Topics: 1. Idea of the orient—the Saidian model of orientalism and its critique--indigenous perceptions, the Itihasa-Purana tradition--knowledge of the orient seen in early travellers of 17th and 18th centuries CE—Early Orientalism, William Jones, Asiatic Society and Asiatick Researches – Wilkins, Colebrooke, Wilson and textual studies – Max Müller and the high noon of Orientalism – James Prinsep and epigraphic studies--orientalism in imperial ideology –Orientalism without empire: German and French “Indology”. 2. The Orientalist Constructions: The study of race, language and culture, ethnological and linguistic studies – images and stereotypes, (a) the theory of the Aryan race (b) the Indian village community (c) unchanging East (d) Indian spirituality vs. Western materialism (e) Oriental Despotism and Asiatic Mode of Production. 3. The Early Surveys-- Mackenzie, Buchanan, Colonel Todd--James Fergusson and a search for ‘Historical’ narrative of India’s past through her material remains especially architecture 4. Colonial Project and institutionalization of Archaeology, the establishment of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1861-- the initial years1861-1900, debates in these decades especially on conservation/preservation of architectural monuments—parallel beginning of prehistoric surveys outside the purview of an ‘official’ archaeology, Robert Bruce Foote, Valentine Ball-- others engaged in antiquarian pursuits and study of ancient texts, Buhler, Kielhorn, Bhau Daji Lad, John Wilson, James Burgess and Henry Cousens, indological studies in Western India by European and ‘native’ scholars alike. 5. The growth of ‘official archaeology’ in the first four decades prior to 1947-building of an imperial custodianship of the past under Lord Curzon and Sir John Marshall—excavation of ‘Buddhist’ and urban sites’—legislations, conservation. 6. A parallel development of Nationalist/ Regional/ local Archaeology- Babu Rajendralal Mitra and his contemporaries- Rakhaldas Banerjee and Akshay Mitra—establishment of local bodies like Bangiya Sahitya Parisad and Varendra Research Society- role of academic institutes like the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art—growth of vernacular tradition in a study of the past in other parts of the colonial state. 7. The advances of a ‘scientific’ archaeology with emphasis on ‘modern’ methods of excavation—Wooley’s report and the tenure of Sir Mortimer Wheeler as the Director General of Archaeological Survey of India 8. Museum and Heritage--growth of site/provincial museums as part of a colonial projectmuseum and nationalism-- Museumization of heritage in the post-independence scenario. 9. Nehruvian era and a new cultural policy- the growth of states and a new regionalism—the role of institutes like the Deccan College, Pune and K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute, Patna in the development of a regional archaeology and cementing of regional/local identities--, focus on new archaeological sites post-partition.
Select Readings:
Breckenridge, Carol A. and Peter van der Veer, eds., Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament, Delhi, 1994. Oxford University Press. Chakrabarti, Dilip K., Colonial Indology: Socio-politics of the ancient Indian past. Delhi, 1997 Munshiram Manoharlal. Cohn, Bernard S., Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge, New Delhi, 1997, Oxford University Press. Deshpande, Prachi, Creative Pasts: Historical memory and Identity in Western India, 1700-1960, New York, 2007. Columbia University Press.
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