Constructing India Flashcards
How can monuments be seen as objects of power
Striking features on the landscape
Showing of wealth and status
Very prominent
Hybrid, mix between british neoclassical and Hindu designs
Who were these power plays intended for ?
Inter british
British over natives
Robert travers argument quote
“Monuments to the dead became important tools for projecting British power in India”
Who argues that memorials were more designed for grief ?
Trev Lynn Broughton
What is David Arnold’s coined term for graveyards
Deathscapes
What is the Bengal obituary ?
A record made by John Hawksworth of transcriptions from tombs graves and monuments. Approximately 51000
When was the Bengal obituary published
1848
Who believed that memorials were actually told of imperial power?
Robert Travers
Bengal obituary quote
‘Against the discourse of neglect’
Death in India
Growing concern, very frequent occounance
Malaria
Dysentery
Death portrayed as ugly, sudden, premature and lonely
Who argues that travel writing and travel books were mostly responsible for making Europeans at home feel like they were actually part of empire ?
Mary Louise Pratt
What is Mary Louise parts most well known term
Contact zones, (where different cultures meet and grapple with each other)
Travel book quote Pratt
“They made people at home feel part of a planetary project”
What is one on the problems with travel writing ?
It produces and asymmetrical representation
David Arnold’s main landcscape argument
How British and other eu nations conceptualised India, that we constructed its ideas of landscape and nature
What is the travelling gaze
Focouldian concept . In that through being able to look at and survey something it gives the surveyor power over the subject
In what ways was the Indian landscape constructed
Against the tropics
Against home
Travel narratives and literary representations
How was military engagement in India important to travel writing
Solders had freedom to adventure
Moved around a lot
Military reports on topography, geography resources ect.of areas
Safer to travel
Those attached to military personnel travelled with them
Military also bought learned men with them
When was travel writing in vogue
1820-40 saw the publication of thousands of books
David Arnold imposition of landscape quote
“India was annexed to ideas of landscape and nature that were external and alien to itself”
What is swati chattopadhay’s main argument
That there was not separation between black and white town Calcutta, the boundaries are more blurred than they initially seem
Architectural division
How's us look neoclassical, resemble country homes back in England, however actually built quite diffrently Windows bigger Rooms joined together Doors always open No seperate servants quarters
Swati chattopadhay quote about City
“Wherever we look the city was heterogenous”
When was government house built
Government house was built in 1799, like many neoclassical houses that were built after the battle of plassey
P.J.Marshall argument
That there was blurring although contemopries tries to show that there was not . Also many more natives in Calcutta than British and more males than females
Things that suggest that there was a whit town
Contemporary maps, british pursuits eg. Cricket club, theatres, cemetery’s
What is a chappor ?
Thatched huts constructed by Indian servants against masters house in which they were to live
David Arnold in deathscapes
Death in India was seen as violent ad lonely
Notion of Death and deathscapes increased with travel writing
Provided britian with a self legitimising mission to protect empire and fix it
Who argued that travel writing worked through the ‘discourse of difficulty’
Pramod K. Nayar
What does the discourse of difficulty constitute ?
Intensification and demystification
What is intensification
Descriptions of India being in excess and incomparable to britian .. However this soon flips to the realisation of indias backwardness
India becomes a place of darkness
What does demystification mean ?
The process of english men overcoming the process of India
Contemporary Death quote
“Here people die one day, are buried the next, their possessions are sold on the third and on the fourth they are forgotten”
Marshal death rate statistic
Between 1705 & 1775 368 EIC officials died in India 57%
This would gave been higher amongst sailors the young and private traders
When was the battle of plassey
1757
What happened in 1756
British Calcutta was sacked by nawab if Bengal
In which year did Calcutta become the administration centre ?
1772
When was the treaty if allahabad?
1765
Why did British travel increase during the 19c.
Increases British control
Mobile safety
New roads and bridges
Steamboats on Gange and Indus
When did the Suez Canal open ?
1869
Who wrote and published ‘up the country’
Emily Eden
Who painted ‘hindoo temple at sera pore’ in dec 1825
Sarah Elizabeth Amherst
Example of monument for grief
Charlotte Elizabeth reed .. Also one of few times native in mentioned in the Bengal obituary Bebee jan
Memorial of power
Black hole of Calcutta
Leuitennant colonel James walker
Which was the british military cemetery that allowed for natives who served to be buried there
Old Jalna Cemetry
Main constructing India historians
J.p.marshal Swati catthpadhay David Arnold Mary Pratt Robert travers Trev lyn broughton
