Rohan Deb Roy | University of Reading (original) (raw)
Books by Rohan Deb Roy
Malaria was considered one of the most widespread disease-causing entities in the nineteenth cent... more Malaria was considered one of the most widespread disease-causing entities in the nineteenth century. It was associated with a variety of frailties far beyond fevers, ranging from idiocy to impotence. And yet, it was not a self-contained category. The reconsolidation of malaria as a diagnostic category during this period happened within a wider context in which cinchona plants and their most valuable extract, quinine, were reinforced as objects of natural knowledge and social control. In India, the exigencies and apparatuses of British imperial rule occasioned the close interactions between these histories. In the process, British imperial rule became entangled with a network of nonhumans that included, apart from cinchona plants and the drug quinine, a range of objects described as malarial, as well as mosquitoes. Malarial Subjects explores this history of the co-constitution of a cure and disease, of British colonial rule and nonhumans, and of science, medicine and empire. This title is also available as Open Access.
Papers by Rohan Deb Roy
Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 2012
South Asian History and Culture, 2013
The drug quinine figured as an object of enforced consumption in British India between the late 1... more The drug quinine figured as an object of enforced consumption in British India between the late 1890s and the 1910s, when the corresponding diagnostic category malaria itself was redefined as a mosquito-borne fever disease. This article details an overlapping milieu in which quinine, mosquitoes and malaria emerged as intrinsic components of shared and symbiotic histories. It combines insights from new imperial histories, constructivism in the histories of medicine and literature about non-humans in science studies to examine the ways in which histories of insects, drugs, disease and empire interacted and shaped one another. Firstly, it locates the production of historical intimacies between quinine, malaria and mosquitoes within the exigencies and apparatuses of imperial rule. In so doing, it explores the intersections between the worlds of colonial governance, medical knowledge, vernacular markets and pharmaceutical business. Secondly, it outlines ways to narrate characteristics and enabling properties of non-humans (such as quinines and mosquitoes) while retaining a constructivist critique of scientism and empire. Thirdly, it shows how empire itself was reshaped and reinforced while occasioning the proliferation of categories and entities like malaria, quinine and mosquitoes.
The Historical Journal, 2019
By focusing on the history of white ants in colonial South Asia, this article shows how insects w... more By focusing on the history of white ants in colonial South Asia, this article shows how insects were ubiquitous and fundamental to the shaping of British colonial power. British rule in India was vulnerable to white ants because these insects consumed paper and wood, the key material foundations of the colonial state. The white ant problem also made the colonial state more resilient and intrusive. The sphere of strict governmental intervention was extended to include both animate and inanimate non-humans, while these insects were invoked as symbols to characterize colonized landscapes, peoples, and cultures. Nonetheless, encounters with white ants were not entirely within the control of the colonial state. Despite effective state intervention, white ants did not vanish altogether, and remained objects of everyday control until the final decade of colonial rule and after. Meanwhile, colonized and post-colonial South Asians used white ants to articulate their own distinct political ag...
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East
"Nonhuman(Empires"(contributes(to(a(critique(of(anthropocentrism(in(the(field(of(imperial(history... more "Nonhuman(Empires"(contributes(to(a(critique(of(anthropocentrism(in(the(field(of(imperial(history.(It(reveals(the(variety(of(ways(in(which(the(historical(trajectories(of(nonhuman(animals(and(empires(intersected,(and(informed(one(another.(Beyond(merely(rehabilitating(nonhuman(themes(in(conversations(about(imperial(history,(it(provides(a(platform(for(rethinking(both(nonhumans(and(empires(as(they(are(envisioned(conventionally(in(the(historiography.(This(introductory(article(begins(by(situating(this(special(section(as(a(conversation(between(science(studies,(and(animal(studies,(on(the(one(hand,(and(the(historiography(of(empires,(on(the(other.(It(then(proceeds(to(suggest(ways(to(reK conceptualize(agency,(subjects,(nonhumans,(and(empire(by(combining(certain(shared(concerns(of(subaltern(studies(and(actorKnetwork(theory.(The(paper(ends(by(emphasizing(the(need(to(integrate(postcolonial(critiques(with(emerging(scholarship(about(the(posthuman.
