The Better Class of Indians: Social Rank, Imperial Identity and South Asians in Britain 1858-1914 - Couverture rigide

Wainwright, A.

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0719076668 ISBN 13 : 9780719076664

Editeur : Manchester University Press, 2008

Synopsis

xiii 274p hardback, purple dustjacket, NEW

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

This is the first book-length study to focus primarily on the role of class in the encounter between South Asians and British institutions in the United Kingdom at the height of British imperialism. In a departure from previous scholarship on the South Asian presence in Britain, 'The better class' of Indians emphasizes the importance of class as the register through which British polite society interpreted other social distinctions such as race, gender, and religion. Drawing mainly on unpublished material from the India Office Records, the National Archives, and private collections of charitable organizations, this book examines not only the attitudes of British officials towards South Asians in their midst, but also the actual application of these attitudes in decisions pertaining to them. These sources reveal that in the British domestic context, class was a form of ''othering'' that, if anything, was more pervasive and potent than race. British institutions used their (often flawed) ''orientalist'' knowledge of Indian society to categorize South Asians in Britain according to their interpretation of Indian social strata. Indians in turn sought to influence this process of interpretation as they established their individual social ranks in Britain. As a result the Indo-British encounter in the United Kingdom encouraged officials to perpetuate a pre-nationalist, class-based, dynastic concept of British identity alongside the newer ethnic based nationalism that has been the focus of much historical scholarship. 'The better class' of Indians will be of particular interest to scholars and general readers of imperialism, immigration, and British and Indian social history.

Biographie de l'auteur :

A. Martin Wainwright is Associate Professor of History at The University of Akron.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Manchester University Press
• Date d'édition: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0719076668
• ISBN 13: 9780719076664
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 288