Colonial Modernity and Diffusion of Power: Identity and Community Formation among Mappilas of Malabar

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 105-119
Author(s):  
Shameer T.A
Keyword(s):  
Essential Role ◽  
Community Formation ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Colonial Modernity ◽  
Transmission Of Knowledge ◽  
Social Fact ◽  
The Press ◽  
Analytical Category ◽  
And Diffusion

Abstract This paper explores colonial modernity and the knowledge system’s role in constituting community formation among the Mappilas of Malabar. Colonial modernity, such as the introduction of printing, made this transformation more advanced and communitarian in structure. It also discusses colonialism as a force to reshape and bring socio-cultural changes in Malabar during the time. It argues that the existence of a clearly defined community is not a predetermined social fact; it looks at how the Mappilas were represented in an analytical category. In Malabar, the press and literature have played an essential role in framing community consciousness among Mappila society. Print media has brought a revolution in the transmission of knowledge. This paper will encompass the coming of the printing press and the moulding of community consciousness among the Mappilas of Malabar. It discusses the discursive and non-discursive practices of the colonial state for constructing various identities in Malabar.

scholarly journals Peasants, Colonialism, and Sovereignty: The Garo rebellions in eastern India

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
SANGHAMITRA MISRA
Keyword(s):  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
Colonial Modernity ◽  
Northeastern India ◽  
British Rule ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Colonial Archive ◽  
History Of

Abstract This article studies two seismic decades in the history of the Garo community, marked out in colonial records as among the most violent and isolated people that British rule encountered in eastern and northeastern India. Through a densely knit historical narrative that hinges on an enquiry into the colonial reordering of the core elements of the regional political economy of eastern and northeastern India, it will train its focus on the figure of the rebellious Garo peasant and on the arresting display of Garo recalcitrance between 1807 and 1820. Reading a rich colonial archive closely and against the grain, the article will depart from extant historiography in its characterization of the colonial state in the early nineteenth century as well as of its relationship with ‘tribes’/‘peasants’ in eastern and northeastern India. A critique of the idea of primitive violence and the production of the ‘tribe’ under conditions of colonial modernity will occupy the latter half of the article. Here it will argue that the numerous and apparently disparate acts of headhunting, raids, plunder, and burning by the Garos on the lowlands of Bengal and Assam were in fact an assembling of the first of a series of sustained peasant rebellions in this part of colonial India—a powerful manifestation of a community's historical consciousness of the loss of its sovereign self under British rule.

scholarly journals Visualizations of personal social networks on Facebook and community structure: an exploratory study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Gkini ◽  
Alexios Brailas
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Community Structure ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Community Formation ◽  
Structure Pattern ◽  
Diffusion Of Information ◽  
Qualitative Interpretation ◽  
Network Topologies ◽  
Personal Social Networks ◽  
And Diffusion

We studied the community structure pattern in the visualizations of ten personal social networks on Facebook at a single point in time. It seems to be a strong tendency towards community formation in online personal, social networks: somebody’s friends are usually also friends between them, forming subgroups of more densely connected nodes. Research on community structure in social networks usually focuses on the networks’ statistical properties. There is a need for qualitative studies bridging the gap between network topologies and their sociological implications. To this direction, visual representations of personal networks in social media could be a valuable source of empirical data for qualitative interpretation. Most of the personal social networks’ visualizations in the present study are very highly clustered with densely-knit overlapping subgroups of friends and interconnected between them through wide bridges. This network topology pattern seems to be quite efficient, allowing for a fast spread and diffusion of information across the whole social network.

Making the Colonial State Work for You: The Modern Beginnings of the Ancient Kumbh Mela in Allahabad

2003 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 873-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kama Maclean
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
The Press ◽  
Free Development ◽  
Religious Festival ◽  
Unbroken Chain

