Authors:
Analyzes language and its role in identity formation in British India, an area devoid of any systematic study
Systematically tracks the politics of language in the colonial period, and shows how that conditioned post-independence politics
Places language at the core of thinking and rationalizing about India
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
This book is a systematic narrative, tracking the colonial language policies and acts responsible for the creation of a sense of “self-identity” and culminating in the evolution of nationalistic fervor in colonial India. British policy on language for administrative use and as a weapon to rule led to the parallel development of Indian vernaculars: poets, novelists, writers and journalists produced great and fascinating work that conditioned and directed India's path to independence. The book presents a theoretical proposition arguing that language as identity is a colonial construct in India, and demonstrates this by tracing the events, policies and changes that led to the development and churning up of Indian national sentiments and attitudes. It is a testimony of India's linguistic journey from a British colony to a modern state. Demonstrating that language as basis of identity was a colonial construct in modern India, the book asserts that any in-depth understanding of identity and politics in contemporary India remains incomplete without looking at colonial policies on language and education, from which the multiple discourses on “self” and belonging in modern India emanated.
Authors and Affiliations
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Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
Papia Sengupta
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Language as Identity in Colonial India
Book Subtitle: Policies and Politics
Authors: Papia Sengupta
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6844-7
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-10-6843-0Published: 27 November 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-981-13-4959-1Published: 04 January 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-981-10-6844-7Published: 15 November 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXI, 120
Topics: Asian Politics, Language Policy and Planning, Asian Languages, Language History