Information

Cohn Bernard, Chapter five: Cloth, Clothes, and Colonialism: India In the 19^th Century, Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge

Overview

In summary, chapter five: Cloth, Clothes, and Colonialism, talks about the meaning and symbolism of clothes to both British and Indians, as well as its impact towards both societies. The turban, which is a traditional headwear in India, is given as an example of a symbolic displacement of economic, political, and cultural issues during the time period of British conquest of India. As a part of their colonial project, the British realized the importance of the Turban’s significance, thus they were trying to implement their sartorial policies to the people of India from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries to assert their dominance over them. The British followed their own fashion or dress code, so that they were able to symbolize their separateness from the clothing style of their Indian subjects. An event that is analyzed in this chapter tells us how during World War 1, the British army were trying to unify their troops by replacing steel helmets in order to cultivate the Sikh to develop a sense of loyalty towards the British crown. However, to the Indians, this piece of clothing had become part of their identity and they refuse to stop wearing it in the British army despite the British requesting them to do so. This chapter relates to the general topic of colonialism and imperialism because the unification of clothes would be a basic factor in the steps of colonization, given that traditional clothes represent ethnicity and national spirits, and it could be destroyed by changing the way of dress under force. Furthermore, standardization of a living style could be the cornerstone of the foundation of an empire. This chapter tells us about how in the past people could appeal to their power and authority through the clothes they wore. Clothes during the colonial period were not just items to cover body, but rather they could be used as an important tool to subjugate one culture to another or to represent rebellion by showing a strong sense identity and national pride.

Keywords

Turban – is an Indian’s traditional hat having significant meanings in politic, economic, and a social way in India.

Sikh – is a member of a monotheistic religion in India. They were recruited for the East India Company’s army on the ground that they were strong in a combat. They showed their identity by wearing Turban as a helmet.

Clothes – is used to symbolize British superiority and separate themselves from Indigenous people.

Argument

“I will explore the meaning of clothes for Indians and British in the 19^th century; the establishment of the categorical separation between dark subjects and fair-skinned rulers; the search for representations of the inherent and necessary differences between rulers and ruled as constructed by the British; and the creation of a uniform of a uniform of rebellion by the Indians in the twentieth century.” (p.1)

Evidence

The author uses as a source of evidence paintings of the era to analyze the way Englishmen dressed to symbolize their separateness from their Indian subjects. “Paintings by Indians of Europeans in the 17^th and 18^th centuries emphasized the differences in costume, which apparently made little concession to the Indian environment culturally or physically. At home, in the office, hunting in the field, or when representing the majesty and authority of power, the British dressed in their own fashion.” This evidence seems to be reliable. It effectively supports the author’s argument.

Historiographical Debate

I am not sure how the author is situating himself in a wider scholarly debate.

Contribution to Our Understanding of Colonial Rule

I was surprised that a dominated country would be able to break from the mother countries’ will without violent conflicts or war. In the case of the Sikh in India, to the Sikhs, their turban had already been a symbol to represent their strong identity. Therefore, when the British tried to break the turban from the Sikh identity by trying to incorporate a steel helmet in all of their army troops, they were not able to change the Sikh turban since this simple piece of cloth had embedded in their minds as a representation of their identity, even when was not prescribed by Sikh’s religious code. Moreover, I realize that the British put their effort on changing the way Indian people dresses as part of their agenda to colonial rule, it eventually linked to obtain a trade treaty with the textile industry which would provide profits for England.

Information

Cohn Bernard, Chapter three: Law and the Colonial State in India, Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge

Overview

Chapter three: law and the Colonial State in India, talks about the emergence of the East India Company and how would the responsibilities of a private company impact its subjects. This led many of the British to ponder upon what is the best approach to the of ruling India along with a concern for the well-being of the Indian people.  The situation in India presented them with a problem they hadn’t faced before, so in order to answer this problem, they approached the situation in a pragmatic way using. Instrumentalities of a rule which covered subjects such as the redefinition of the traditional forms of authority and rule, debating whether to rule India by following a despotic model, viewing India as theocracy, and examining Colebrooke’s discourse on The Nature of Hindu Law. This chapter takes place in India during the late seventeenth century. This reading relates to the topic of imperialism and colonialism because by having an in-depth analysis of the path the British took to colonize a country with strange customs and religious beliefs, it becomes clear that a  careful understanding of these customs and religious customs and by showing  flexibility to adapt to the  ancient laws of the natives and derive a judicial system which would work for both nations, the British effectively managed to maintain their status as colonizers of the Indian nation.  What this chapter tells us about the past is that a certain way of life and rules can become deeply embedded into its inhabitants to such degree that taking away this way of life and implementing new rules to better them can cause the opposite effect, therefore in order to bring change into their lifestyle the colonizing nation must first study and comprehend the rationalization of the nation.

Keywords

East India Company : A large British trading company which over time acquired many of the attributes of a state. Meaning that it could wage war, raise taxes, or pass laws and justice among its employees.

Despotic model:  to govern despotically was to rule “ as a master over a slave”.

