Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India

An historical reinterpretation of the role of science, technology and medicine in the making of colonial India.

David Arnold (Author)

9780521617185, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 16 December 2004

248 pages, 1 b/w illus. 3 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.37 kg

'In almost every way (these books) mark a tremendous leap forward. (The New Cambridge History of India) is a detached, post-colonial enterprise and if the volumes which follow preserve the same quality of scholarship and writing then there is a treat in store for all students of sub-continental history. The literary fluency which makes all the volumes an excellent read for lay persons interested in recent Indian history comes, I think, from a deep and intimate knowledge of the subject.' The Guardian

Interest in the science, technology and medicine of India under British rule has grown in recent years and has played an ever-increasing part in the reinterpretation of modern South Asian history. Spanning the period from the establishment of East India Company rule through to Independence, David Arnold's wide-ranging and analytical survey demonstrates the importance of examining the role of science, technology and medicine in conjunction with the development of the British engagement in India and in the formation of Indian responses to western intervention. One of the first works to analyse the colonial era as a whole from the perspective of science, the book investigates the relationship between Indian and western science, the nature of science, technology and medicine under the Company, the creation of state-scientific services, 'imperial science' and the rise of an Indian scientific community, the impact of scientific and medical research and the dilemmas of nationalist science.

List of illustrations
List of tables
General editor's preface
Preface
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction: science, colonialism and modernity
2. Science under the East India Company
3. Western medicine in an Indian environment
4. Technologies of the steam age
5. Imperial science and the Indian scientific community
6. Science, state and nation
Conclusion
Biographical notes
Bibliographical essay
Index.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]