Post/colonial palimpsest and the place of ideas

This review explores Hall’s memoir as reflecting on the correspondence between his life and ideas and demonstrating the ways in which Hall’s vital Jamaican upbringing and Caribbean background underwrite his theoretical and political commitments. The review shows the Caribbean as central to formations of modernity and traces how Hall’s own coming to terms with his position in the world informs his critical approach that carries a series of responsibilities and challenges, especially self-reflection and -criticism. Ultimately I suggest that Familiar Stranger offers a valuable context to the formulation of Hall’s ideas and, as such, can be regarded as a form of post/colonial palimpsest.