Coastal Histories


Book Description

The subject of maritime and oceanic history comprises a large corpus and includes related thematic engagements such as the history of overseas exploration and expansion, navalmilitary history, shipping, port cities, the role of migrations and cross-cultural processes. This extensive field of enquiry also focuses upon the study of littoral societies or the coastal regions, in understanding the influence of the ocean upon these lands. The interface between the land and the sea, with its several ecological and topographical variations, has played an important role in determining human activity, the settlement patterns and material culture in the coastal regions, which taken together constitute huge masses of territories in all continents. The general pattern of existence and the rhythm of life in all these dissociated regions, however, had considerable commonality, due to the overwhelming impact of the two dominant elements-water and land-in shaping the destinies of its inhabitants. Coastal societies have their own particular notion of identity and ambience, which differentiates them from the extensive continental zones. It is in this context, that coastal territories and their histories constitute an interesting theme of enquiry. The present volume examines a number of themes pertaining to different coastal regions of India: coastal ecology, commercial crops, transmission of diseases, fortifications, port hierarchy, new port towns, vessels and boats, fishing communities, social life of women, etc. It should be of interest to students and scholars of maritime history of India.







Gateways Of Asia


Book Description

First Published in 1997. The dynamic role of port cities has been a major element in the thrust of modern port city literature since. In the process interactions between history and other disciplines, above all geography, economics and town planning resulted in a growing number of collaborative volumes. Indicative of the broad front, multi-disciplinary approach and challenging agenda of this wave of port town and port city studies is the collective and diverse nature of the themes and authorship of each of these works. That very diversity of disciplines, nationalities and perspectives is also one of the main pillars supporting Gateways of Asia. It is not a repetition or summary of the introduction and first chapter of Brides of the Sea, but the publication of this volume, in many ways a sequel to that work, does provide the opportunity of clarifying a few points and elaborating on some issues raised after its publication.







Ironies of Colonial Governance


Book Description

The Indian village council, or panchayat, has long held an iconic place in India. Ironies of Colonial Governance traces the history of that ideal and the attempts to adapt it to colonial governance. Beginning with an in-depth analysis of British attempts to introduce a system of panchayat governance during the early nineteenth century, it analyses the legacies of these actions within the structures of later colonial administrations as well as the early nationalist movement. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which the ideologies of panchayat governance evolved during this period and to the transnational exchange and circulation of panchayat ideologies.




The Emergence of an Industrial Labor Force in India


Book Description

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1965.




Concise History of Indian Economy


Book Description

This book presents a concise economic history of India from 1600 to the mobile economy of the twenty-first century. It examines political events, social history, and economic developments across the world through the years to showcase how India has navigated its economic past, present, and future, and shaped events that for years controlled the Indian economy. This volume covers a range of important themes, which include: • Medieval fiscal systems, and the European surge in India; • The impact of the British Industrial Revolution on India; English interventionism and policies; the imperialistic economy and its impact; • Indian economy and nationalist movement in the nineteenth and early-twentieth century; the Great Depression and its global consequences; • Gandhiism and ‘mass nationalism’; Independence and Partition; the impact of the World Wars; the inter-war economy; the rise of the dollar, and other key global trends; • The Cold War and India; • Constitutional remedies, nation-building and industrial policies; food security, the Green Revolution, and the power politics of 1970s; • Liberalization, privatization, and globalization in the 1990s; and • The economy of war and peace, India–China relations, and current trends in political economy. The book offers a lucid and insightful narrative of how the economy unfolded in India., It will interest readers of Indian history, economic history, and South Asian history and other general readers.




Musicophilia in Mumbai


Book Description

In Musicophilia in Mumbai Tejaswini Niranjana traces the place of Hindustani classical music in Mumbai throughout the long twentieth century as the city moved from being a seat of British colonial power to a vibrant postcolonial metropolis. Drawing on historical archives, newspapers, oral histories, and interviews with musicians, critics, students, and instrument makers as well as her own personal experiences as a student of Hindustani classical music, Niranjana shows how the widespread love of music throughout the city created a culture of collective listening that brought together people of diverse social and linguistic backgrounds. This culture produced modern subjects Niranjana calls musicophiliacs, whose subjectivity was grounded in a social rather than an individualistic context. By attending concerts, learning instruments, and performing at home and in various urban environments, musicophiliacs embodied forms of modernity that were distinct from those found in the West. In tracing the relationship between musical practices and the formation of the social subject, Niranjana opens up new ways to think about urbanity, subjectivity, culture, and multiple modernities.