The Alchemy of Empire: Abject Materials and the Technologies of Colonialism

Rajani Sudan

Published by Fordham University Press 2016

The Alchemy of Empire

Abject Materials and the Technologies of Colonialism

Rajani Sudan

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823270705

Overview
Contents

About this book

The Alchemy of Empire unravels the non-European origins of Enlightenment science. Focusing on the abject materials of empire-building, this study traces the genealogies of substances like mud, mortar, ice, and paper, and forms of knowledge like inoculation, arguing that East India Company employees deployed the paradigm of alchemy in order to make sense of the new worlds they confronted.

Author / Editor information

Sudan Rajani :

Rajani Sudan is Associate Professor of English at Southern Methodist University.

Reviews

—Robert Markley:
“An intriguing book that brings together an array of literary and non-literary texts dealing with eighteenth-century British response to South Asian techne. Sudan is a significant voice in global eighteenth-century studies as well as a leading critic of Anglo-Indian Relations.”

Rajani Sudan's The Alchemy of Empire captivates the reader due to its approach to material geographies of imperial technology that shows a shift from the translocation of unfamiliar base matters and the transfer of foreign techne and knowledge to the stabilisation of (imperial) knowledge via ideologies of immobile geographies.

Given its interdisciplinary scope... The Alchemy of Empire will be a valuable point of reference for a range of scholars.

A tour de force that rhapsodically rethinks what force itself might be.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
introduction. Mud, Mortar, and Empire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
one. The Alchemy of Empire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
two. Mortar and the Making of Madras Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
three. Ice and the Production of British Climate Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
four. Inoculation and the Limits of British Imperialism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
five. “Plaisters,” Paper, and the Labor of Letters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Pages
- Main content: 232
Keywords: Alain Locke; East India Company; material culture; Matter; Substance; Technology; Trade

eBook

Published: June 1, 2016
ISBN: 9780823270705