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Book Reviews by Vipin Krishna

The India Forum, 2023

Over the last few decades, roughly from the mid 1970s to the present, the field of colonial histo... more Over the last few decades, roughly from the mid 1970s to the present, the field of colonial historiography has seen some valuable publications. With works such as Edward Said's Orientalism (1978), Bernard Cohn's Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge (1996), and related works that sought to explore alternate genealogies of colonialism, such as C.A. Bayly's Rulers, Townsmen, Bazaars (1983) and Empire and Information (1996), all have given us vast, interesting, and contending vignettes into the nature of colonialism. While these works have often fallen on various sides of the debate in asking questions about how totalising the nature of colonialism was, recent works have begun constructing more sophisticated and critical understandings of colonialism. To reproduce colonialism's own totalising narratives, one runs the risk of assuming that the voice one is reconstructing the past through, is the past itself. There is a fine distinction that needs to be made between two sets of historiographical statements, particularly when writing such a book, namely, a) that colonial knowledge was power, and b) that this power/knowledge was totalising. The question is whether the second statement necessarily follows from the first. The second statement hinges on how much it is reproduced in conversation, activism, discourse, political strategy, and in the last instance, historiography. In the set of essays that Vinay Lal has put together in The Colonial State and Forms of Knowledge, the distinction between these two considerations is not collapsed, but show colonialism as being complex, strange, and as un-totalising as any other facet of history. Lal's introductory essay provides the conceptual map to the rest of the work. He o ers an analysis of the ways in which British colonial actors constructed knowledge of people whom they ruled over. The conceptual architecture of the book relies on the works of theorists and writers such as Bernard Cohn, Edward Said, and Michel Foucault. Lal reconstructs the discourses that British o cials used to construct knowledge about India, much of which was armed with an Orientalist outlook (5).

scroll.in, 2018

John Zubrzycki’s book traces the journey of what we know as magic from the Harappan Civilisation ... more John Zubrzycki’s book traces the journey of what we know as magic from the Harappan Civilisation to the current age.

South Asian Diaspora, 2021

Papers by Vipin Krishna

Studies in Indian Politics, 2023

The Indian Civil Service, and consequently, the Indian bureaucracy, was reformed periodically, st... more The Indian Civil Service, and consequently, the Indian bureaucracy, was reformed periodically, starting in 1854, then in 1966, and then later in 2007. Each process of reform generated a set of reports known as the Administrative Reforms Commission reports which provide us with an analytical picture of the mode of historical state-rationality espoused at that time. While, usually, these reports were aimed at reforming the bureaucracy, they also betrayed the anxieties of the Indian state itself. Primarily using these reports from the 1966 period, this article examines the post-colonial Indian bureaucracy through three facets, namely, aesthetic imagery, Public Administration, and the notion of the public. Ultimately, it attempts to track changes in state-ideology from 1947 to 1966, through the figure of the civil servant.

Syllabi by Vipin Krishna

What is a corporation? Why study corporations? Why study corporate history? Corporations shape so... more What is a corporation? Why study corporations? Why study corporate history? Corporations shape so much of our lives these days. It may be argued that they also shape how nations view themselves, national aspirations to power, and the cultural influence that nations have on the global stage. Alternately, they also intimately shape domestic politics, social relations, the environment, and the religious sphere. Through this course, we shall not only examine how corporations developed in India in the modern period from 1800 to 2015, but shall explore the social, religious, and political roles that corporations have played in India during this period.

This course will entail a survey of four empires, and examine the connections between languages, ... more This course will entail a survey of four empires, and examine the connections between languages, regions, and empires. Spread of Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese meant the spread of certain ideas, cultures, and concepts and regions (the francophone world, the Lusophone world, the Anglophone, and so on). Languages have not only been used as tools of conquest, but have also spread through economic, religious, and commercial processes, and have aided in remaking ethnolinguistic regions around the world. This course examines the spread of languages and ideas, through imperialism, religion, and commerce. The course will entail close reading of a number of regions through historical case studies to understand context around language-spread and region-making.