The Historical Journal, 2019
By focusing on the history of white ants in colonial South Asia, this article shows how insects w... more By focusing on the history of white ants in colonial South Asia, this article shows how insects were ubiquitous and fundamental to the shaping of British colonial power. British rule in India was vulnerable to white ants because these insects consumed paper and wood, the key material foundations of the colonial state. The white ant problem also made the colonial state more resilient and intrusive. The sphere of strict governmental intervention was extended to include both animate and inanimate non-humans, while these insects were invoked as symbols to characterize colonized landscapes, peoples, and cultures. Nonetheless, encounters with white ants were not entirely within the control of the colonial state. Despite effective state intervention, white ants did not vanish altogether, and remained objects of everyday control until the final decade of colonial rule and after. Meanwhile, colonized and post-colonial South Asians used white ants to articulate their own distinct political agendas. Over time, white ants featured variously as metaphors for Islamic decadence, British colonial exploitation, communism, democratic socialism, and, more recently, the Indian National Congress. This article argues that co-constitutive encounters between the worlds of insects and politics have been an intrinsic feature of British colonialism and its legacies in South Asia.
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 35.1 (May 2015) , May 2015
The themed section “Nonhuman Empires” contributes to a critique of anthropocentrism in the field ... more The themed section “Nonhuman Empires” contributes to a critique of anthropocentrism in the field of imperial history. It reveals the variety of ways in which the historical trajectories of nonhuman animals and empires both intersected and informed one another. Beyond merely rehabilitating nonhuman themes in conversations about imperial history, it provides a platform for rethinking both nonhumans and empires as they are envisioned conventionally in the historiography. This introductory article begins by situating this special section as a conversation between science studies and animal studies, on the one hand, and the historiography of empires, on the other. It then suggests ways to reconceptualize agency, subjects, nonhumans, and empire by combining certain shared concerns of subaltern studies and actor-network theory. Finally, it emphasizes the need to integrate postcolonial critiques with emerging scholarship about the posthuman.
South Asian History and Culture, 4.1, pp. 65-86., Jan 2013
British Journal for the History of Science, 45.3, 2012, pp 443-450 , 2012
Saurabh Dube (ed.) Modern Makeovers: The Oxford Handbook of Modernity in South Asia, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), pp. 59-75, Sep 2011
Supriya Chaudhuri and Rimi B Chatterjee (ed.), The Writer’s Feast: Food and the Cultures of Representation, (New Delhi: Orient Blackswan), pp. 179-205, Mar 2011
Asian Medicine: Tradition and Modernity, 6.1, (2010/11), pp. 149-163, 2010
David Arnold who retired this year as the Professor of Asian and Global History at the University... more David Arnold who retired this year as the Professor of Asian and Global History at the University of Warwick remains one of the most prolific historians of colonial medicine and modern South Asia. A founding member of the subaltern studies collective, he is considered widely as a pioneer in the histories of colonial medicine, environment, penology, hunger and famines within South Asian studies and beyond. In this interview he recalls his formative inspirations, ideological motivations and reflects critically on his earlier works, explaining various shifts as well as mapping the possible course of future work. He talks at length about his forthcoming works on everyday technology, food and monsoon Asia. Finally, he shares with us his desire of initiating work on an ambitious project about the twin themes of poison and poverty in South Asian history, beginning with the Bengal famine in the late eighteenth century and ending with the Bhopal gas tragedy of the early 1980s. This conversation provides insights into the ways in which the field of medical history in modern South Asia has been shaped over the past three decades through interactions with broader discussions on agency, resistance, power, everydayness, subaltern studies, global and spatial histories. It hints further at the newer directions which are being opened up by such persisting intellectual entanglements.
