Looking back at India's past beyond the realm of academia, Salman Rushdie's imaginary saga Midnight's Children is the starting point for the analysis of India's current cultural and political situation, which is influenced by historical events and, nowadays, by modernization and development processes in a time of neocolonialism, globalization, and transnationalism. In his postcolonial and postmodern novel, Rushdie transcends politics and co-opts political and literary power through the de- and reconstruction of India's youngest past by analyzing post-colonial issues, such as identity-building.
Barbara Schröttner currently works at the Department of Education at the University of Graz. Her focus of research includes adult education as well as development- and globalization studies.