Mughal political system: a system in which the emperor held a complete power unchallenged by any other political or social institutions.

Argument

“The constitutional and legal issues presented by the emergence of the East India Company … could not simply be analogized to existing colonial experience. A whole new set of issues, for which there was no precedent, presented themselves. The issues included questions about the nature of sovereignty in India”.(p58)

Evidence

The author uses quotations from historians of the time period to support his claims that India was an unprecedented challenge to a colonial rule. “ The law was based upon his will ( the Mughal), and hence argued Orme (1805), there could not be any absolute laws in its constitution; for these would interfere with that will. Orme believed that in 1752 there were no digests or codes of laws existing in Indostan.” I think that the evidence presented by the author is reliable. The evidence in the reading provided by the author supports his argument.

Historiographical Debate

The author does not explicitly situate himself in a wider scholarly debate in the text.

Contribution to Our Understanding of Colonial Rule

To my opinion, chapter three: Law and the Colonial State in India, has added the biggest contribution to the understanding of the colonial rule. Before reading this chapter my understanding of colonial rule was very limited. I could assume that ruling a Colony would be as simple as to maintain the upper hand when it comes to military power and simply implement rules and laws by way of force. However, after reading this chapter I have come to understand that the art of ruling a colony is a much more delicate and complex subject. Just knowing what the best laws are for the wellbeing of a population means nothing if the population will not follow these laws because they feel antagonized by them. However, by creating laws which were derived from ancient Indian religious texts and that coincided with British law, the British managed to introduce their laws into the lives of the Indian people as means of the first step to later exercise a complete English law system in India.

Information

Cohn Bernard, Introduction, Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge

Overview

This reading explains about the British first steps of the colonial projects in their mission to make sense of what India represented. As the reading suggests, an educated Englishman would make sense of the world by looking at the world in an empirical way and relying in facts. In order to make sense if India the British used investigative modalities. Investigative modalities are the collected facts which British gathered data about finance, trade, health, demography, crime, education, transportation, agriculture, and industry in India, so the British could be able to facilitate colonization based on what they investigated. From the eighteenth century onward, the investigation for colonial project has initiated in England as well as in mainland India. British created their own officers who are able to speak Indian, and they sent specialists such as priests, historians, and artist to India in order to launch investigation in earnest. The modalities are divided into various categories such as historical, museological, surveillance, and observational modalities, which are indicated in the specific location and description of archaeological sites and enumerative, and survey modalities which are more related to administrative questions. All of these modalities were used not only by institutions and administrative sites, but they were also transformed into sciences. By understanding the characteristics of each investigative modality, we can figure out which modality approach was used India in colonialism (territorial dominance), or imperialism way (national spirit dominance). This reading tells us that in the past colonial superpowers such as the British sought to impose their authority unto their conquered nations by using investigative modalities in order to best manage and rule these territories.

Keywords

Investigative Modalities – is the collected facts about India by British before conquest.

Historiographic Modality- is the investigation about knowledge of the history and practices of Indian states.

Observational Modality- is the investigation about knowledge of the routes or particular sites through traveling.

Survey Modality- is the investigation to measure land for the purpose of establishing boundaries, and to supervise.

Enumerative Modality- is the collected basic information about Indian age, occupation, caste, religion, literacy, place of birth, and current residence as statistical forms.

Museological Modality- is the investigation about knowledge of the art, architecture, scripts, and textual traditions of India.

Argument

“The process of state building in Great Britain, seen as a cultural project, was closely linked with its emergence as an imperial power, and India was its largest and most important colony. It is not just that the personnel who governed Indian were British, but the projects of state building in both countries – documentation, legitimation, classification and bounding and the institutions therewith-often reflected theories, experiences, and practice worked out originally in India and then applied in Great Britain, as well as vice versa.” (p.3~4)

Evidence

To support his argument the author uses examples on how cultural projects used in India aided Britain and vice versa. Two of the examples given by the author to show the mirror effect that these projects had in the development of Britain as an imperial superpower are how the Indian civil service provided some of the models for the development of the Home services in Britain. Another example is given by the author when he talks about how the British concept of using universities and schools for the old aristocracy and the new middle class to meet and produce loyal new governing elites would later be used in India for the same purpose. To my understanding, the author’s evidence seems reliable. The evidence provided by the author effectively support his argument.

Historiographical Debate

The author does not explicitly situate him in a wider scholarly debate in the text.

Contribution to Our Understanding of Colonial Rule

I was impressed with the British colonial project which is more elaborate than I thought it would be. Some aspects of the reading were expected such as the conquering nation having to familiarize with the native language. It was an essential step to teach their own officers the local language in order to issue commands, collect taxes, maintain law and create order. However, before this reading, I believed that the first stage of colonizing another country is to enforce dominance through the use of military force, and constant public displays of power that would show a visual power gap between the conqueror and the conquered. However, before starting a full scale colonization, the pre-investigation steps that the British took were very detailed, which included knowledge of India’s ancient history to understanding India’s culture during the current time. After reading the previous book, I already had an idea that colonialism eventually brings benefits to mother country politically, and economically through trades of goods and slaves.

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