Economic and Political Weekly, 42.2, (January, 2007), pp 13-19. , Jan 2007
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Edited Special Issue by Rohan Deb Roy
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 35.1 (2015) , May 2015
Global South SEPHIS e-magazine, 6.3 , Jul 2010
Book Reviews by Rohan Deb Roy
Malaria was considered one of the most widespread disease-causing entities in the nineteenth cent... more Malaria was considered one of the most widespread disease-causing entities in the nineteenth century. It was associated with a variety of frailties far beyond fevers, ranging from idiocy to impotence. And yet, it was not a self-contained category. The reconsolidation of malaria as a diagnostic category during this period happened within a wider context in which cinchona plants and their most valuable extract, quinine, were reinforced as objects of natural knowledge and social control. In India, the exigencies and apparatuses of British imperial rule occasioned the close interactions between these histories. In the process, British imperial rule became entangled with a network of nonhumans that included, apart from cinchona plants and the drug quinine, a range of objects described as malarial, as well as mosquitoes. Malarial Subjects explores this history of the co-constitution of a cure and disease, of British colonial rule and nonhumans, and of science, medicine and empire. This title is also available as Open Access.
Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 2012
South Asian History and Culture, 2013
The drug quinine figured as an object of enforced consumption in British India between the late 1... more The drug quinine figured as an object of enforced consumption in British India between the late 1890s and the 1910s, when the corresponding diagnostic category malaria itself was redefined as a mosquito-borne fever disease. This article details an overlapping milieu in which quinine, mosquitoes and malaria emerged as intrinsic components of shared and symbiotic histories. It combines insights from new imperial histories, constructivism in the histories of medicine and literature about non-humans in science studies to examine the ways in which histories of insects, drugs, disease and empire interacted and shaped one another. Firstly, it locates the production of historical intimacies between quinine, malaria and mosquitoes within the exigencies and apparatuses of imperial rule. In so doing, it explores the intersections between the worlds of colonial governance, medical knowledge, vernacular markets and pharmaceutical business. Secondly, it outlines ways to narrate characteristics and enabling properties of non-humans (such as quinines and mosquitoes) while retaining a constructivist critique of scientism and empire. Thirdly, it shows how empire itself was reshaped and reinforced while occasioning the proliferation of categories and entities like malaria, quinine and mosquitoes.
The Historical Journal, 2019
By focusing on the history of white ants in colonial South Asia, this article shows how insects w... more By focusing on the history of white ants in colonial South Asia, this article shows how insects were ubiquitous and fundamental to the shaping of British colonial power. British rule in India was vulnerable to white ants because these insects consumed paper and wood, the key material foundations of the colonial state. The white ant problem also made the colonial state more resilient and intrusive. The sphere of strict governmental intervention was extended to include both animate and inanimate non-humans, while these insects were invoked as symbols to characterize colonized landscapes, peoples, and cultures. Nonetheless, encounters with white ants were not entirely within the control of the colonial state. Despite effective state intervention, white ants did not vanish altogether, and remained objects of everyday control until the final decade of colonial rule and after. Meanwhile, colonized and post-colonial South Asians used white ants to articulate their own distinct political ag...
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East
"Nonhuman(Empires"(contributes(to(a(critique(of(anthropocentrism(in(the(field(of(imperial(history... more "Nonhuman(Empires"(contributes(to(a(critique(of(anthropocentrism(in(the(field(of(imperial(history.(It(reveals(the(variety(of(ways(in(which(the(historical(trajectories(of(nonhuman(animals(and(empires(intersected,(and(informed(one(another.(Beyond(merely(rehabilitating(nonhuman(themes(in(conversations(about(imperial(history,(it(provides(a(platform(for(rethinking(both(nonhumans(and(empires(as(they(are(envisioned(conventionally(in(the(historiography.(This(introductory(article(begins(by(situating(this(special(section(as(a(conversation(between(science(studies,(and(animal(studies,(on(the(one(hand,(and(the(historiography(of(empires,(on(the(other.(It(then(proceeds(to(suggest(ways(to(reK conceptualize(agency,(subjects,(nonhumans,(and(empire(by(combining(certain(shared(concerns(of(subaltern(studies(and(actorKnetwork(theory.(The(paper(ends(by(emphasizing(the(need(to(integrate(postcolonial(critiques(with(emerging(scholarship(about(the(posthuman.
