From Post-Western to Transcultural Humanism and Return to Literature

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 trans cultural. 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.