Reading Information

Bernard Cohn, Chapter 1: “Introduction,” Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge, Chapter 1

Overview

In the eighteenth century, the British were a huge super power that colonized many nations to gain political and economic power. When the British decided to colonize India, it was a completely new challenge for them. It was the biggest territory that they have ever colonized. They had to develop new strategies to divide the territory and take it over piece by piece. Their main strategy was to corrupt the thinking of the Indians and manipulating them into believing what the British believed in. According to Cohn, “the power to define the nature of the past and establish priorities in the creation of a monumental record of civilization, and to propound canons of taste, are among the most significant instrumentalities of rulership” (Cohn, 10). This was a key finding of the British that helped them with their ultimate success in colonizing India. They were able to dictate which parts of history were more important than others. For example, they built museums in India to educate the public. There were British artists who went to India to pain what they saw. This display is a skewed image of India because it was painted in the perspective of a British artist rather than an Indian artist.

Keywords

1. Modality – the way something exists
2. Epochal – something that is really important or influential
3. Ethnographic – description of people’s beliefs and cultures

Argument

Cohn’s argument on how the British were able to colonize the Indians was that they redefined their history and manipulated them.

Evidence

Cohn references different findings by anthropologists in this chapter to support his claims. For example, he references the work of the Thagi and Dacoity Department. Their findings consist of criminal ethnography. They portrayed the indigenous people as savages based on their own perceptions of the world. They made claims that females would use infanticide that was considered illegal in British law.

Historiographical Debate

Cohn does not explicitly address the works of others in this chapter.

Contribution to Our Understanding of Colonial Rule

This chapter showed the importance of choice. The Indians thought they had control over the situation but were very wrong. The British manipulated them into thinking that the new laws and rules were something they were already accustomed to. By using their own culture against them, the British were able to shape the thinking of the Indians. The British were able to define the culture and background of the Indians and change the perception of them to the world and themselves.

Reading Information

Bernard Cohn, Chapter 3: “Law and the Colonial State in India,” Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge

Overview

India was the biggest nation that the British conquered. At the time they had already colonized parts of the Caribbean. India was a completely new challenge to them because of the language barrier, geographical size, and population. They had to devise a new tactic that they had not used before. They decided to divide and conquer the land. At the time the indigenous Indians followed an ancient constitution. In order to break through to them, the British translated their constitution from Sanskrit to Persian to English. This gave them insight to the values and beliefs of the Indians. This advantage gave them great leverage to manipulate their thinking. By translating the constitution they were able to come up with their own laws and use the constitution as justification for it.

Keywords

1. Sovereignty – power over another
2. Escheat – law that states that when someone dies and has no heirs their land belongs to the state
3. Idolatry – worshiping idols

Argument

Cohn’s argument in this chapter was that the British used the laws that were already in place in India to their own benefit by manipulating the words into what they wanted them to mean.

Evidence

The British charged taxes to the Indians who owned land before the British got there. They called the Indians “tenants” and they played the role of the “landlords.”

Historiographical Debate

Contribution to Our Understanding of Colonial Rule

A huge part of the overall success of the British was their ability to appeal to what the Indians already knew. They were able to position the changes as things that they were already doing. By doing this, the transition seemed less drastic and they were less likely to oppose.