Beyond Representation: Colonial and Postcolonial Constructions of Indian Identity

The volume explores how the British rule and colonial constructions of identity affected the Indians. It studies the impact of colonialism on Indian identity from the point of view which emphasizes disjunctures as much as continuities. It also steps beyond this paradigm by airing a cross section of new and original research which examines the agency of Indians themselves in the process of identity formation and dialogical nature of Indian cultures. The transformation of Indian identities during the period of colonial rule has been a contentious subject amongst historians in recent years, and anthropologists have increasingly turned to history in an attempt to understand the origins of contemporary ideas and social groups. This volume assesses the degree of continuity seen in movements of people and ideas in the colonial and immediately postcolonial periods and the extent to which the modernizing trends have transformed local constructions of identity and politics.

Table of Contents:
PREFACE, CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION, CRISPIN BATES; CHAPTER 2. HUMAN SACRIFICE IN COLONIAL CENTRAL INDIA: MYTHOLOGY, REPRESENTATION AND RESISTANCE, CRISPIN BATES; CHAPTER 3. GOVERN-MENTALITY, PEDAGOGY, IDENTITY: THE PROBLEM OF THE BACKWARD MUSLIM IN COLONIAL INDIA, SANJAY SETH; CHAPTER 4. SUBVERTING THE MORAL UNIVERSE: NARRATIVES OF TRANSGRESSION IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MIDDLE-CLASS IDENTITY IN COLONIAL BENGAL, SWAPNA BANNERJEE; CHAPTER 5. THE ICON OF MOTHER IN LATE COLONIAL NORTH INDIA: BHARAT MATA, MATRI BHASHA, AND GAU MATA, CHARU GUPTA; CHAPTER 6. BATTLING THE DEMONESS HINDI IN TAMIL INDIA, SUMATHI RAMASWAMY; CHAPTER 7. THE GUJARATI LITERATI AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A REGIONAL IDENTITY IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CEN-TURY, RIHO ISAKA; CHAPTER 8. A WORLD OF LEARNING: THE MATERIAL CULTURE OF EDUCATION AND CLASS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY BENGAL, TITHI BHATTACHARYA; CHAPTER 9. IDENTITIES MADE IN PRINT: LITERARY BENGALI AND ITS OTHERS , C.1800-1905, ANINDITA GHOSH; CHAPTER 10. FROM BRAHMACHA; RYA TO CONSCIOUS RACE CULTURE: VICTORIAN DISCOURSES OF SCIENCE AND HINDU TRADITIONS IN EARLY INDIAN NATIONALISM), HARALD FISCHER-TINE; CHAPTER 11. BETWEEN SUBURB AND WORLD POLITICS: MIDDLE CLASS IDENTITIES AND THE REFASHIONING OF SPACE IN LATE IMPERIAL LAHORE, C.1920-1950, MARKUS DAECHSEL; CHAPTER 12. TREASON OF THE CLERKS: SEDITION AND REPRESENTATION IN THE TELEGRAPH GENERAL STRIKE OF 1908, DEEP KANTA LAHIRI CHOUDHURY; CHAPTER 13. THE CHEMISTRY OF A BENGALI LIFE: ACHARYA/SIR PRAFULLA CHANDRA RAY IN HIS TIMES AND SPACES, BENJAMIN ZACHARIAH; CHAPTER 14. I ASSERT MYSELF AS THE HEAD OF THE UNIVERSE GOVERNMENT : IDENTITIES, PSYCHIATRY AND A SWAMI IN POST-COLONIAL INDIA, JAMES MILLS.

Review :
The originality and attraction of the volume lies in the sheer breadth of the case-studies on offer, gathered around the theme of identity. Christopher Harding, The English Historical Review