The Historical Journal, 2019
By focusing on the history of white ants in colonial South Asia, this article shows how insects w... more By focusing on the history of white ants in colonial South Asia, this article shows how insects were ubiquitous and fundamental to the shaping of British colonial power. British rule in India was vulnerable to white ants because these insects consumed paper and wood, the key material foundations of the colonial state. The white ant problem also made the colonial state more resilient and intrusive. The sphere of strict governmental intervention was extended to include both animate and inanimate non-humans, while these insects were invoked as symbols to characterize colonized landscapes, peoples, and cultures. Nonetheless, encounters with white ants were not entirely within the control of the colonial state. Despite effective state intervention, white ants did not vanish altogether, and remained objects of everyday control until the final decade of colonial rule and after. Meanwhile, colonized and post-colonial South Asians used white ants to articulate their own distinct political agendas. Over time, white ants featured variously as metaphors for Islamic decadence, British colonial exploitation, communism, democratic socialism, and, more recently, the Indian National Congress. This article argues that co-constitutive encounters between the worlds of insects and politics have been an intrinsic feature of British colonialism and its legacies in South Asia.
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 35.1 (May 2015) , May 2015
The themed section “Nonhuman Empires” contributes to a critique of anthropocentrism in the field ... more The themed section “Nonhuman Empires” contributes to a critique of anthropocentrism in the field of imperial history. It reveals the variety of ways in which the historical trajectories of nonhuman animals and empires both intersected and informed one another. Beyond merely rehabilitating nonhuman themes in conversations about imperial history, it provides a platform for rethinking both nonhumans and empires as they are envisioned conventionally in the historiography. This introductory article begins by situating this special section as a conversation between science studies and animal studies, on the one hand, and the historiography of empires, on the other. It then suggests ways to reconceptualize agency, subjects, nonhumans, and empire by combining certain shared concerns of subaltern studies and actor-network theory. Finally, it emphasizes the need to integrate postcolonial critiques with emerging scholarship about the posthuman.
South Asian History and Culture, 4.1, pp. 65-86., Jan 2013
British Journal for the History of Science, 45.3, 2012, pp 443-450 , 2012
Saurabh Dube (ed.) Modern Makeovers: The Oxford Handbook of Modernity in South Asia, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), pp. 59-75, Sep 2011
Supriya Chaudhuri and Rimi B Chatterjee (ed.), The Writer’s Feast: Food and the Cultures of Representation, (New Delhi: Orient Blackswan), pp. 179-205, Mar 2011
Asian Medicine: Tradition and Modernity, 6.1, (2010/11), pp. 149-163, 2010
David Arnold who retired this year as the Professor of Asian and Global History at the University... more David Arnold who retired this year as the Professor of Asian and Global History at the University of Warwick remains one of the most prolific historians of colonial medicine and modern South Asia. A founding member of the subaltern studies collective, he is considered widely as a pioneer in the histories of colonial medicine, environment, penology, hunger and famines within South Asian studies and beyond. In this interview he recalls his formative inspirations, ideological motivations and reflects critically on his earlier works, explaining various shifts as well as mapping the possible course of future work. He talks at length about his forthcoming works on everyday technology, food and monsoon Asia. Finally, he shares with us his desire of initiating work on an ambitious project about the twin themes of poison and poverty in South Asian history, beginning with the Bengal famine in the late eighteenth century and ending with the Bhopal gas tragedy of the early 1980s. This conversation provides insights into the ways in which the field of medical history in modern South Asia has been shaped over the past three decades through interactions with broader discussions on agency, resistance, power, everydayness, subaltern studies, global and spatial histories. It hints further at the newer directions which are being opened up by such persisting intellectual entanglements.
Economic and Political Weekly, 42.2, (January, 2007), pp 13-19. , Jan 2007
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 35.1 (2015) , May 2015
Global South SEPHIS e-magazine, 6.3 , Jul 2010