The black hole of empire : history of a global practice of power / Partha Chatterjee.

By:

Chatterjee, Partha, 1947-

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Ranikhet : Permanent Black, 2012.Description: xiv, 425 p. : illustrations, maps ; 22 cmISBN:

9788178243733 (pbk.)
8178243733

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

954.14029 CHA 23 007147

Contents:

The Travels of a Monument Old Fort William A New Nawab The Fall of Calcutta The Aftermath of Defeat The "Genuine" Narrative Reconquest and More Whose Revolution? The Conquest in History The Age of Plunder Early Histories of Conquest The Modern State and Modern Empires The Nabobs Come Home The Critique of Conquest A Bengali in Britain Contemporary Indian Histories The Early Modern in South Asia The Early Modern as a Category of Transition Niti versus Dharma An Early Modern History of Bengal Tipu as an Early Modern Absolute Monarch The Tiger of Mysore The Mysore Family in Calcutta The New Fort William The Early Press in Calcutta The Strength of Constitution The Making of Early Modern Citizens Other Early Modern Institutions The Falsehood of All Religions The Colonization of Barbarous Countries Citizens of Character and Capital Contents note continued: The Unsung End of Early Modernity The Founding of a Myth The Utility of Empire The Morality of Empire The Myth Refurbished The Law of Nations in the East Dalhousie and Paramountcy Awadh under British Protection The Road to Annexation Awadh Annexed Imperialism: Liberal and Antiliberal A Chimerical Lucknow The Contradictions of Colonial Modernity The City and the Public The New Bengali Theater Shedding a Tear for Siraj On the Poetic and Historical Imaginations Siraj and the National-Popular The Dramatic Form of the National-Popular Surveillance and Proscription The New Memorial The Scramble for Empire The Normalization of the Nation-State Violence and the Motherland Early Actions Strategies and Tactics Igniting the Imagination Football as a Manly Sport Football and Nationalism Official Responses The Later Phase A Gigantic Hoax Contents note continued: We Are Kings of the Country, and the Rest Are Slaves Siraj, Once More on Stage Endgames of Empire Empire Today Afterward.

Summary: When Siraj, the ruler of Bengal, overran the British settlement of Calcutta in 1756, he allegedly jailed 146 European prisoners overnight in a cramped prison. Of the group, 123 died of suffocation. While this episode was never independently confirmed, the story of "The black hole of Calcutta' was widely circulated and seen by the British public as an atrocity committed by savage colonial subjects. "The Black Hole of Empire" follows the ever-changing representations of this historical event and founding myth of the British Empire in India, from the eighteenth century to the present. Partha Chatterjee explores how a supposed tragedy paved the ideological foundations for the civilizing force of British imperial rule and territorial control in India. Chatterjee takes a close look at the justifications of modern empire by liberal thinkers, international lawyers, and conservative traditionalists, and examines the intellectual and political responses of the colonized, including those of Bengali nationalists. The two sides of empire's entwined history are brought together in the story of the Black Hole memorial: set up in Calcutta in 1760, demolished in 1821, restored by Lord Curzon in 1902, and removed in 1940 to a neglected churchyard. Challenging conventional truisms of imperial history, nationalist scholarship, and liberal visions of globalization, Chatterjee argues that empire is a necessary and continuing part of the history of the modern state.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Book	Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bangalore	954.14029 CHA 007147 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		007147

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Travels of a Monument
Old Fort William
A New Nawab
The Fall of Calcutta
The Aftermath of Defeat
The "Genuine" Narrative
Reconquest and More
Whose Revolution?
The Conquest in History
The Age of Plunder
Early Histories of Conquest
The Modern State and Modern Empires
The Nabobs Come Home
The Critique of Conquest
A Bengali in Britain
Contemporary Indian Histories
The Early Modern in South Asia
The Early Modern as a Category of Transition
Niti versus Dharma
An Early Modern History of Bengal
Tipu as an Early Modern Absolute Monarch
The Tiger of Mysore
The Mysore Family in Calcutta
The New Fort William
The Early Press in Calcutta
The Strength of Constitution
The Making of Early Modern Citizens
Other Early Modern Institutions
The Falsehood of All Religions
The Colonization of Barbarous Countries
Citizens of Character and Capital
Contents note continued: The Unsung End of Early Modernity
The Founding of a Myth
The Utility of Empire
The Morality of Empire
The Myth Refurbished
The Law of Nations in the East
Dalhousie and Paramountcy
Awadh under British Protection
The Road to Annexation
Awadh Annexed
Imperialism: Liberal and Antiliberal
A Chimerical Lucknow
The Contradictions of Colonial Modernity
The City and the Public
The New Bengali Theater
Shedding a Tear for Siraj
On the Poetic and Historical Imaginations
Siraj and the National-Popular
The Dramatic Form of the National-Popular
Surveillance and Proscription
The New Memorial
The Scramble for Empire
The Normalization of the Nation-State
Violence and the Motherland
Early Actions
Strategies and Tactics
Igniting the Imagination
Football as a Manly Sport
Football and Nationalism
Official Responses
The Later Phase
A Gigantic Hoax
Contents note continued: We Are Kings of the Country, and the Rest Are Slaves
Siraj, Once More on Stage
Endgames of Empire
Empire Today
Afterward.

When Siraj, the ruler of Bengal, overran the British settlement of Calcutta in 1756, he allegedly jailed 146 European prisoners overnight in a cramped prison. Of the group, 123 died of suffocation. While this episode was never independently confirmed, the story of "The black hole of Calcutta' was widely circulated and seen by the British public as an atrocity committed by savage colonial subjects. "The Black Hole of Empire" follows the ever-changing representations of this historical event and founding myth of the British Empire in India, from the eighteenth century to the present. Partha Chatterjee explores how a supposed tragedy paved the ideological foundations for the civilizing force of British imperial rule and territorial control in India. Chatterjee takes a close look at the justifications of modern empire by liberal thinkers, international lawyers, and conservative traditionalists, and examines the intellectual and political responses of the colonized, including those of Bengali nationalists. The two sides of empire's entwined history are brought together in the story of the Black Hole memorial: set up in Calcutta in 1760, demolished in 1821, restored by Lord Curzon in 1902, and removed in 1940 to a neglected churchyard. Challenging conventional truisms of imperial history, nationalist scholarship, and liberal visions of globalization, Chatterjee argues that empire is a necessary and continuing part of the history of the modern state.

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