Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale

From Post-Western to Transcultural Humanism and Return to Literature

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Abstract

The article problematizes the still West-centric approach implied in using post-Western when referring to humanism and the humanities, advocating in its place the adoption of transcultural. While rejecting any foundationalist/essentialist view of the human and of humanism, it holds worthwhile reflecting on a) the hermeneutical impossibility of pulling ourselves out of our own Western tradition, b) the latter’s actual diversity and complexity, and c) its having no copyright on humanism worldwide. Only a transcultural perspective can fully capture the vital role that humanism can still have today in our globalized world. Here literature – particularly by hyphenated authors – leads the way, transcultural humanism being its ‘natural’ vocation, as here exemplified by drawing on Sudanese-British Leila Aboulela’s fiction.


open access | peer reviewed

Submitted: April 4, 2025 | Accepted: May 14, 2025 | Published Sept. 30, 2025 | Language: en

Keywords Leila Aboulela • Post-Western humanism • Postcolonial studies and humanism • Transcultural humanism • Transculturality and literature

Copyright © 2025 Susanna Zinato. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOc/2499-1562/2025/14/014