03085nam 2200589 a 450 991049596930332120221108064433.00-520-91432-50-585-33993-72027/heb08866(CKB)110989862154048(dli)HEB08866(SSID)ssj0000138392(PQKBManifestationID)12010618(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000138392(PQKBWorkID)10118929(PQKB)10913072(MiU)MIU01000000000000011609340(DE-B1597)649071(DE-B1597)9780520914322(EXLCZ)9911098986215404819940505d1994 uy 0engurmnummmmuuuutxtccrDialogue and history constructing South India, 1795-1895 /Eugene F. IrschickBerkeley University of California Pressc19941 online resource (xiii, 263 p. )maps ;Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph0-520-08405-5 0-520-08404-7 Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-255) and index.Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Maps and Tables -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Transliteration and Other Conventions -- Introduction -- 1. To Fix the People to Their Respective Villages -- 2. Using the Past to Create the Future -- 3. The Rise and Consolidation of the Chingleput Mirasidars -- 4. From Slaves to the Original Dravidians -- Conclusion -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- IndexEugene Irschick deftly questions the conventional wisdom that knowledge about a colonial culture is unilaterally defined by its rulers. Focusing on nineteenth-century South India, he demonstrates that a society's view of its history results from a "dialogic process" involving all its constituencies.For centuries, agricultural life in South India was seminomadic. But when the British took dominion, they sought to stabilize the region by inventing a Tamil "golden age" of sedentary, prosperous villages. Irschick shows that this construction resulted not from overt British manipulation but from an intricate cross-pollination of both European and native ideas. He argues that the Tamil played a critical role in constructing their past and thus shaping their future. And British administrators adapted local customs to their own uses.Regions & Countries - Asia & the Middle EastHILCCHistory & ArchaeologyHILCCSouth AsiaHILCCIndia, SouthHistoryRegions & Countries - Asia & the Middle EastHistory & ArchaeologySouth Asia954/.8031Irschick Eugene F643765American Council of Learned Societies.NyNyACLNyNyACLBOOK9910495969303321Dialogue and history1558656UNINA