Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History)

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 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. How can we best forge a theoretical practice that directly addresses the struggles of once-colonized countries, many of which face the collapse of both state and society in today's era of economic reform? David Scott argues that recent cultural theories aimed at "deconstructing"Western representations of the non-West have been successful to a point but that changing realities in these countries require a new approach. In Refashioning Futures, he proposes a strategic practice of criticism that brings the political more clearly into view in areas of the world where the very coherence of a secular-modern project can no longer be taken for granted.Through a series of linked essays on culture and politics in his native Jamaica and in Sri Lanka, the site of his long scholarly involvement, Scott examines the ways in which modernity inserted itself into and altered the lives of the colonized. The institutional procedures encoded in these modern postcolonial states and their legal systems come under scrutiny, as do our contemporary languages of the political. Scott demonstrates that modern concepts of political representation, community, fights, justice, obligation, and the common good do not apply universally and require reconsideration. His ultimate goal is to describe the modern colonial past in a way that enables us to appreciate more deeply the contours of our historical present and that enlarges the possibility of reshaping it. 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. -- Publisher Description. Foreword / By Nicholas B. Dirks -- Introduction -- The Command Of Language And The Language Of Command -- Law And The Colonial State In India -- The Transformation Of Objects Into Artifacts, Antiquities, And Art In Nineteenth-century India -- Cloth, Clothes, And Colonialism: India In The Nineteenth Century. Bernard S. Cohn. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [163]-180) And Index. Frontmatter FOREWORD (NICHOLAS B. DIRKS, page ix) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (page XIX) ONE Introduction (page 3) TWO The Command of Language and the Language of Command (page 16) THREE Law and the Colonial State in India (page 57) FOUR The Transformation of Objects into Artifacts, Antiquities, and Art in Nineteenth-Century India (page 76) FIVE Cloth, Clothes, and Colonialism: India in the Nineteenth Century (page 106) NOTES (page 163) INDEX (page 181) Discusses areas in which the colonial impact has generally been overlooked. This book contains essays, which form an 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. This collection of writings discusses areas in which the colonial impact on India has generally been overlooked. It offers an exploration of the ways in which the British discovery and collection of information about Indian society contributed to colonial cultural hegemony and political control.