Reading Information

Bernard Cohn, “Introduction,” Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge”

Overview

The introduction starts by giving a general overview of how the European nations are beginning to become imperial powers. The Cohn gets into a deeper discussion on how the British were taking control of India. Throughout the chapter, Cohn stresses how very unknowledgeable and surprised the British were when they came into India. He continually stressed how unprepared they were for what they were going to see or how to handle their attempted conquest of India. Additionally, Cohn made it a point throughout the chapter to explain how the British were in a small conflict within themselves, how were they going to govern the Indian colony? Cohn also begins to go into detail on the Indian culture. He discusses their traditions, dress, and culture. Throughout this entire chapter, it is shown how the British used investigative modalities in order to help better understand the people of India. This reading in relates to colonialism because it explains the early stages of the British imperialism within India. It was evident throughout the entire chapter the British realized in order to be able to conquer this rich nation, they had to learn how to assimilate to the Indian culture up to a certain extent.

Keywords

Colony-  an area or region, that is under the control of a central powerhouse or foreign nation

Historiographic Modality- the modality that the British colonizers used to learn the history and cultural background of India

Surveillance Modality- the modality that the British used to record and classify a set of permanent features that distinguished an individual

Argument

The British were absolutely fascinated by the culture and lifestyle of the Indian people. They knew conquering this land would require a vast understanding of all the aspects of the culture, sometimes even how the nation’s revenue was made. “Starting in the 1770s in Bengal, the British began to investigate through what they called ‘enquiries,’ a list of specific questions to which they sought answers about how the revenue was assessed and collected. (Cohn 5)

Evidence

The author used many examples to show how important understanding the history of India was important to the British. He stressed the importance of understanding almost every aspect of their culture. One way was how the nation made its money.  “Starting in the 1770s in Bengal, the British began to investigate through what they called ‘enquiries,’ a list of specific questions to which they sought answers about how the revenue was assessed and collected. (Cohn 5). Another way was through the need of understanding the Indian civilization “typified in the major historical writings of Alexander Dow, Robert Orme, Charles Grant, Mark Wilkes….”Cohn does use these claims to help his arguments because it mentions other writings of major writers.

Historiographical Debate

Cohn doesn’t explicitly state the specific works of other authors/scholars. However he does mention how the British were able to begin learning about the Indian civilizations. He claims that one can read about these discoveries through the famous works of authors such as Alexander Dow, Robert Orme, and Charles Grant amongst others.

Contribution to Our Understanding of a Colonial Rule.

This reading really helped get a better grasp of what is a colonial rule. This chapter brought some new aspects of colonialism to my attention, specifically the use of modalities. For instance, prior to this reading I didn’t know any of the modalities explained in the chapter. I was absolutely intrigued by the fact that there are different types of modalities and each one plays a particular role in the effective colonization of a nation. To me it was apparent that it is necessary for a colonial power to learn and study the history of its new colony, however I did not expect to learn the importance of modalities such as museological and enumerative modalities. It was interesting to learn that a majority of the art and literature was discovered only through individuals and societies. Also the fact that the British conducted censuses on the Indian people was quiet fascinating, doing this so they could get a better understanding of the caste system.