Utopianism in Postcolonial Literatures is a new addition to his existing output of writings on the emerging field of study called “postcolonial utopianism.” The book covers a wide array of postcolonial situations where the common trope has been the desire to achieve a better future, a better world, and where these postcolonial situations have been predominantly characterized by utopianism. The book is divided into ten chapters. In the very first chapter, Ashcroft mentions how the idea of utopianism was embedded within the idea of colonialism as the colonizers traveled to far-off lands to spread “civilisation”(as we see in Robinson Crusoe), whereas in the last chapter he also studies how utopianism was the driving factor behind the establishment of the settler colonies too, namely, Australia and New Zealand. Hence the book presents a comprehensive study of a large number of postcolonial situations marked by the wishful thinking of utopianism.

In 2012, Ashcroft published the basic theoretical ideas of this new field of study (“postcolonial utopianism”) as the “Introduction” to Spaces of Utopia: An Electronic Journal. There Ashcroft had posited that postcolonial literary writing has always been characterized by an irrepressible hope. Another basic proposition Ashcroft had posited there was the role played by art and literature in imagining a better future. The bookdevelops as well as elaborates on these basic ideas, which Ashcroft had written about earlier. In separate chapters, Ashcroft analyzes Asian, African, and Caribbean nations and their respective literatures to drive home the basic point that the postcolonial literatures of these nations are utopian as they debunk the bitter truth that, even after independence from the white colonizers, the better world has not been achieved.

Utopianism in Postcolonial Literatures is remarkable for its inclusion of a wide range of literary and visual art forms, namely, by Ayi Kwei Armah, Ben Okri, Arundhati Roy, Epeli Hau’ofa, Lionel Fogarty, Naji El-Ali, and so on. The discussion of the various art forms, which includes “Handala” and Nation Estate—the former a cartoon and the latter a photo project by Palestinian artists—culminate at the same point, that is, “hope.”

Apart from the clear-cut discussion of utopianism in postcolonial literatures, Ashcroft also elaborates on the concept of utopia (and other terms related to it) in much detail. In Chapter 3, he distinguishes between two types of utopias—(i) the “product utopia” and (ii) the “process utopia.” Althoughthe former refers to a regulated commonwealth utopia such as that found in Thomas More’s Utopia, the latter refers to that utopia thatresults from the “anticipatory consciousness” of the desire for a better world. The first one is a utopia of form, whereas the second is a utopia of function. Here he also cites three types of contradictions thatcharacterize utopias and demarcate the very thin line between utopia and dystopia. Overall, Utopianism in Postcolonial Literatures is a must read for young scholars, and the fifteen-page long bibliography will also help one explore the critical field further.