergence of marginalized voices into hegemonic discourse, a core concern of the article.
- The texts reflect what Prasad calls the “disturbance and reconstitution of objective apparatuses” of knowledge (p. 193).
- They show how Cultural Studies as a method enables critiques of both literary form and institutional knowledge, in both the colonial and postcolonial contexts.
Criticism Against “Emergence: Stuart Hall And Cultural Studies Across The World” by M. Madhava Parsad
❗ Potential Criticisms of the Essay
🔸 ⚖️ Over-Reliance on Autobiography
- While Prasad draws on personal experience to theorize Cultural Studies, critics may argue that the essay leans too heavily on individual narrative without sufficient empirical or comparative analysis of global contexts beyond India and the UK.
🔸 🌍 Limited Global Scope Despite Global Title
- Although titled “Cultural Studies Across the World,” the article primarily focuses on Britain and India, leaving out engagement with Cultural Studies movements in Latin America, East Asia (beyond brief reference), or Africa, thereby narrowing its supposed international scope.
🔸 📘 Absence of Deep Engagement with Literary Texts
- Despite its implications for literary theory, the essay does not closely analyze any literary texts. This could be seen as a missed opportunity to demonstrate how Cultural Studies can transform literary interpretation in practice.
🔸 📉 Lack of Critical Engagement with Stuart Hall
- While the essay pays tribute to Hall’s influence, it does not critically interrogate his theories or their limitations. The tone leans toward homage rather than critical dialogue, which might limit its analytical depth.
🔸 🏛️ Institutional Critique Without Systematic Evidence
- The critique of English departments and Indian social sciences as ideologically compromised is compelling but under-supported. Statements like “knowledge as obedience” (Prasad, 2014, p. 193) would benefit from case studies or institutional data to back the argument.
🔸 🔗 Complex Language, Dense Expression
- The essay’s dense and theoretical language may alienate readers unfamiliar with Hall, Gramsci, or the specific Indian academic context. This makes the text less accessible, especially for undergraduate or interdisciplinary audiences.
🔸 🧩 Fragmented Structure
- The essay moves quickly between personal anecdote, institutional critique, postcolonial theory, and global reflections, which some may find lacks structural cohesion. It reads more like a reflective essay than a rigorous academic article.
Representative Quotations from “Emergence: Stuart Hall And Cultural Studies Across The World” by M. Madhava Parsad with Explanation
| 🔹 Quotation | 💬 Explanation |
| 1. “Cultural Studies is not a discipline in the conventional sense so much as an interdisciplinary space for asking new questions.” | Highlights how Cultural Studies transcends academic silos, functioning as a dynamic field that interrogates culture, politics, and identity across disciplines. |
| 2. “The Left had failed in ‘shaping the culture and educating desire’: tasks that the Indian Left has never been known to take seriously.” | Refers to Stuart Hall’s critique of the Left’s neglect of cultural work, emphasizing how ideological battles must also be fought at the level of desire and everyday life. |
| 3. “I learnt about the ‘conjuncture,’ learnt what it meant to ‘read’ something that is not a text, but a piece of social reality.” | Introduces key concepts—’conjuncture’ and ‘reading’—that shift analysis from literary texts to social structures as culturally meaningful texts. |
| 4. “Hall, departing from the economism of the established Left, points to the cultural roots of Thatcherism.” | Marks Hall’s major theoretical intervention—his move away from class-only analysis to a more nuanced reading of how culture reinforces political dominance. |
| 5. “There was… little or no consciousness of the political significance of the persistence of English as the ‘queen of the humanities.'” | Critiques the uncritical prestige of English literature in postcolonial India and its role in maintaining cultural hegemony. |
| 6. “The shock of encountering one’s own life thus converted into objective disciplinary knowledge is perhaps a necessary stage in postcolonial self-knowledge.” | Reflects the traumatic realization that postcolonial subjects are often studied rather than heard, captured in disciplines like anthropology. |
| 7. “The Indian subject is a stain in the field of knowledge. A subject-in-emergence will necessarily disturb and seek to reconstitute the objective apparatuses.” | Emphasizes how the marginalized subject’s entry into knowledge disrupts colonial and elite academic structures. |
| 8. “Much of social science in India is nothing but knowledge as obedience, an unquestioning application of readymade theories.” | Critiques intellectual dependency in Indian academia and the blind reproduction of Western theoretical frameworks. |
| 9. “Individual autobiography is also the narrative of a collective identity.” | Shows how Hall’s personal experiences reflect larger cultural and political shifts, positioning biography as a theoretical tool. |
| 10. “For the process of emergence to be successful, it must be simultaneously a transformation of the world into which we emerge.” | Captures the article’s key thesis: true emergence involves not just entering dominant discourse but transforming it from within. |
Suggested Readings: “Emergence: Stuart Hall And Cultural Studies Across The World” by M. Madhava Parsad
- Hall, Stuart. “The Emergence of Cultural Studies and the Crisis of the Humanities.” October, vol. 53, 1990, pp. 11–23. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/778912. Accessed 6 Apr. 2025.
- Phillips, Caryl, and Stuart Hall. “Stuart Hall.” BOMB, no. 58, 1997, pp. 38–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40426392. Accessed 6 Apr. 2025.
- Kenneth Surin. “‘MARXISM, WITHOUT GUARANTEES’: WHAT I LEARNED FROM STUART HALL.” Cultural Critique, vol. 89, 2015, pp. 136–49. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5749/culturalcritique.89.2015.0136. Accessed 6 Apr. 2025.
- Beverley, John. “Cultural Studies.” Latin American Literary Review, vol. 20, no. 40, 1992, pp. 19–22. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20119618. Accessed 6 Apr. 2025.