The genre of detective fiction is "formally diverse, flourishing in multiple cultures, and engaged with the production of knowledge and transformation of consciousness within and across societies" (Nels Pearson and Marc Singer). According to Pearson and Singer, the genre is "engaged with epistemological formations […] produced in encounters between nations, between races and cultures, and especially between imperial powers and their colonial territories." Andrew Pepper notes, "the detective has always been a liminal, contrary figure," while Ralph Rodriguez describes the detective novel as "a productive form" that speaks to "new discourses of identity, politics, and cultural citizenship" in key cultural moments. Authors of crime fiction from transnational and postcolonial milieus have appropriated and modified the Anglo codes of the genre in order to adapt it to their particular contexts.  

This seminar seeks to investigate the intersection between detective/crime/noir/thriller/spy narratives (whether they be novels, films, TV productions, or other media) and transnational or postcolonial contexts. We aim to explore how these narratives engage with themes of politics, and cultural identities within postcolonial and transnational frameworks.


We welcome papers on topics including, but not limited to:

• The figure of the detective, broadly interpreted, in fiction and its relationship to society.


• Questions of citizenship and relationships between nations, races, and cultures.


• The act of retrieving the past in traumatic or historically complex contexts.


• The role of detective fiction in producing and challenging epistemological formations.


• The transformation of detective fiction in postcolonial and transnational contexts.


• Representations of race, ethnicity, and cultural hybridity in detective fiction.


• Minority groups in investigative narratives


• The reader/viewer as an investigator

We invite scholars from a variety of disciplines, including literature, film studies, cultural studies, cultural history, and beyond to submit proposals for papers that address these and related topics. Please note that the organizers of this panel are also interested in analyses of historical and cultural investigations beyond the strict genre of the detective novel.

Please feel free to contact the organizers Priscilla Charrat-Nelson (pcharrat@providence.edu) and Julia Calderón (gonzajul@iu.edu) should you have any questions.