"Third Text" is a journal on art in global context. Challenging notions of art practice, art history, popular media and cultural theory, it has never been content to accept the claims of anti-racism, multiculturalism or postcoloniality. This reader contains essays by critics and new voices.

"Third Text" is a journal on art in global context. Challenging received notions of art practice, art history, popular media and cultural theory, "Third Text" has never been content to accept the claims of anti-racism, multiculturalism or postcoloniality. It has championed new artists from five continents, and is designed to raise the critical temperature and the political stakes for art and cultural practice in the age of globalization. This reader brings together essays by critics in global art and cultural studies, but also writings by new voices which emerged in the last decades of the 20th century. Divided into sections - history, representation, identity, film, "post" theory, globalization - the reader is aimed at students and teachers of art, cultural studies, media studies, postcolonialism and globalisation.

Prologue - in the beginning - "Third Text" and the politics of art, Sean Cubitt. Part 1 History: introduction, Ziauddin Sardar
contemporary cultural practice - some polemical categories, Geeta Kapur
Latin American origins of "alternative modernism", David Craven
reverse appropriation as nationalism in Early Modern African art, Olu Oguibe
displaying authenticity and progress, Johan Lagae
colonial/postcolonial intersections, Zeynap Celik
whose heritage? un-settling "the heritage", re-imagining the post-nation, Stuart Hall. Part 2 Representation: introduction, Annie Coombes
discovering the European wild man, Roger Bartra
"cowboys and - ", Jimmie Durham
ethnicity and internationality - new British art and diaspora-based blackness, Kobena Mercer
art as ethnocide - the case of Australia, Anne-Marie Willis and Tony Fry. Part 3 identity: introduction, Jurella Andrews
identity - reality or fiction?
identity and myth today, Ticio Escobar
the voice of a Palestinian in exile, Edward Said
the others - beyond the salvage paradigm, James Clifford
restless hybrids, Nikos Papastergiadis. Part 4 Film: introduction, Merryl Wyn Davies
dancing with words and speaking with forked tongues, Jean Fisher
Walt Disney and the double victimization of Pocahontas, Ziauddin Sardar
directing the real - "Orapronobis" and Philippine totalitarianism, Jonathan L. Beller
the critical practice and dialectics of third cinema, Michael Wayne. Part 5 Post theory: introduction, Jorella Andrews
queries for postcolonial studies, Ihab Hassan
signs of our times - discussion of Homi Bhabha's "the location of culture", Benita Parry
the failure of postmodernity - how Africa misunderstood the West, Denis Ekpo
the Marco Polo syndrome, Gerado Mosquera. Part 6 Globalization: introduction, Julian Stallabrass
scene and obscene, Zygmunt Bauman
the "new Asian" museums in the age of globalization, Rustom Bharucha
cybersublime - representing the unrepresentable in digital art and politics, John Byrne
against the double blackmail, Slavoj Zizek
obscene from any angle, George Ritzer. Epilogue - a new beginning - beyond postcolonial cultural theory and identity politics, Rasheed Araeen.