Thesis Chapters by Vipin Krishna

The India Forum, 2023

Over the last few decades, roughly from the mid 1970s to the present, the field of colonial histo... more Over the last few decades, roughly from the mid 1970s to the present, the field of colonial historiography has seen some valuable publications. With works such as Edward Said's Orientalism (1978), Bernard Cohn's Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge (1996), and related works that sought to explore alternate genealogies of colonialism, such as C.A. Bayly's Rulers, Townsmen, Bazaars (1983) and Empire and Information (1996), all have given us vast, interesting, and contending vignettes into the nature of colonialism. While these works have often fallen on various sides of the debate in asking questions about how totalising the nature of colonialism was, recent works have begun constructing more sophisticated and critical understandings of colonialism. To reproduce colonialism's own totalising narratives, one runs the risk of assuming that the voice one is reconstructing the past through, is the past itself. There is a fine distinction that needs to be made between two sets of historiographical statements, particularly when writing such a book, namely, a) that colonial knowledge was power, and b) that this power/knowledge was totalising. The question is whether the second statement necessarily follows from the first. The second statement hinges on how much it is reproduced in conversation, activism, discourse, political strategy, and in the last instance, historiography. In the set of essays that Vinay Lal has put together in The Colonial State and Forms of Knowledge, the distinction between these two considerations is not collapsed, but show colonialism as being complex, strange, and as un-totalising as any other facet of history. Lal's introductory essay provides the conceptual map to the rest of the work. He o ers an analysis of the ways in which British colonial actors constructed knowledge of people whom they ruled over. The conceptual architecture of the book relies on the works of theorists and writers such as Bernard Cohn, Edward Said, and Michel Foucault. Lal reconstructs the discourses that British o cials used to construct knowledge about India, much of which was armed with an Orientalist outlook (5).

scroll.in, 2018

John Zubrzycki’s book traces the journey of what we know as magic from the Harappan Civilisation ... more John Zubrzycki’s book traces the journey of what we know as magic from the Harappan Civilisation to the current age.

South Asian Diaspora, 2021

Studies in Indian Politics, 2023

The Indian Civil Service, and consequently, the Indian bureaucracy, was reformed periodically, st... more The Indian Civil Service, and consequently, the Indian bureaucracy, was reformed periodically, starting in 1854, then in 1966, and then later in 2007. Each process of reform generated a set of reports known as the Administrative Reforms Commission reports which provide us with an analytical picture of the mode of historical state-rationality espoused at that time. While, usually, these reports were aimed at reforming the bureaucracy, they also betrayed the anxieties of the Indian state itself. Primarily using these reports from the 1966 period, this article examines the post-colonial Indian bureaucracy through three facets, namely, aesthetic imagery, Public Administration, and the notion of the public. Ultimately, it attempts to track changes in state-ideology from 1947 to 1966, through the figure of the civil servant.

What is a corporation? Why study corporations? Why study corporate history? Corporations shape so... more What is a corporation? Why study corporations? Why study corporate history? Corporations shape so much of our lives these days. It may be argued that they also shape how nations view themselves, national aspirations to power, and the cultural influence that nations have on the global stage. Alternately, they also intimately shape domestic politics, social relations, the environment, and the religious sphere. Through this course, we shall not only examine how corporations developed in India in the modern period from 1800 to 2015, but shall explore the social, religious, and political roles that corporations have played in India during this period.

This course will entail a survey of four empires, and examine the connections between languages, ... more This course will entail a survey of four empires, and examine the connections between languages, regions, and empires. Spread of Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese meant the spread of certain ideas, cultures, and concepts and regions (the francophone world, the Lusophone world, the Anglophone, and so on). Languages have not only been used as tools of conquest, but have also spread through economic, religious, and commercial processes, and have aided in remaking ethnolinguistic regions around the world. This course examines the spread of languages and ideas, through imperialism, religion, and commerce. The course will entail close reading of a number of regions through historical case studies to understand context around language-spread and region-making.