Ranajit Guha’s Historiography of Colonial India (original) (raw)

The Many Worlds of Indian Historiography

Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies

The birth of Indian historiography has been a lookout of draconian criticism and surveillance. Historiography in modern times needs to be addressed in a crucial and meaningful way, especially when we confabulate about those countries which have a colonial past. In this paper we fancy to ruminate and canvass the case of making of Indian historiography. For an extensive and dominant phase, India struggled to extricate between literature and historical writing, clouding itself into indecisive dividing lines to demarcate periods. The advent of the British sculptured and synthesized the inception of Indian historical writing, craftily attempting it to periodize and document it. Indian historiography found itself dichotomizing into religious premises and kept thriving and coalescing bit by bit from rationalist to nationalist to economic paradigm. There is beyond any shadow of doubt, a dire role of the British in cobbling up Indian historiography. This paper assays to radiate how Indian hi...

Review: The Colonial State And Forms Of Knowledge: The British In India.

The India Forum, 2023

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).

Subaltern Studies: The Philosophy and Historiography of Ranajit Guha

This paper will discuss India's eminent subaltern historian Ranajit Guha’s main book, “History at the Limit of World-History,” a critique of Hegelian’s elitist and Eurocentric view of history, how Indian and other Oriental histories are excluded from “world-history”, the concept of historicality, the evolution from the prose of the world to the prose of history and Tagore’s lamentation on the poverty of historiography. Also included in this paper is Guha’s point by point and academic critique of colonial India’s historiography.

Kanpur Historiographers ISSN 2348-3814 Volume-6 Issue-2 December 2019

New Archaeological & Genological Society Kanpur India, 2019

Issue two volume six of Kanpur Historiographers is here for common readers, researchers and a vast audience interested in South Asian history. From the first volume it has opted for the less traversed road of writing the history of marginalized, excluded and subjugated. Historiographer instead of taking the linear deterministic course tried to unearth the people, events and processes excluded from the dominant course of Eurocentric historiography. In the 1980’s a group of renowned Indian historians initiated subaltern studies. The group became a voice of the weak that resisted the dominant powers in far of places. The western view of history is a universal progressive phenomenon excluded the narrative of subaltern, indigenous, peasant and common populous. Papers in all the previous volumes of Kanpur Historiographers, as well as the current issue, is an increment in the same process of recording the forgotten history of people and places. The historiographers contributing in this issue has addressed the themes of historical geography, cultural history, civilization studies and literary history. The topics addressed are as vast as the maritime history of the Indian Ocean to cultural history reflected in popular film culture. However, the main focus of the present issue remains in the history of Malabar region. The first article ‘Indian Ocean a Zone of Peace’, traces the importance of Indian Ocean bases in the creation of British and US hegemony. It presents a picture of great power rivalry in the presence of all major powers in Indian Ocean and the consequences for Indian Ocean littoral states. The littoral states despite their repeated insistence on creating a zone of peace and collective security in the Indian Ocean can’t change the present scenario as international law and the concept of freedom of seas work for their disadvantage. The paper ‘Madras native association: a pioneer of political association of South India’ deals with genesis, growth and decline of Madras native association. The association much before the formation of Indian National Congress resisted Christian Missionary activities working under the patronage of East India Company. When Madras became a Presidency the society organised on non-cast lines, articulates the demands like a decrease in taxation, better provision of education and formation of local government. The article ‘Indo-Tibetan friendship Scenario of Uttarakhand province’ traverse through the Indian civilizational history to create a scenario of friendship and foresee future of Tibet as a peace zone. The author believes that monastic traditions Tibet have roots in Indian soil. ‘Writing local history: a journey Pothukal Panchayath, Malapurram District’ is a well written piece of cultural and economic history. It traces the process of culturl synthesis taking place as a result of internal and external migration. It tells the story of a land where parochial indigenous tribes were involved in hunting, gathering and tilting the land. How the natural resource of forest attracted the capitalist, who for the sake of raw material altered the natural habitat. The article is vast in scope as it presents the multiple phases of resistance between indigenous tribes and national bourgeois like Birla’s: land rights struggle between locals and migrant and state reformed to provide communal ownership of land. The paper ‘Music in Malabar: culture and aesthetics’ traces the cultural influence of migration and trade activities in port region of Malabar. The imprints of Muslim folklores, music and poetic traditions are deeply evident in popular film music of 1960’s and 1970’s. Musicians like K. Raghvan and M.S. Baburaj seems to be inspired by tunes of Ghazal, considered to be Muslim heritage. ‘The saga of service: A case of early leaders of SIS in Malabar’ is about the services of Servants of India Society created by Gokhle. The society was created as an aftermath of Malabar rebellion 1921-22. To redress the untold miseries of people of Malabar belonging to both Hindu and Muslim communities, the leaders like A. V. Thakkar Bappa who devoted his life for the services and uplift of the Harijan community. ‘Contribution of Admiral Kunjali marakkar to Calicut Navy’ is the clear example of resistance struggle of forgotten heroes. The European history narrates the story of Portuguese hegemony on seas and oceans but it remains but it remains silent on history of resistance. Even Indian history tells the story of King Zamorin fighting with the help of his naval admiral Kunjali, a born Muslim, belonging to the Mappila community of seaman was chief admiral of King Zamorin. Kunjali was successful in establishing a naval base between Kochin and Calicut, hindering the trade as well as military ambitions of European naval powers. Kunjali was a military strategist who initiated Guerilla warfare against heavy slow-moving Portuguese ships with fast moving small boats. With the help of rowing boats, he reached to Europe through Cape of Good Hope. The article is an ode to Kunjali dynasty who dominated trade through Cape of Good Hope and China. ‘Literay Historiography under the eastern and western eyes: a comparative study of Oriental and Occidental Historiography models’ draws a parallel between traditions of literary history in the west and non-west. The author traces the indigenous modes of literature, especially Prakartis where folklores, myth and oral history combine to narrate the story of a hero and many heroes. The writer also contrasts the linear manner of western history with a cyclical notion of history as a repetition. He also believes that western and Indian attitudes towards language and literature are not only exclusive but contradictory. When west treats language as a body or corpus having an origin, process and demise; the Indian concept of language is as ever-present energy. West treats readers as advisors and commentators, while in India reader is an audience. The author is if the view that western literary history is exclusionary because it creats a binary between independent marga (dominant) and indigenous marginalized. Western literary historiography is the strategy to colonize. The last article entitled ‘The idea of Pakistan at 1940’ is an effort to analyze the Indian politics in colonial India. The present collection of Historiographers is not only the “history from below” the hierarchical division of power, but also an alternative conception of future as well, articulated in suggestion of peace, collective security, communal bonding, Environmental preservation and service of marginalized. The untiring efforts of Prof. Dr. Purushottam Singh, the Chief Editor has made Kanpur Historiographers a successful story.

