A Nationalistic Framework for Political Economy: Textbooks on Indian Economics during the Early-Twentieth Century
01 Sep 2019-pp 459-480
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the manner in which the textbooks dealt with these issues and explore the best sources to study these views are textbooks written as introductions to Indian economics during the early-twentieth century.
Abstract: The end of the nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of the idea of Indian Economics, which its proponents hoped would address the issue of the scientific method of studying the Indian economy, and help in laying out a path for economic development. Some of the best sources to study these views are textbooks written as introductions to Indian Economics during the early-twentieth century. This paper will explore the manner in which the textbooks dealt with these issues.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: In this article , the authors explored the development of political economy as a specific knowledge form in Calcutta University and Bombay University, and its connection with colonial educational policy, and found that political economy grew from being a minor part of the overall university syllabi to becoming one of the first university departments created in early-20th century India.
Abstract: PurposeBy the mid-19th century the British colonial state introduced liberal education to India. Amongst various disciplines, political economy illustrates the concerns of the colonial state with the education of Indians, and its anxiety with quelling political discontentment. The emerging Indian nationalist intelligentsia also utilized ideas from classical political economy, first taught in educational institutions, to critique colonial policy and proposed the development of “Indian Economics”, suited to national economic interests. This paper explores the development of political economy as a specific knowledge form in Calcutta University and Bombay University, and its connection with colonial educational policy.Design/methodology/approachThis study relies primarily on university records and the proceedings of the Education Department to bring out the politically sensitive nature of the teaching of economics in colonial India.FindingsThe study finds that political economy grew from being a minor part of the overall university syllabi to becoming part of the first university departments created in early-20th-century India. The government and nationalist forces both found the discipline to be relevant to their respective agendas. The circulation of knowledge theoretical framework is found to be relevant here.Originality/valueThe history of political economy in Indian universities, especially during the 19th century, has not been dealt with in any detail. This study tries to fill this gap. The close connection between politics and the teaching of economics has also not been studied closely, which this paper does.
References
More filters
TL;DR: Gandhi as mentioned in this paper argued that a teacher who teaches from textbooks does not impart originality to his pupils and becomes a slave of textbooks and has no opportunity or opportunity to be original.
Abstract: If textbooks are treated as a vehicle for education, the living word of the teacher has very little value. A teacher who teaches from textbooks does not impart originality to his pupils. He himself becomes a slave of textbooks and has no opportunity or occasion to be original. It therefore seems that the less textbooks there are, the better it is for the teacher and his pupils. [M. K. GANDHI (Harijan, September 9, 1939)]
99 citations
14 citations
9 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the modalities of vernacularisation of the economic discipline in the colony, focusing on three Bengali textbooks of political economy, mostly inspired by the famous Irish educationist Richard Whately's textbook for children.
Abstract: There have been quite a few significant studies on the relationship between political economy as a discipline and the modes of colonial governmentality in India, emphasising the contradictions that were perceived to exist between the universality of the discipline and the irreducible concreteness of local conditions. In this article, I shall try to argue that a nuanced study of these contradictions would require exploring the modalities of vernacularisation of the economic discipline in the colony. The central focus of this article will be at three Bengali textbooks of political economy, mostly inspired by the famous Irish educationist Richard Whately’s textbook for children. A close reading of these books will demonstrate how a modality of translation was operative in the second half of the nineteenth century where the equivalence between ‘illustrations’ from the original and translated texts produced curious displacements and defined the vernacular domain on the basis of an exchange-based sociality grou...
6 citations