This collection of his writings in the last fifteen years discusses areas in which the colonial impact has generally been overlooked. The essays form an exploration of the ways in which the British discovery, collection, and codification of information about Indian project of control and command. He also asserts that an arena of colonial power that seemed most benign and most susceptible to indigenous influences - mostly law - in fact became responsible for the institutional reactivation of peculiarly British notions about how to regulate a colonial society made up of "others". he shows how the very orientalist imagination that led to brilliant antiquarian collections, archaeological finds, and photographic forays were in fact forms of constructing an India that could be better packaged, inferiorized, and ruled. A final essay on cloth suggests how clothes have been part of the history of both colonialism and anticolonialism.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
Bernard Cohn's interest in the construction of Empire as an intellectual and cultural phenomenon has set the agenda for the academic study of modern Indian culture for over two decades. His earlier publications have shown how dramatic British innovations in India, including revenue and legal systems, led to fundamental structural changes in Indian social relations. This collection of his writings in the last fifteen years discusses areas in which the colonial impact has generally been overlooked. The essays form a multifaceted exploration of the ways in which the British discovery, collection, and codification of information about Indian society contributed to colonial cultural hegemony and political control.
Cohn argues that the British Orientalists' study of Indian languages was important to the colonial project of control and command. He also asserts that an arena of colonial power that seemed most benign and most susceptible to indigenous influencesmostly lawin fact became responsible for the institutional reactivation of peculiarly British notions about how to regulate a colonial society made up of "others." He shows how the very Orientalist imagination that led to brilliant antiquarian collections, archaeological finds, and photographic forays were in fact forms of constructing an India that could be better packaged, inferiorized, and ruled. A final essay on cloth suggests how clothes have been part of the history of both colonialism and anticolonialism. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Rag and India...,
By Isabel Mascarenhas "Maria Isabel Cruz" (Praceta Gonçalves Crespo nº 2-4º Esq. 2790-082 Carnaxide - Portugal) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge (Paperback)
A very interesting and important book. After reading it, we begin thinking about the Colonial Theater in a different way.This book analyses the interconnections between the Empire and India and the Indian's influences to the Rag. People who studies about these subjects MUST read this book.
0 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great service!,
By
This review is from: Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge (Paperback)
This was very good shopping experience for me, and I got what I bought, and then some! Thank you!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
THE RECORDS generated by the East India Company-in their published form found in series such as The Letters Received from Its Servants in the East and The Fort William-India House Correspondence, and in manuscript records stored in the National Archives of India and the India Office Library and Records-are the primary sources utilized by all historians to reconstruct the facts of the British conquest of India and the construction of the institutions of colonial rule. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
investigative modalities, sola topi, native gentlemen, serpent worship Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
East India Company, Great Britain, Fort William, Warren Hastings, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Sir William Jones, Prince of Wales, Star of India, Lord Wellesley, World War, Battle of Plassey, Leadenhall Street, Ranjit Singh, Sir Thomas Roe, Abu'l Fazl, Fife House, Government of India, James Fraser, Lord Valentia, Queen Victoria, Suez Canal New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
THE RECORDS generated by the East India Company-in their published form found in series such as The Letters Received from Its Servants in the East and The Fort William-India House Correspondence, and in manuscript records stored in the National Archives of India and the India Office Library and Records-are the primary sources utilized by all historians to reconstruct the facts of the British conquest of India and the construction of the institutions of colonial rule. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
investigative modalities, sola topi, native gentlemen, serpent worship Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
East India Company, Great Britain, Fort William, Warren Hastings, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Sir William Jones, Prince of Wales, Star of India, Lord Wellesley, World War, Battle of Plassey, Leadenhall Street, Ranjit Singh, Sir Thomas Roe, Abu'l Fazl, Fife House, Government of India, James Fraser, Lord Valentia, Queen Victoria, Suez Canal New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 70
books:
See all 70 books this book cites
100
books
cite this book:
See all 100 books citing this book
- Sahibs and Munshis on 4 pages
- The Invention of Tradition (Canto) by Eric Hobsbawm in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- An Anthropologist among the Historians and Other Essays by Bernard S. Cohn in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Grammar of the Persian Language by William, Sir Jones on page 23, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- After Colonialism: Imperial Histories and Postcolonial Displacements by Gyan Prakash in Back Matter
See all 70 books this book cites
- Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion by Brian K. Pennington on 9 pages
- Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union (Culture and Society after Socialism) by Francine Hirsch on 5 pages
- Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union (Culture and Society after Socialism) by Francine Hirsch on 4 pages
- Convicts in the Indian Ocean: Transportation from South Asia to Mauritius, 1815-53 by Clare Anderson on 4 pages
- Converting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India by Eliza F. Kent on 4 pages
See all 100 books citing this book
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