It is widely believed that the Allahabad Kumbh Mela is an ancient religious festival or that it is “ageless”, that its roots lie obscured in time immemorial. Editorials and articles in the press at mela time (every twelve years) lyrically emphasize the continuity of the pilgrimage throughout India's past, find inspiration in its durability and changeless character, and marvel at the anachronism of an ancient festival thriving in the modern world (“The Kumbh Mela”, Pioneer, 17 February 1918; “Editorial”, Leader, 16 January 1942; “Pilgrim's Process”, Times of India, 24 January 2001). There is no better example of this than the oft-quoted section of Jawaharlal Nehru's will and testament, in which the avowedly secular modernist explains his desire to have a portion of his ashes scattered at the triveni sangam, the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers and the site of the Kumbh in Allahabad:I have been attached to the Ganga and the Jumna rivers ever since my childhood and, as I have grown older, this attachment has also grown. The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people. … She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture and civilization, ever-changing, ever-flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga. … And though I have discarded much of past tradition and custom, and am anxious that India should rid herself of all shackles that bind and constrain her and divide her people, and suppress vast numbers of them, and prevent the free development of the body and the spirit; though I seek all this, yet I do not wish to cut myself off from that past completely. I am proud of that great inheritance that it has been, and is, ours, and I am conscious that I too, like all of us, am a link in that unbroken chain which goes back to the dawn of history in the immemorial past of India. That chain I would not break, for I treasure it and seek inspiration from it.(2000, 612–13)

scholarly journals O conhecimento a serviço da fé: noções de ciência na Revista Vozes de Petrópolis (1907 a 1917)

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Isabel Bilhão
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Diffusion Of Knowledge ◽  
New Religions ◽  
The Press ◽  
Science And Culture ◽  
Argumentative Strategies ◽  
And Diffusion

Nas décadas iniciais do século XX, diante da laicização do ensino público, do avanço de correntes racionalistas e anticlericais e de novas religiões no país, a Igreja Católica precisou enfrentar uma inusitada concorrência na arena educacional. A imprensa tornou-se uma importante arma de combate, largamente utilizada tanto por membros do clero, quanto por seus opositores. O artigo analisa um dos veículos participantes desse confronto: a Revista Vozes de Petrópolis. O periódico, fundado por freis franciscanos em 1907, propunha-se a colaborar para a formação de uma intelectualidade católica que pudesse responder aos desafios de seu tempo, especialmente através de artigos relacionados à ciência e à cultura. Com base na análise de excertos de textos publicados entre 1907 e 1917, objetiva-se identificar as concepções de ciência apresentadas na Revista e as estratégias argumentativas utilizadas pelos redatores, bem como observar as redes de relações em que estes estavam inseridos e suas possíveis influências na legitimação e circulação do periódico. Pretende-se, assim, contribuir para o alargamento das reflexões acerca da participação da imprensa católica nos embates em torno da definição e difusão do conhecimento científico no país nos primórdios do século XX.Knowledge at the service of faith: notions of science in Revista Vozes de Petrópolis (1907 a 1917). In the early decades of the twentieth century, due to the laicization of public education, the advance of rationalist and anticlerical currents and new religions in the country, The Catholic Church had to face an unusual competition in the educational arena. The press has become an important weapon of combat, much used by members of the clergy and their opponents. The article analyzes one of the vehicles participating in this confrontation: the Revista Vozes de Petrópolis. The periodical, founded by Franciscan friars in 1907, aimed at collaborating in the formation of Catholic intellectuals who could respond to the challenges of their time, especially by means of articles related to science and culture. Based on texts published between 1907 and 1917, we intend to identify the conceptions of science presented in the journal and the argumentative strategies used by the editors, as well as to observe the networks of relations in which they were inserted and their possible influences on the legitimacy and circulation of the periodical. The intention is to contribute to the reflection on the participation of the Catholic press in the struggles around the definition and diffusion of scientific knowledge in the country in the early twentieth century. Keywords: Catholic press; Diffusion of knowledge; Educational struggles.

scholarly journals „W krainę dziecka. Rzecz o uroku dziecięctwa” na materiałach ikonograficznych z II połowy XIX i początku XX wieku – wybrane problemy

2018 ◽  
pp. 317-343
Author(s):  
Monika Nawrot-Borowska
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
History Of Childhood ◽  
The Press ◽  
History Of ◽  
Life Education ◽  
Number Of Publications ◽  
Home And School

