Orientalism and the postcolonial predicament perspectives on South Asia ; [the 44th Annual South Asia Seminar at the University of Pennsylvania spent the academic year 1988/1989

The Foreign Hand: Orientalist Discourse In Sociology And Communalism / Peter Van Der Veer -- Orientalism And The Social Sciences / Jayant Lele -- Deep Orientalism? Notes On Sanskrit And Power Beyond The Raj / Sheldon Pollock -- The Burden Of English / Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak -- Orientalism And The Study Of Indian Literatures / Vinay Dharwadker -- The Fate Of Hindustan / David Lelyveld -- British Orientalism In The Eighteenth Century / Rosane Rocher -- Orientalist Empiricism / David Ludden -- Colonial Histories And Native Informants / Nicholas B. Dirks -- Number In The Colonial Imagination / Arjun Appadurai. Edited By Carol A. Breckenridge And Peter Van Der Veer. Papers Presented At The 44th Annual South Asia Seminar Held At The University Of Pennsylvania, 1988/1989. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament CONTENTS PREFACE Reference ORIENTALISM AND THE POSTCOLONIAL PREDICAMENT The Critique of Orientalism Colonial Discourse and Colonial Practice Orientalism and Nationalism Modernity and Authenticity Orientalism, History, and the Social Sciences Note References PART I THE POSTCOLONIAL PREDICAMENT AND CONTEMPORARY HISTORY 1. The Foreign Hand Orientalist Discourse in Sociology and Communalism Introduction Oriental Essences Dumont on Communalism The Muslim Other Comparison and Contextualization Orientalism and Communalism References 2. Orientalism and the Social Sciences Introduction Orientalism in Development Theory The Politics of Modernization Dependency Theory as Culture Critique Beyond Orientalism? Notes References 3. Deep Orientalism? Notes on Sanskrit and Power Beyond the Raj Orientalism and Indology Indology, Power, and the Case of Germany Ex Oriente Nox: Indology in the Total State Pre-Orientalist "Orientalism" For a Critical Indology Notes References Sanskrit Texts Texts of the National Socialist Period Other Texts 4. The Burden of English Notes 5. Orientalism and the Study of Indian Literatures 1. Introduction 2. The Orientalist Conception of Literature 3. Literature in European Contexts 4. Institutional Inconsistencies in Orientalism 5. The Conception of Philology 6. Philology and Nineteenth-Century Orientalists 7. Philology and Early Twentieth-Century Indologists 8. Conclusion References PART II THE GENEALOGY OF THE POSTCOLONIAL 6. The Fate of Hindustani: Colonial Knowledge and the Project of a National Language Colonial Knowledge and the Languages of India7 Indigenous Formulations of Hindi and Urdu From Language Controversy to the Politics of Partition Language, Culture, and the Nation-State Notes 7. British Orientalism in the Eighteenth Century: The Dialectics of Knowledge and Government Introduction Orientalist Knowledge and the Enfranchisement of Hindus Orientalist Knowledge and Pristine Hinduism Orientalist Knowledge and Literary Delights Orientalist Knowledge and Indigenous Scholarship Conclusions Notes References Manuscript Sources Printed Sources 8. Orientalist Empiricism: Transformations of Colonial Knowledge Orientalism Colonial Knowledge Politics and Empiricism Theory and Empire States and Nations References 9. Colonial Histories and Native Informants: Biography of an Archive1 I II III IV V Notes 10. Number in the Colonial Imagination Enumerative Strategies Number and Cadastral Politics Colonial Body Counts Nationalism, Representation, and Number The Postcolonial Heritage Notes References CONTRIBUTORS INDEX A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z In his extraordinarily influential book Orientalism , Edward Said argued that Western knowledge about the Orient in the Post-Enlightenment period has been "a systematic discourse by which Europe was able to manage—even produce—the Orient politically, sociologically, militarily, ideologically, scientifically, and imaginatively." According to Said, European and American views of the Orient created a reality in which the Oriental was forced to live. Although Said's work deals primarily with discourse about the Arab world, much of his argument has been applied to other regions of "the Orient." Drawing on Said's book, Carol A. Breckenridge, Peter van der Veer, and the contributors to this book explore the ways colonial administrators constructed knowledge about the society and culture of India and the processes through which that knowledge has shaped past and present Indian reality. One common theme that links the essays in Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament is the proposition that Orientalist discourse is not just restricted to the colonial past but continues even today. The contributors argue that it is still extremely difficult for both Indians and outsiders to think about India in anything but strictly Orientalist terms. They propose that students of society and history rethink their methodologies and the relation between theories, methods, and the historical conditions that produced them. Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament provides new and important insights into the cultural embeddedness of power in the colonial and postcolonial world. "In his extraordinarily influential book Orientalism, Edward Said argued that Western knowledge about the Orient in the Post-Enlightenment period has been "a systematic discourse by which Europe was able to manage—even produce—the Orient politically, sociologically, militarily, ideologically, scientifically, and imaginatively." According to Said, European and American views of the Orient created a reality in which the Oriental was forced to live. Although Said's work deals primarily with discourse about the Arab world, much of his argument has been applied to other regions of "the Orient." Drawing on Said's book, Carol A. Breckenridge, Peter van der Veer, and the contributors to this book explore the ways colonial administrators constructed knowledge about the society and culture of India and the processes through which that knowledge has shaped past and present Indian reality. One common theme that links the essays in Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament is the proposition that Orientalist discourse is not just restricted to the colonial past but continues even today. The contributors argue that it is still extremely difficult for both Indians and outsiders to think about India in anything but strictly Orientalist terms. They propose that students of society and history rethink their methodologies and the relation between theories, methods, and the historical conditions that produced them"-- Publisher's website Western theories of Asia reflect, to an important extent; power relations between western and Asian societies, and this connection calls for critical reflection.