Author: Deepak Kumar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 304
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780195687149
Description
To what extent were colonial scientific knowledge or discourses used to achieve political and cultural goals?
How did the recipient culture appropriate or redefine the metropolitan ideology of science? Science and the Raj investigates some key questions related to British scientific encounters with India.
It explores the link between science, technology, and the process of colonization in the context of British India. Deepak Kumar makes implicit and explicit distinctions between colonial and metropolitan sciences in terms of their aims, contents, and the mentalities of their patrons and practitioners.
He argues that despite colonial influence, the generation, transmission, and reception of scientific ideas gradually acquired an autonomy and momentum of their own.
Empirically and conceptually well grounded, this book skillfully combines in-depth case studies with wider analytical perspectives. Building upon new sources and research base, the second edition brings the discussion up to date with a new chapter taking the story up to 1947.
This book would be very useful for students and scholars of history, sociology, science, particularly social history of science, as well as those interested in the study of science and society in India.
COMMENTS:
'Looking through the window of history of British colonialism in India, one would truly admire Kumar for all the variegated sights he brings…'
--- Nature
'… a product of high-quality scholarship…is…thorough, rich in detail, and skillfully woven into a readable and stimulating narrative.'
--- Economic and Political Weekly
'Deepak Kumar's close archival work helps set a new standard for the historiography of modern Indian science.'
--- Times Literary Supplement
'Kumar has been one of the pioneers of the social and administrative history of science in India.'
--- British Journal for the History of Science
'Kumar's monograph [is based] on sound empirical research. He has uncovered a variety of sources hitherto unused.'
--- The Hindu
'…empirically and conceptually well-grounded…combines in-depth case studies with a wider analytical perspective… a must for historians of science and medicine.'
--- Social History of Medicine
'This work is far from a simple panorama of case studies of science in India during the colonial period; it proposes, on the contrary, a critical synthesis of the facts through a serious theoretical reflection.'
--- Science, Technology and Society
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the Paperback Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1. Science in a Colony: Concept and Contours
2. Exploration and Encounter: The Early Phase
3. Administering Science: Organizational Imperatives
4. Science in Education
5. Research in Science
6. Response and Resistance
7. Reconstructing India
8. Conclusions
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations (between pp. 160 and 161)