Fringes of empire : peoples, places, and spaces in colonial India

The interdisciplinary collection offers a new and innovative perspective on the history of British rule in India. Focusing on people, places, and time periods at the margins of the empire, the authors take up the 'fringe' as theoretical site, geographical location, and social position to explore how those positioned at empire's boundaries had the greatest freedom for initiative and innovation. It was there that the colonial state also faced the greatest challenges to its control and authority. While exploring these themes from a variety of regional and temporal perspectives, this volume documents how fringes of the empire were powerful and productive spaces with complex and contradictory opportunities and outcomes. In contrast to the conventional chronologies, territorial expanses, and imperial personages which have dominated the story of British conquest of India, this book emphasizes the importance of different times, places and people-the European poor, Indian lunatics, pirates, soldiers, convicts, linguists, and frontiersmen-and positions these intra-colonial fringes as sites for reframing the larger imperial picture. Contributed Articles Presented At A Seminar. Foreword / By Nicholas Dirks -- Introduction / By Elizabeth Kolsky -- Part I Borders And Boundaries -- From The Fringes Of History: Tracing The Roots Of The English East India Company-state / By Philip J. Stern -- Pirates And Settlers: Economic Interactions On The Margins Of Empire / By Marina Carter -- 'tracing Lines Upon The Unknown Areas Of The Earth': Reflections On Frederick Jackson Turner And The Indo-tibetan Frontier / By Alex Mckay -- Inventing A Frontier: Imperial Motives And Sub-imperialism On British India's North-west Frontier, 1889-1898 / By Sameetah Agha -- A Hindu Kingdom On The Colonial Periphery: Forging State Legitimacy In Late-nineteenth Century Kashmir / By Mridu Rai. Part Ii Outsiders And Insiders -- Contexts, Representation, And The Colonized Convict: Maulana Thanesari In The Andaman Islands / By Satadru Sen -- 'weel About And Turn About And Do Jis So, Eb'ry Time I Weel About And Jump Jim Crow': Dancing On The Margins Of The Indian Ocean / By Clare Anderson -- Psychiatry On The Edge? Vagrants, Families And Colonial Asylums In India, 1857-1900 / By James Mills -- 'the More This Foul Case Is Stirred, The More Offensive It Becomes': Imperial Authority, Victorian Sentimentality, And The Court Martial Of Colonel Crawley, 1862-1864 / By Douglas Peers -- Literary Production At The Edge Of Empire: The Crisis Of Patronage In Southern India Under Colonial Rule / By Lisa Mitchell. -- Foreword / By Nicholas Dirks; Introduction By Elizabeth Kolsky. Part I Borders And Boundaries: 1 From The Fringes Of History: Tracing The Roots Of The English East India Company-state / By Philip J. Stern; -- 3. 'tracing Lines Upon The Unknown Areas Of The Earth': Reflections On Frederick Jackson Turner And The Indo-tibetan Frontier / By Alex Mckay; -- 4. Inventing A Frontier: Imperial Motives And Sub-imperialism On British India's North-west Frontier, 1889-1898 / By Sameetah Agha; -- 5. A Hindu Kingdom On The Colonial Periphery: Forging State Legitimacy In Late-nineteenth Century Kashmir / By Mridu Rai; Part Ii Outsiders And Insiders: 6. Contexts, Representation, And The Colonized Convict: Maulana Thanesari In The Andaman Islands By Satadru Sen; -- 7. 'weel About And Turn About And Do Jis So, Eb'ry Time I Weel About And Jump Jim Crow': Dancing On The Margins Of The Indian Ocean / By Clare Anderson; -- 8. Psychiatry On The Edge? Vagrants, Families And Colonial Asylums In India, 1857-1900 / By James Mills; -- 9 'the More This Foul Case Is Stirred, The More Offensive It Becomes': Imperial Authority, Victorian Sentimentality, And The Court Martial Of Colonel Crawley, 1862-1864 / By Douglas Peers; -- 10. Literary Production. Edited By Sameetah Agha And Elizabeth Kolsky. Includes Bibliographical References. Ouvrage inspiré des présentations faites lors de la 32ème Conférence Annuelle sur l'Asie du Sud à Madison Papers presented at the 32nd Annual Conference on South Asia, held at Madison