The present text is the second part of the author’s description of iconographic sources for studying the history of a child and childhood in the second half of 19th and the beginning of 20th century. In the former, the types of sources addressed to children were discussed, in which the researcher will find “pictures from the children’s world”. It showed examples of iconographic materials presenting children in various everyday and festal situations, published in the richly illustrated children’s press, fairy tales, stories, collections of literary pictures, poems, fettered speeches, illustrated primers and visual boards for the science of things. The subject of these findings is the child and childhood shown in iconographic materials in the second half of 19th and the beginning of 20th century. During this period, as a result of the ongoing civilizational, technological and cultural changes, a significant increase in the types and number of publications illustrated with graphics, and later also with photographs can be observed. The press is being developed, including the illustrated, women’s, family, socio-literary, everyday press, both on a general and regional scale. Also, numerous calendars are being published, including their illustrated versions. Daguerreotype is becoming popular while correspondence with the use of postcards is popularized. All these sources will be used as the source basis for the text, for the purpose of characterizing the iconographic materials depicting the children’s world. When analyzing the iconographic material in terms of history and pedagogy, the researcher of the history of childhood can find many interesting aspects. He or she can observe scenes from children’s lives, including family life, education (home and school education), relationships with adults and peers, undertaken pursuits, everyday activities, behaviors, ways of spending time, fun and pastimes. On their basis, the researcher can describe children’s appearance, dress, hairdo, toys, interiors, the surroundings in which they stayed and the equipment they used, which make up the material aspects of the children’s world. The particular types of iconographic sources will be presented below, where the researcher can find the scenes of childhood. In addition to discussing their specificity, the provided examples will illustrate the everyday life present in a given type of iconographic material.  

Rethinking South Asian Media Historiography: Excavating Princely India’s Media Cultures with Reference to Jammu and Kashmir State

2021 ◽  
pp. 239386172110402
Author(s):  
Imran Parray ◽  
Saima Saeed
Keyword(s):  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Periodical Press ◽  
Jammu And Kashmir ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Media ◽  
British Colonial

This article, while attempting to rethink the media historiography of South Asia, traces the early origins of press systems in princely India. Focusing on Jammu and Kashmir state, it offers an assessment of socio-political and historical factors which contributed to the trajectory of growth of the press in the state while tracing its relationship with the princely politics, indigenous politico-religious movements, and the British colonial state vis-a-vis an emerging colonial public. The larger aim of the article is to shift focus to media cultures of princely India and bring them onto the centre stage of postcolonial historiography. We argue that such a study of the press systems—which existed in princely states but have hitherto remained a neglected subject—will not only complement the current understanding of postcolonial media studies but substantially offer an alternative reading of the dominant discourse within postcolonial studies. The article maps the webs of patronages, loyalities, struggles and resistance that marked the coming of the periodical press in the state and how they differently shaped its practices, aspirations and outcomes.

All-Indian Shiʿism, Colonial Modernity, And The Challenge Of Pakistan

2019 ◽  
pp. 16-52
Author(s):  
Simon Wolfgang Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Community Formation ◽  
Leadership Position ◽  
Deep Impact ◽  
Colonial Modernity ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Creation

This chapter explores the late colonial milieu with its opposing discourses of communalism and nationalism that left a deep impact on Shi‘i community formation. In the first half of the 20th century, India’s Shi‘is portrayed themselves as being on a higher spiritual level in contrast to the common (Sunni) Muslims. Yet, once the Muslim League (ML) adopted the creation of Pakistan as its goal, influential Shi‘i voices expressed deep and increasing skepticism toward the founding of a state that claimed to form an inclusive homeland for all Muslims of the subcontinent. This chapter further demonstrates the substantial links that connected South Asian Shi‘is to major events in the Middle East. Finally, the chapter shows that Lucknow’s religious scholars were far from secure in their leadership position of the Shi‘i community. The modernist-minded All India Shi‘a Conference (AISC) viewed these mujtahids as hopelessly out of touch with the challenges of the time and regarded the AISC as a more appropriate vehicle of communal leadership.

