This innovative volume demonstrates that the body was central to
the construction and maintenance of British authority in India.
"Imperial Bodies" explores ways in which the transformation of the
British presence in India between 1800 and 1947 involved and relied
upon changes in the way the British in India managed, disciplined
and displayed their bodies. The move from commerce to control, and
then to imperialism and Empire corresponded to a shift in bodily
norms. As the nineteenth century progressed, an openness and
interest in India gave way to a ban on things Indian. The British
rejected curries for tinned ham, cool white clothing for black
broadcloth and Indian mistresses for English wives. By the
twentieth century, the British official had been transformed into
an upright, decent representative of British virtues whose task was
to bring civilization to India.
By the late nineteenth century, racial theory focused attention
on the physique to such an extent that the body became a distinct
category within official discourse, regarded as an instrument of
rule. The body was used symbolically during Raj ceremonial, and
even the pith helmet worn by officials was turned from a reminder
of British vulnerability in the tropics into a symbol of British
power.
Through an in-depth discussion of texts and practices, the body
is introduced into the historical account as an active social
principle: a force in the construction of social inequalities along
lines of race and class. Drawing on a wide range of sources
including government records, newspapers, private letters, medical
handbooks and cookery books, E.M. Collingham paints a vivid picture
of the life and manners of the Britishin India.
This important contribution to both British and imperial history
will appeal to students and scholars of cultural and colonial
history.
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