Remembering Ranajit Guha: A Historian Whose Legacy Transcends Time

VIVEK PATRIKA, 2023

Ranajit Guha, a renowned intellectual of the Indian left during the twentieth century, recently passed away in the outskirts of Vienna, where he had resided for the latter part of his life. His intellectual influence extended far beyond the boundaries of the subcontinent, making him one of the most significant figures of his time. Ranajit Guha, a prominent historian and intellectual, has made significant contributions to the field of historical scholarship, particularly in subaltern discourse of south Asia. Guha's work is characterized by his critical examination of dominant historiographical frameworks and his emphasis on decolonizing historical narratives. Born on December 23, 1923, in India, Guha dedicated his academic career to critically examining the history of marginalized and oppressed communities. His groundbreaking insights challenged conventional historical narratives, providing a fresh perspective on the complex dynamics of power, resistance, and agency. As the initiator and revered figure of the historiographical movement called Subaltern Studies, his relatively modest body of written work gained widespread readership and interpretation across various regions, eventually solidifying its place within the canon of postcolonial studies. The term "subaltern" as used here refers to Antonio Gramsci's work and has undergone changes in its meaning since it was first introduced by Ranajit Guha. Initially, it referred exclusively to peasants who were not part of the industrial capitalist system. However, it now encompasses individuals or groups of lower status or position based on factors such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religion although Green considers it failed to encompass the elements such as Caste, religion, race and territory in its theorization of the society. 1 The Subaltern Studies Group emerged in the 1980s influenced by Eric Stokes and Ranajit Guha, aiming to construct a new historical narrative for India and South Asia.

KANPUR HISTORIOGRAPHERS VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2 ISSN 2348-3814 DEC 2019

NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND GENOLOGICAL SOCIETY INDIA, 2019

Ranajit Guha’s Historiography of Colonial India (original) (raw)

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