Guns in the Hills: Firearms Circulation along the North-East Frontier of British India, 1860s–1910s

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 416-435
Author(s):  
Lipokmar Dzüvichü
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Scales ◽  
British India ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Imperial Expansion ◽  
Capital Access ◽  
And Diffusion

This article seeks to examine the significance of firearms in the making of the frontier and the ways in which societies on the North-East Frontier of British India encountered and adapted firearms between the 1860s and 1910s. It will study the complex ways in which the entry of firearms was mediated and galvanised by a range of processes such as imperial expansion, the intrusion of capital, access to resources, the role of violence, and the drawing of new borders. In turn, the circulation and diffusion of firearms also engendered a range of other practices and experiences among the societies on the frontier. Moving along various land and river routes, a range of individuals and traders were involved in circulating arms and ammunition into the imperial margins. They, in turn, linked the frontier geographies to markets, ports, and other larger oceanic networks. A focus on the flow of firearms as such illustrates a web of interconnections that straddled multiple scales and relations. As firearms circulated and gradually made their way into the periphery, various measures were initiated by the colonial state, such as enforcing prohibitive laws and instituting surveillance structures to control and block the flow of firearms along the North-East Frontier. This article examines some of these complex processes, dynamics, and experiences that ensued through the circulation and diffusion of firearms on the North-East Frontier of British India.

“We Shall Rejoice to see the Day When Slavery shall Cease to Exist”: The Gold Coast Times, the African Intelligentsia, and Abolition in the Gold Coast

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 19-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwabena O. Akurang-Parry
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic World ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Cape Coast ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Littoral Region ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Methodological Considerations ◽  
Intellectual Activities ◽  
And Diffusion

The articulation of antislavery among Africans remains to be studied. Overall, the staple of animated questions, debates, and conclusions of the vast literature on abolition of slavery in the last two decades or so has neglected African contributions of ideologies of antislavery to the global abolition epoch in the Atlantic world. Charting a new trajectory for the study of abolition in Africa, as well as the global abolition epoch, this study examines the ideologies of antislavery among Africans as expressed in the Gold Coast Times (Cape Coast) during the heyday of the British abolition of slavery in the Gold Coast in 1874-75. The study, echoing African agency, reveals the manifest presence of the African intelligentsia abolitionists in the late nineteenth-century Gold Coast. The origin and timing of the African intelligentsia's antislavery attitudes in the Gold Coast are not made known in the sources. However, the sources do reveal that antislavery flowered in the littoral region between Elmina and Accra, the hub of precolonial intellectual activities, political activism, and diffusion of cultures, linked to the larger Atlantic world.Overall, I argue that antislavery existed among the African intelligentsia and that they articulated their ideologies of antislavery in several ways, both on the eve of the British colonial abolition of slavery and in its immediate aftermath. The study is divided into four main parts. The first section problematizes the sources and addresses some methodological considerations. For its part, the second portion interrogates the comparative historiography on abolition, while the third section conceptualizes the African intelligentsia abolitionists and their association with the Gold Coast Times, the main platform for the African intelligentsia's espousal of ideologies of antislavery. Divided into two parts, the final section examines the African intelligentsia's articulation of antislavery both before and after the inauguration of abolition by the colonial state.

“The Secret of that Herb”: Mystical Smoking from Italian Sabbateanism to Hasidism

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-338
Author(s):  
Tzvi Luboshitz
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Smoking Habits ◽  
Transmission Of Knowledge

Abstract This article is dedicated to the notion of “mystical smoking” in Kabbalah and Hasidism. In spite of the fact that many researchers have dealt with the smoking habits of the Hasidim, the sources and meanings of this behavior have not yet been fully clarified. This paper will reexamine “mystical smoking” by reading some of the writings of R. Moshe David Valle, an eighteenth-century Italian kabbalist. According to Valle, the act of smoking plays a crucial role in the enduring struggle of the righteous person (tsaddik) against the powers of the Evil Side (sitra achra) and the impure husks (qelipot). From several paragraphs of Valle’s writings, it becomes clear that smoking is equated with sacrificing to the sitra achra, and is as necessary and important as the biblical scapegoat in the struggle against the sitra achra. Moreover, the calming, relaxing, or clouding effect that comes naturally with smoking causes the sitra achra within the tsaddik’s soul to be satisfied and to restrain itself from fighting against the Holy Side. In light of “the secret of the pipe,” which Valle discusses at length, Hasidic stories and sermons in which smoking plays an essential role will be reevaluated. Until now, these sources have been subject to ultra-positivist, psychological, or literary explanations, which are unsatisfying and insufficient. In this paper, a new explanation, based on specific kabbalistic ideas, will be suggested, and conjectures regarding the transmission of knowledge from Italy to Eastern Europe will be proposed.

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