Post-colonialism

I'm hoping to start up a short series on post-colonial interpretation and its application in NT studies. There are a few issues I want to cover, starting with the validity of the whole process in light of the over-saturation of "social-scientific" criticism in the academy today. I'm not for a minimalist approach (re. Barclay), but I do think we can say with some certainty that the pendulum has indeed swung too far. I think a great launching point is with Dale Allison's early work on the historical Jesus. Allison refutes any notion of diffusion in comparing "messiahs" from agrarian cults and peasant revolutions with the Jesus of 1st-century Palestine. All questions about his methodology aside, Allison's contends that all eschatological movements have commonalities rooted in their particular socio-cultural settings. These commonalities are similar enough to make cross-cultural & spatial comparisons, not only possible, but fundamental to the task of reconstructing the historical Jesus. Allison lists these commonalities, and I think the list is a great place to jump into the problems and  pitfalls of social-scientific criticism at large and then pin-point the issues surrounding post-colonial hermeneutics.