Imperial Technology and 'Native' Agency
This book explores the impact of railways on colonial Indian society from the commencement of railway operations in the mid-nineteenth to the early decades of the twentieth century. The book represents a historiographical departure. Using new archival evidence as well as travelogues written by India...
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| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis
2025
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| Online Access: | ONIX_20250523T093505_9781315397092_48 |
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| _version_ | 1869528212165361664 |
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| author | Mukhopadhyay, Aparajita |
| author_browse | Mukhopadhyay, Aparajita |
| author_facet | Mukhopadhyay, Aparajita |
| author_sort | Mukhopadhyay, Aparajita |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | This book explores the impact of railways on colonial Indian society from the commencement of railway operations in the mid-nineteenth to the early decades of the twentieth century. The book represents a historiographical departure. Using new archival evidence as well as travelogues written by Indian railway travellers in Bengali and Hindi, this book suggests that the impact of railways on colonial Indian society were more heterogeneous and complex than anticipated either by India’s colonial railway builders or currently assumed by post-colonial scholars. At a related level, the book argues that this complex outcome of the impact of railways on colonial Indian society was a product of the interaction between the colonial context of technology transfer and the Indian railway passengers who mediated this process at an everyday level. In other words, this book claims that the colonised ‘natives’ were not bystanders in this process of imposition of an imperial technology from above. On the contrary, Indians, both as railway passengers and otherwise influenced the nature and the direction of the impact of an oft-celebrated ‘tool of Empire’. The historiographical departures suggested in the book are based on examining railway spaces as social spaces – a methodological index influenced by Henri Lefebvre’s idea of social spaces as means of control, domination and power. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-160350 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| publisherStr | Taylor & Francis |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1603502025-07-29T18:20:05Z Imperial Technology and 'Native' Agency Mukhopadhyay, Aparajita Indian Passengers East Indian Railway Company History since 1800 Bengali Travelogues Indian History Indian Railway The Raj Railway Spaces Railways in India Indian Railway Company British India Railway Operations British Empire Modern History Lower Class Passengers Eastern Bengal Railway Railway Authorities Passenger Demands Colonial Indian Society Refreshment Arrangements Muslim Passengers Colonial Administration Great Indian Peninsular Railway East Indian Railway Railway Time thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTQ Colonialism and imperialism thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KN Industry and industrial studies::KNG Transport industries thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHF Asian history thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTM Regional / International studies This book explores the impact of railways on colonial Indian society from the commencement of railway operations in the mid-nineteenth to the early decades of the twentieth century. The book represents a historiographical departure. Using new archival evidence as well as travelogues written by Indian railway travellers in Bengali and Hindi, this book suggests that the impact of railways on colonial Indian society were more heterogeneous and complex than anticipated either by India’s colonial railway builders or currently assumed by post-colonial scholars. At a related level, the book argues that this complex outcome of the impact of railways on colonial Indian society was a product of the interaction between the colonial context of technology transfer and the Indian railway passengers who mediated this process at an everyday level. In other words, this book claims that the colonised ‘natives’ were not bystanders in this process of imposition of an imperial technology from above. On the contrary, Indians, both as railway passengers and otherwise influenced the nature and the direction of the impact of an oft-celebrated ‘tool of Empire’. The historiographical departures suggested in the book are based on examining railway spaces as social spaces – a methodological index influenced by Henri Lefebvre’s idea of social spaces as means of control, domination and power. 2025-05-24T05:45:16Z 2025-05-24T05:45:16Z 2025-05-23T08:01:44Z 2018 book ONIX_20250523T093505_9781315397092_48 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/102459 9781315397092 9780367590987 9781315397078 9781315397085 9781315397108 9781138226685 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/160350 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/102459/1/9781315397092.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/102459/1/9781315397092.pdf Taylor & Francis Routledge 10.4324/9781315397108 10.4324/9781315397108 fa69b019-f4ee-4979-8d42-c6b6c476b5f0 9781315397092 9780367590987 9781315397078 9781315397085 9781315397108 9781138226685 Knowledge Unlatched (KU) KU Select 2017: Front list Collection Routledge 254 Oxford open access |
| spellingShingle | Indian Passengers East Indian Railway Company History since 1800 Bengali Travelogues Indian History Indian Railway The Raj Railway Spaces Railways in India Indian Railway Company British India Railway Operations British Empire Modern History Lower Class Passengers Eastern Bengal Railway Railway Authorities Passenger Demands Colonial Indian Society Refreshment Arrangements Muslim Passengers Colonial Administration Great Indian Peninsular Railway East Indian Railway Railway Time thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTQ Colonialism and imperialism thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KN Industry and industrial studies::KNG Transport industries thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHF Asian history thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTM Regional / International studies Mukhopadhyay, Aparajita Imperial Technology and 'Native' Agency |
| title | Imperial Technology and 'Native' Agency |
| title_full | Imperial Technology and 'Native' Agency |
| title_fullStr | Imperial Technology and 'Native' Agency |
| title_full_unstemmed | Imperial Technology and 'Native' Agency |
| title_short | Imperial Technology and 'Native' Agency |
| title_sort | imperial technology and native agency |
| topic | Indian Passengers East Indian Railway Company History since 1800 Bengali Travelogues Indian History Indian Railway The Raj Railway Spaces Railways in India Indian Railway Company British India Railway Operations British Empire Modern History Lower Class Passengers Eastern Bengal Railway Railway Authorities Passenger Demands Colonial Indian Society Refreshment Arrangements Muslim Passengers Colonial Administration Great Indian Peninsular Railway East Indian Railway Railway Time thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTQ Colonialism and imperialism thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KN Industry and industrial studies::KNG Transport industries thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHF Asian history thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTM Regional / International studies |
| topic_facet | Indian Passengers East Indian Railway Company History since 1800 Bengali Travelogues Indian History Indian Railway The Raj Railway Spaces Railways in India Indian Railway Company British India Railway Operations British Empire Modern History Lower Class Passengers Eastern Bengal Railway Railway Authorities Passenger Demands Colonial Indian Society Refreshment Arrangements Muslim Passengers Colonial Administration Great Indian Peninsular Railway East Indian Railway Railway Time thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTQ Colonialism and imperialism thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KN Industry and industrial studies::KNG Transport industries thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHF Asian history thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GT Interdisciplinary studies::GTM Regional / International studies |
| url | ONIX_20250523T093505_9781315397092_48 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mukhopadhyayaparajita imperialtechnologyandnativeagency |