Lorna Burns

Postcolonial literature and theory; Caribbean writing; world literature; Contemporary literary theory and continental philosophy, especially Gilles Deleuze, Bruno Latour, and Jacques Rancière.

Lorna’s research interests lie in postcolonial literatures and theory, contemporary world literature, and continental philosophy, focussing, in particular on the points of intersection between literature and philosophy. Her monograph, Postcolonialism After World Literature: Relation, Equality, Dissent (Bloomsbury 2019), for instance, explores a wide range of contemporary writers (Roberto Bolaño, J. M. Coetzee, Kamel Daoud, Dany Laferrière, Pauline Melville, Arundhati Roy and Kamila Shamsie) in relation to the philosophies of Bruno Latour, Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Rancière in order to argue the case for rethinking world literature in light of the legacies of postcolonialism and for reshaping postcolonial studies in an era of world literature.  

She is also the author of Contemporary Caribbean Writing and Deleuze: Literature Between Postcolonialism and Post-continental Philosophy (Continuum, 2012), and is co-editor of the collection World Literature and Dissent (forthcoming, Routledge 2019), Postcolonial Literatures and Deleuze (Palgrave 2012), and a special issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing on the author Wilson Harris. She has written numerous articles on Caribbean writing, postcolonialism and the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, and theories of world literature that have appeared in journals such as Angelaki, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Deleuze Studies and Textual Practice.

Her most recent monograph is Engagements with Postcolonial Literature and Theory (Routledge 2026), which offers a detailed exploration of the debates, theories, texts, and themes that have shaped the evolution of postcolonial literary studies from anti-colonialism (Albert Memmi and Frantz Fanon) to the poststructuralist first wave (Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha), the Marxist counter-response (Aijaz Ahmad and Benita Parry), and new directions in postcolonial theory (Glissant, Deleuze and Guattari).

Lorna’s research interests span the fields of postcolonial studies; Caribbean literatures; contemporary global writing in English; continental philosophy; and critical theory. She welcomes graduate students who share any of her research interests.

PhD in English Literature (University of Glasgow); MA (hons) in English Literature and Politics (University of Glasgow).

Culture and Conflict

Postcolonial Literatures and Theory

Caribbean Literature

MLitt in English Literature