I am a historian of modern South Asia, with a focus on the political history of the region. I work on corruption and the politics of public morality. I am interested in how categories of vices and virtues, temperance, self-regulation, asceticism etc are constructed over a period of time and how do they intersect with politics and gender. I have taught the literature and the history of the region for about a decade. I am enthusiastic about the emergent connections between South Asia and the global South, especially between South America and the subcontinent.
The current approach to manuscripts by the Indian government privileges Sanskrit and Brahmanical ... more The current approach to manuscripts by the Indian government privileges Sanskrit and Brahmanical texts. An inclusive and dynamic vision of manuscripts necessitates the promotion of India's scriptural diversity.
The purpose of this paper is thus to trace the vicissitudes of the term
“corruption” in early-nin... more The purpose of this paper is thus to trace the vicissitudes of the term “corruption” in early-nineteenth-century colonial South Asia, to understand how the Company repurposed and deployed the term to produce colonial moral authority. I am interested in the Company’s production of the vocabulary and rhetoric of corruption as a singular vice—both in the sense of being exceptional and separated—as a deliberate tactic of distancing and localizing what Nicholas Dirks has called “the scandal of empire.” This chapter studies three examples to show that, for the Company, containing corruption did not necessarily mean restricting it; regulating corruption meant managing perceptions and public opinion.
But why is it important to study caste? Is caste peculiar to the society and the history of South... more But why is it important to study caste? Is caste peculiar to the society and the history of South Asia? Or, is there something in this ancient oppressive structure and its continued modern resilience that allows caste to become at once a local and a universal narrative of oppression? Caste, like other forms of violence, is sustained by contextual deployment of power relations (access to intellectual and material resources, marriage, property etc.). However, the real power of caste cannot be entirely explained by its influence over local communities and material decisions. The authority of caste lies in its ability to appeal to trans-local institutions of religion, society, and history. Caste is universalisable because, like other entrenched structures of oppression, it makes human body the locus of politics. It is instructive to study caste because it allows one to identify human body as both the particular and the ubiquitous site of violence. In other words, the economy of caste involves both the material and the symbolic constitution of human body.
A Social Theory of Corruption: Notes from the Indian Subcontinent, 2022
The recent academic consensus on corruption as an economic dysfunction has paralleled an era of g... more The recent academic consensus on corruption as an economic dysfunction has paralleled an era of global liberalization and integration. Often treated as bribery, corruption in this scholarship is both “the effect and cause of incomplete, uneven, or ineffective economic liberalization,” where states are judged by their ability to promote capitalism. However, as recent history testifies, corruption as a symptom of failed Westernization has stoked revivalist nativism or advanced assimilationist correctives to capitalism in the non-West. Both tendencies deepen inequality and skew access to justice, the dangerous consequences of which are witnessed today from the Philippines to Afghanistan.
The current approach to manuscripts by the Indian government privileges Sanskrit and Brahmanical ... more The current approach to manuscripts by the Indian government privileges Sanskrit and Brahmanical texts. An inclusive and dynamic vision of manuscripts necessitates the promotion of India's scriptural diversity.
The purpose of this paper is thus to trace the vicissitudes of the term
“corruption” in early-nin... more The purpose of this paper is thus to trace the vicissitudes of the term “corruption” in early-nineteenth-century colonial South Asia, to understand how the Company repurposed and deployed the term to produce colonial moral authority. I am interested in the Company’s production of the vocabulary and rhetoric of corruption as a singular vice—both in the sense of being exceptional and separated—as a deliberate tactic of distancing and localizing what Nicholas Dirks has called “the scandal of empire.” This chapter studies three examples to show that, for the Company, containing corruption did not necessarily mean restricting it; regulating corruption meant managing perceptions and public opinion.
But why is it important to study caste? Is caste peculiar to the society and the history of South... more But why is it important to study caste? Is caste peculiar to the society and the history of South Asia? Or, is there something in this ancient oppressive structure and its continued modern resilience that allows caste to become at once a local and a universal narrative of oppression? Caste, like other forms of violence, is sustained by contextual deployment of power relations (access to intellectual and material resources, marriage, property etc.). However, the real power of caste cannot be entirely explained by its influence over local communities and material decisions. The authority of caste lies in its ability to appeal to trans-local institutions of religion, society, and history. Caste is universalisable because, like other entrenched structures of oppression, it makes human body the locus of politics. It is instructive to study caste because it allows one to identify human body as both the particular and the ubiquitous site of violence. In other words, the economy of caste involves both the material and the symbolic constitution of human body.
A Social Theory of Corruption: Notes from the Indian Subcontinent, 2022
The recent academic consensus on corruption as an economic dysfunction has paralleled an era of g... more The recent academic consensus on corruption as an economic dysfunction has paralleled an era of global liberalization and integration. Often treated as bribery, corruption in this scholarship is both “the effect and cause of incomplete, uneven, or ineffective economic liberalization,” where states are judged by their ability to promote capitalism. However, as recent history testifies, corruption as a symptom of failed Westernization has stoked revivalist nativism or advanced assimilationist correctives to capitalism in the non-West. Both tendencies deepen inequality and skew access to justice, the dangerous consequences of which are witnessed today from the Philippines to Afghanistan.
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“corruption” in early-nineteenth-century colonial South Asia, to understand how the Company repurposed and deployed the term to produce colonial moral authority. I am interested in the Company’s production of the vocabulary and rhetoric of corruption as a singular vice—both in the sense of being exceptional and separated—as a deliberate tactic of distancing and localizing what Nicholas Dirks has called “the scandal of empire.” This chapter studies three examples to show that, for the Company, containing corruption did not necessarily mean restricting it; regulating corruption meant managing perceptions and public opinion.
“corruption” in early-nineteenth-century colonial South Asia, to understand how the Company repurposed and deployed the term to produce colonial moral authority. I am interested in the Company’s production of the vocabulary and rhetoric of corruption as a singular vice—both in the sense of being exceptional and separated—as a deliberate tactic of distancing and localizing what Nicholas Dirks has called “the scandal of empire.” This chapter studies three examples to show that, for the Company, containing corruption did not necessarily mean restricting it; regulating corruption meant managing perceptions and public opinion.