The Meaning of White makes a meaningful contribution to our understanding of the politics of race in late colonial India. ... Overall, however, Mizutani has produced a relevant and thought-provoking study of an insufficiently studied group.

Heather Streets-Salter, Journal of British Studies

an enviable achievement and a valuable contribution to our understanding of the politics of race and class in colonial India

Dr Amelia Bonea, Reviews in History

From 1858 to 1930 the concept of whiteness in British India was complex and contradictory. Under the Raj, the spread of racial ideologies was pervasive, but whiteness was never taken as self-evident. It was constantly called into question and its boundaries were disciplined and policed through socio-cultural and institutional practices. Only those whites with social status, cultural refinement, and the right level of education were able to command the respect and awe of colonized subjects. Among those who straddled the boundaries of whiteness were the 'domiciled community', made up of mixed-descent 'Eurasians' and racially unmixed 'Domiciled Europeans', both of whom lived in India on a permanent basis. Members of this community, or those who were categorized as such under the Raj, unwittingly rendered the meaning of whiteness ambiguous in fundamental ways. The colonial authorities quickly identified the domiciled community as a particularly malign source of political instability and social disorder, and were constantly urged to furnish various institutional measures - predominantly philanthropic and educational by character - that specifically targeted its degraded conditions. The Meaning of White reveals the precise ways in which the existence of this community was identified as a problem (the 'Eurasian Question') and examines the deeper historical meanings of this categorization. Dr Mizutani demystifies the ideology of whiteness, situating it within the concrete social realities of colonial history.
Les mer
A study of how the 'whiteness' of Europeans was constructed in the colonial situation, using British India of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a case study.
Introduction ; 1. British prestige and fears of colonial degeneration ; 2. The origins and emergence of the 'domiciled community' ; 3. The 'Eurasian Question': the domiciled poor and urban social control ; 4. 'European schools': illiteracy, unemployment, and educational uplifting ; 5. Towards a solution to the Eurasian Question: child removal and juvenile emigration ; 6. Disputing the domiciliary divide: civil-service employment and the claim for equivalence ; 7. Conclusion: Race, class, and the contours of whiteness in late British India
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The first comprehensive account of India's 'domiciled community' Introduces a new angle to the history of British expatriate identity Contributes to debates on hybridity and whiteness
Satoshi Mizutani was educated at Sophia University (Japan), the University of Warwick, and St. Antony's College, Oxford before obtaining a DPhil from the History Faculty at Oxford.
The first comprehensive account of India's 'domiciled community' Introduces a new angle to the history of British expatriate identity Contributes to debates on hybridity and whiteness

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780199697700
Publisert
2011
Utgiver
Oxford University Press
Vekt
450 gr
Høyde
218 mm
Bredde
140 mm
Dybde
24 mm
Aldersnivå
UU, UP, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
254

Forfatter

Biografisk notat

Satoshi Mizutani was educated at Sophia University (Japan), the University of Warwick, and St. Antony's College, Oxford before obtaining a DPhil from the History Faculty at Oxford.