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At the Edges of Empire: Essays in the Social and Intellectual History of India
Over the last two decades, Rosalind O Hanlon has engaged with key questions in India s history, culture, and intellectual life. At the Edges of Empire is the first major collection of her essays. They reflect her interest both in the leading theoretical debates of recent years, particularly in the Subaltern Studies project, and in the development of novel and path-breaking approaches to questions about caste, gender, and religious cultures across a range of historical milieus.
Some of the essays here explore the new perspectives on colonial social change opened up by the expanding knowledge of India in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Others explore important and little-understood aspects of popular culture, from histories of the male body over the longue durée, to the institutional framework within which ordinary Hindus developed their understandings of sin and purification.
The essays range over a broad chronological period, from the development of new understandings of Brahman community and intellectual identity in early modern India, to the modern conflict over the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. In different ways, each of the essays demonstrates the potential of longer-term historical perspectives for advancing our understanding of pressing issues in India s colonial past and its present-day politics.
Some of the essays here explore the new perspectives on colonial social change opened up by the expanding knowledge of India in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Others explore important and little-understood aspects of popular culture, from histories of the male body over the longue durée, to the institutional framework within which ordinary Hindus developed their understandings of sin and purification.
The essays range over a broad chronological period, from the development of new understandings of Brahman community and intellectual identity in early modern India, to the modern conflict over the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. In different ways, each of the essays demonstrates the potential of longer-term historical perspectives for advancing our understanding of pressing issues in India s colonial past and its present-day politics.
560 pages, Hardcover
Published May 1, 2014
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March 23, 2019
'At The Edges of the Empire' is a compilation of select essays written by Rosalind O'Hanlon on a range of issues dealing with India's pre-colonial and colonial pasts. In these essays, she tackles topics such as problems present in current Indian historiography, issues of gender and caste in the study of empires, and a strong critique of Said's Orientalism theory and the subaltern studies group.
It is really an interesting book as the author discusses a varied set of issues. Moreover she presents her arguments and their contexts with immense clarity and originality. I particularly found her critique of Orientalism and thereby its limitations in understanding the discourse of representation and marginalization, extremely insightful. Another standout was her essay on gender and the British Empire which uses both Indian and African experiences to comment on the various colonial strategies concerning the control of women's movement and labour.
I think my one gripe was that the selection of essays had no particular pattern. Topics ranged from the serious critique of Ranajit Guha's Subaltern project to discussions of codes of masculinity imbibed in Akbar's imperial service. Though most of the the essays on an individual level were quite informative (except for the inculcation of a book review that seemed unoriginal and pretty boring), the essays as a single unit lacked an internal coherence. I feel a more thoughtful selection of the author's numerous articles would have really elevated the book to an absolute must-read list of any amateur historian of Indian history.
It is really an interesting book as the author discusses a varied set of issues. Moreover she presents her arguments and their contexts with immense clarity and originality. I particularly found her critique of Orientalism and thereby its limitations in understanding the discourse of representation and marginalization, extremely insightful. Another standout was her essay on gender and the British Empire which uses both Indian and African experiences to comment on the various colonial strategies concerning the control of women's movement and labour.
I think my one gripe was that the selection of essays had no particular pattern. Topics ranged from the serious critique of Ranajit Guha's Subaltern project to discussions of codes of masculinity imbibed in Akbar's imperial service. Though most of the the essays on an individual level were quite informative (except for the inculcation of a book review that seemed unoriginal and pretty boring), the essays as a single unit lacked an internal coherence. I feel a more thoughtful selection of the author's numerous articles would have really elevated the book to an absolute must-read list of any amateur historian of Indian history.
Displaying 1 of 1 review