Crafting the Nation in Colonial India

McGowan, Abigail:
Crafting the Nation in Colonial India / Abigail McGowan. - New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. - xiii, 265 S. : Ill.
ISBN 978-0-230-61267-9
US$95,00 / £ 60,00

Beschreibung
Well before Gandhi popularized hand-spun, hand-woven cloth, crafts were central to the political life of late colonial India. That they were is somewhat surprising, given that to many, crafts represented India's archaic traditions at a time of industrial modernization. Drawing on a wide range of craft development initiatives in western India between 1851 and 1922 - from art and industrial schools to model factories, pattern books, exhibitions, technical experiments, and cooperatives - McGowan argues that crafts came to political prominence through British and Indian negotiations over power: power over the lower classes, over the economy, and over the future of the country. [Verlagsinformation]

Inhalt
List of Figures. ix
Acknowledgments. xi
Introduction. 1
1. Demanding Knowledge, Documenting the Body. 23
2. The Culture of Difference: From Colonial Knowledge to the Problem with Crafts. 67
3. Developing Traditions: Preservationist Design and the Independent Artisan. 103
4. The Cult of the Craftsman in the Spirit of Modernization: Rationalization, Efficiency and the Crafts Sector. 149
Conclusion: The Long Life of Difference: Gandhi and the Politics of Crafts after 1920. 187
Notes. 205
Bibliography. 245
Index. 261.

Autorin
ABIGAIL MCGOWAN is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Vermont, USA. Profile page.

Quellen: Palgrave Macmillan; New Asia Books; WorldCat; Amazon