The evolution of Commonwealth, postcolonial, and decolonial scholarship:Tracing the impact of field transformation on the Journal of Commonwealth Literature and vice versa

To mark the significant change from the Journal of Commonwealth Literature to JCL: Literature, Critique, and Empire Today, this short article will engage with the shift in title in three ways. As former editors of the journal, we have long been contemplating these and related issues in the context of JCL’s scope and remit. First, we critically examine the limitations of the term “Commonwealth” in both literary and political terms, in order to highlight some salient debates within and beyond postcolonial studies. Second, we reflect on the journal’s role in shaping the area of study over time, in response to literary-critical and political concerns, as well as the transformations the journal has made over the past decade in order to open itself to new questions and approaches. Finally, we analyse the likely impact of the journal’s altered title for both registering and recalibrating understandings of key questions in our field. By tracing the evolution of the discipline, we assess the resonance of key changes when it comes to the journal’s scope, methodology, and areas of enquiry. Above all, this article provides a suggestive exploration of the new direction the journal is taking and its implications for the specialization of postcolonial studies.