Partha Chatterjee
The Black Hole of Empire
History of a Global Practice of Power
When
Siraj, the ruler of Bengal, overran the British settlement of Calcutta in 1756,
he allegedly jailed 146 European prisoners overnight in a cramped prison. Of
the group, 123 died of suffocation. While this episode was never independently
confirmed, the story of “the black hole of Calcutta” was widely circulated and
seen by the British public as an atrocity committed by savage colonial
subjects.
The Black Hole of Empire follows
the ever-changing representations of this historical event and founding myth of
the British Empire in India, from the eighteenth century to the present. Partha
Chatterjee explores how a supposed tragedy paved the ideological foundations
for the “civilizing” force of British imperial rule and territorial control in
India.
Chatterjee
takes a close look at the justifications of modern empire by liberal thinkers,
international lawyers, and conservative traditionalists, and examines the
intellectual and political responses of the colonized, including those of
Bengali nationalists. The two sides of empire's entwined history are brought
together in the story of the Black Hole memorial: set up
in Calcutta in 1760, demolished in 1821, restored by Lord Curzon in 1902, and
removed in 1940 to a neglected churchyard.
Challenging
conventional truisms of imperial history, nationalist scholarship, and liberal
visions of globalization, Chatterjee argues that empire is a necessary and
continuing part of the history of the modern state.
PARTHA
CHATTERJEE is professor of anthropology and of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and
African Studies at Columbia University; and honorary professor at the Centre
for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. His books include The Politics of the Governed and Lineages of Political Society.
“This
is a powerfully argued account of the origins and subsequent justification of
British rule in India, and an exploration of the response by Bengali elites to
colonialism. A work of classic history, this book carries an intellectual power
and brilliance of insight that will excite much interest and comment.”—Thomas Metcalf
“Moving
skillfully between gripping narrative and thoughtful interpretation, The Black Hole of Empire is a deeply
researched, brilliantly crafted, and exquisitely written work on the British
empire in India. Ambitious and complex, it richly resonates with contemporary
political and ethical concerns. A masterly work by one of the finest
intellectuals of our times.”—Sugata Bose
Hardback / 440pp / Rs 795 / ISBN 81-7824-356-3 / South
Asia rights / May 2012
Copublished with Princeton University Press
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