Information
Cohn Bernard, Chapter five: Cloth, Clothes, and Colonialism: India In the 19th 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 19th 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 17th and 18th 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.