Archiving the British Raj (Hardcover)

Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya

ISBN 10: 0199489920 / ISBN 13: 9780199489923

Published by OUP India, New Delhi, 2018

About this Item

Hardcover. Generally the archives are sites where historians conduct research into our past. Seldom are the archives objects of research. Archiving the Raj traces the path that led to creation of a central archive in India. In examining the archival policy of the colonial government, it proceeds to explore the complex relationship between knowledge and power. While a section of British political authorities favoured accurate archiving of historical events and limited access torecords for selected non-official researchers, the overwhelming opinion in official circles was against such access. In the last two decades of colonial rule in India there were anticipations offreedom in many areas of the public sphere, and, in many ways, these were felt in the domain of archiving, chiefly in the form of reversal of earlier policies. From this perspective, the author discusses how the World Wars, the decline of Britain, among other factors, effected a transition from a Euro-centric and disparaging approach to India towards a more liberal and less ethnocentric approach. Archiving the British Raj analyses the institutional history of modern archival policy in India. It tells us the history of the colonial archive itself through the debates and discussions about its nature, use, and functioning that took place first amongst British officials and scholars and, nearer independence, amongst Indian historians. This account counters an understanding of the archive as a mere repository of documents, and instead lays bare its complexrelationship with the colonial state. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780199489923

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Archiving the British Raj (Hardcover)
• Publisher: OUP India, New Delhi
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199489920
• ISBN 13: 9780199489923
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Generally the archives are sites where historians conduct research into our past. Seldom are the archives objects of research. Archiving the Raj traces the path that led to creation of a central archive in India. In examining the archival policy of the colonial government, it proceeds to explore the complex relationship between knowledge and power. While a section of British political authorities favoured accurate archiving of historical events and limited access to records for selected non-official researchers, the overwhelming opinion in official circles was against such access. In the last two decades of colonial rule in India there were anticipations of freedom in many areas of the public sphere, and, in many ways, these were felt in the domain of archiving, chiefly in the form of reversal of earlier policies. From this perspective, the author discusses how the World Wars, the decline of Britain, among other factors, effected a transition from a Euro-centric and disparaging approach to India towards a more liberal and less ethnocentric approach.

About the Author

Sabyasachi Bhattacharya is Tagore National Fellow, Ministry of Culture, Government of India. He was earlier Vice Chancellor of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, and Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has published several volumes with OUP, India, including The Defining Moments in Bengal, 1920-1947 (2014) and Talking Back: The Idea of Civilization in the Indian Nationalist Discourse (2011). He was awarded the H.K. Barpujari award at Indian History Congress in December 2017.