Writers who came to the Third World during the wave of British colonialism, such as H. Rider Haggard in South Africa, Rudyard Kipling in India, and Joyce Cary in Nigeria, describe the colonized country, culture, and people from a detached outsider's perspective. But recent indigenous, post-independence fiction, conceived as a response to the British portrayal, offers a contrasting, insider's view. Outsiders and Insiders pairs a British and an indigenous writer describing a particular region to examine the differing perspectives of the colonial outsider and the native insider. This study concentrates on five disparate regions - India, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and the West Indies - to see whether the colonial experience is one that has meaning globally or is country-specific.
Michael Harris
Michael Harris is an assistant professor of English at Central College in Pella, Iowa. He received his B.A. from Tulane University and his Ph.D. from Indiana University. From 1979 to 1982 he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal and traveled extensively throughout India.