Violent Civilities
English, India, Culture
A part of the subject area Literature (English Language)
More about the book
About the book
What is the relationship between the British colonial project and English literature in India? How did official pronouncements on the role of English in culture and education help define modern India? How can postcolonial theory contribute towards an understanding of this history and its aftermath?
In this historical study, Prem Poddar shows how colonisers and the nationalists who succeeded them tended to inhabit the same discursive space. True difference and heterogeneity became the first casualty in the name of a united nation.
The book details the "civil violence" of such policies in independent India. If the study of English is to remain relevant in ex-colonies like India, Poddar argues, it must take cognisance of postcolonial critiques that recognise other voices and locate English literature in its varied cultural and historical contexts.
Violent Civilities will speak most obviously to scholars of English, India or postcolonial studies. But it is also for anyone interested in how contemporary academe can negotiate the relationship between national identity, language and culture.
Table of contents
Introduction: 'Supplemental Accounts'
'News from the Power-Lines': Transporting Postcolonial Theory
'Our Commerce Will Follow': Englishing India
'The State of Culture': National Imaginings
'The Mirror is Empty': Postcolonial English studies
Conclusion: 'deigns to travel...'
Bibliography
Index
