Claiming India: French scholars and the preoccupation with India during the nineteenth century

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorHerf, Jeffreyen_US
dc.contributor.authorMohan, Jyotien_US
dc.contributor.departmentHistoryen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2010-07-02T05:40:33Z
dc.date.available2010-07-02T05:40:33Z
dc.date.issued2009en_US
dc.description.abstractMy dissertation examines the image of India which was created by French academics during the nineteenth century. This image of India was distinct from the British image of India as a land of oppressed masses ruled by Oriental despots. The French image of India relied on spiritual and religious aspects of India, with particular emphasis on the antiquity and Aryan heritage of Indian culture. the difference in these images was largely due to the different intellectual and political traditions of Britain and France, but also reflected Anglo-French national and colonial rivalry as well as France's subordinate (subaltern) colonial position in India. I have looked at French writings on India from the religious writings of early modern missionaries to the secular writing of early twentieth century French academics. I have also examined the interest that French scholars in diverse intellectual fields like philology, anthropology, history and religion had in learning and writing about India during the nineteenth century. My conclusion is that French scholars at the end of the nineteenth century defined India primarily in terms of race, caste and Hinduism.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/10256
dc.subject.pqcontrolledHistory, Asia, Australia and Oceaniaen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledHistory, Europeanen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledHistory, Modernen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledcasteen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledFranceen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledHinduismen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledIndiaen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledIndologyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledraceen_US
dc.titleClaiming India: French scholars and the preoccupation with India during the nineteenth centuryen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Mohan_umd_0117E_11080.pdf
Size:
4.2 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

UMD Theses and Dissertations
History Theses and Dissertations