Overview
In Bernard Cohn’s Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge, British leaders and colonial agents have been the main center of attention when it comes to describing the way the British ruled India. However, he focuses less on everyday Britons, such as tourists. The photo album that I selected, Northwest Frontier, seeks to further examine how these everyday Britons shaped the way they looked at India. The donor of the album is Frederic A. Sharf, and the creators are the Church Missionary Society and Jean S. Sharf (joint donors). Frederic and Jean Sharf are philanthropists who have donated artifacts and other gifts to various museums and universities in Florida. The album was compiled by an executive from the Church Missionary Society who was sent to examine the progress the church has made in various Indian provinces such as Peshawar, Amritsar, and Lahore from 1910-1912. Unfortunately, there is missing information about the creators of the photo albums. Hence, there are a few assumptions that are made for a few photographs that I have chosen.
The photos that I have selected reinforce the various arguments and ideas that Cohn mentions. “The British were to appear in several forms – as “platonic guardians,” as patriarchs habitually addressed by the simple folk as ma-bap, as authoritarian rationalist utilitarians, and in times of crisis as the not-so-benevolent Old Testament avengers (Cohn, Colonialism, 65).” After examining the album, I think the everyday Briton tried to act less like rulers and more like “the simple folk as ma-bap.” However, the way the British acted and dressed convinced me that they were not willing to assimilate their subjects to British culture.
For instance, Mahatma Ghandi wanted to revive the Indian textile production the British dominated and encourage locals to spin their own wool and wear khadi. But “in the March of 1921, Ghandi reported that some European employers were ordering that the white khadi caps not be worn in the office (Cohn, Colonialism, 148).” The act of wearing the khadi was a symbol of non-violent resistance Ghandi orchestrated. “If they [the British] were so frightened by the mere wearing of a khadi cap, which was a convenience and symbol of swadeshi, what might happen if he, Ghandi, asked government employees to stop working, and not just wear khadi? (Cohn, Colonialism, 149).”
The British tried their best to distinguish themselves from their subjects to establish a sense of authority. They also attempted to redefine the everyday Indian’s lifestyle by changing what they thought were small trivial things. Their goal was to “create a state through which it could administer the rapidly expanding territories acquired by conquest or accession (Cohn, Colonialism, 57).” By 1858, the British Raj was established, formally establishing rule. India was nicknamed “the jewel in the British crown” because of the land contained many valuable resources and had the largest population in the world at that time.
The top photograph is called Learning the Language. On the left is an Indian man dressed in traditional clothing, like the turban. In the middle is another Indian man in Western attire, like his suit and tie. To the right is a British woman who is also in Western attire. The two men are shown teaching the woman what is presumably their language. Cohn, along with the elites during that time, “believed that Indian knowledge and experience as embodied in the varied textual traditions of the Hindus and Muslims were relevant for developing British administrative institutions (Cohn, Colonialism, 61).” By learning their language, the woman can better adapt and communicate with the Indian society.
The bottom photograph is called Sawing Timber. It depicts two man who are hard at work collecting timber. I think this photo relates to a statement Cohn made when he discussed about the relationship between clothing and British colonialism. “By the last decades of the nineteenth century, there was increasing documentation of the declining production of fine cotton textiles in India (Cohn, Colonialism, 143).” It is possible that sawing timber has become their new livelihood due to the loss of domestic textile production caused by the British.
The top photograph is called Indian Troops at Ditto. The photo depicts Indian troops with turbans in the background and their British superiors in the white helmets. Like the previous photo, I think this photo makes a strong connection between the role of clothing and British colonialism. During World War I, the British army tried to replace the turban with their steel helmets. “But by now, the Sikhs had come to associate their uniform pagri with their religion, and the argument that the turban as such was not prescribed by their religious code was to no avail (Cohn, Colonialism, 110).” This shows the willingness of the Indians to maintain their sense of national identity and pride.
The two photos are called The Tomb by His Garden. It depicts a white man and woman dressed in Western attire under the sweltering Indian sun. This photograph reinforces the idea that British determination to distinguish themselves from the Indians, even if it was not practical. Although the heat, sun moisture and dust of the dry season were among the main concerns of Europeans, they still chose to wear layers of clothing. The practical thing to do would be to wear less clothing to reduce body heat. However, “men wore tight-fitting jackets and well-buttoned shirts (Cohn, Colonialism, 155)” and “women were layered with tight-fitting blouses or bodices, heavy skirts, multiple flannel chemise and underdrawers (Cohn, Colonialism, 155).” This is exactly what the man and the woman in the photograph are wearing.
The top photograph is titled Parmanand. Parmanand was a prominent Indian nationalist who lived from 1876 to 1947. He is wearing a blazer, slacks and tie. A distinguishing feature about his clothing is that he has his turban on. “The wearing of turbans, through lacking formal sanction… during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been accorded an increasing importance in the endless quest for self identification (Cohn, Colonialism, 109).” Paramanand decided to keep his turban to remind the Sikhs that the wearing of the turban plays a vital role in their non-violent resistance against their rulers.
Further Thoughts
The album Northwest Frontier does a great job depicting everyday Indians and Britons during their colonial rule in the early twentieth century. In this exhibit, we examined a European woman trying to learn the language, a native man and a child making a straw bed, British and Indian soldiers converging together, a European man and woman in western clothing, and Parmanand. All these photographs convey the ideas that Cohn has been emphasizing. Although I believe everyday Britons just wanted to get along and interact with Indians in a less authoritative manner than the elites, differences in culture and values overshadow their good intentions. Although the album is a primary source, many questions remain unanswered. Besides translating the Hindu law and redefining Indian clothing, are there other ways the British tried to establish rule? What was the British public’s perception of how they were ruling the British Raj? Did they feel that their actions were justified?