Forging the Raj : essays on British India in the heyday of empire

Author/Creator:

Metcalf, Thomas R., 1934-

Publication/Creation:

New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 2005

Resource Type:

Book

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

Forging the Raj : essays on British India in the heyday of empire / Thomas R. Metcalf

Subjects/Genre

Subjects:

British--India--History--19th century
British--India--History--20th century
India--Politics and government--1857-1919

Description/Summary

Table of Contents:

Introduction -- I. Land: 1. The influence of the mutiny of 1857 on land policy in India -- 2. Laissez-faire and tenant right in mid-nineteenth-century India -- 3. From Raja to landlord: the Oudh Talukdars, 1850-70 -- 4. Landlords without land: the UP zamindars today -- 5. Rural society and British rule in nineteenth-century India -- II. Architecture: 6. Architecture and the representation of empire: India, 1860-1910 -- 7. Architecture and empire: Sir Herbert Baker and the building of New Delhi -- 8. Monuments and memorials: Lord Curzon's creation of a past for the Raj -- 9. Past and present: towards an aesthetics of colonialism -- 10. Architecture in the British Empire -- III. Migration: 11. Indian migration to South Africa -- 12. 'Hard hands and sound healthy bodies': recruiting 'coolies' for Natal, 1860-1911 -- 13. Sikh recruitment for colonial military and police forces, 1874-1914 -- 14. Empire recentered: India in the Indian ocean Arena.

Summary:

"Addressing a wide range of issues, the essays in this collection reflect the changing currents of scholarship in the historiography of India in the last four decades. Written over a span of forty years from the 1960s to the present, they demonstrate how Thomas R. Metcalf has shaped the emerging methodologies and trends to examine more enduring issues from various angles. The essays are grouped in three sections: land tenure and land policy, colonial architecture, and overseas migration. Many of these take the revolt of 1857 as a turning point. They take close look at the institutions, policies and strategies employed by the British Raj and critically assess the ways in which they were employed to sustain and legitimize the imperial presence. Metcalf also explores how these ideas and policies affected the lives of ordinary Indians, from the landed elite to the lowly labourers and migrants. In a comprehensive introduction, he provides an overview of the issues interlinking the essays and places each piece in perspective in the context of his career and interests. For its panoramic grasp of the issues which have been relevant to the history of colonial India, this remarkable collection will be indispensable to historians, young scholars, and students interested in colonial history and historiography. Lucidly written, this volume will also be an engaging read for the informed general reader." -- publisher description.

Language:

English

Physical Type/Description:

vi, 317 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Related Resources Link:

Publisher description
Table of contents

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

990006021140302486

ISBN:

0195667093
9780195667097

OCLC Number:

56455301

Barcode:

010001176353