Locality, Province and Nation Essays on Indian Politics 1870 to 1940

With the steady growth of interest in the history of India under the British, interpretations have emerged, and they may sharply alter much of our thinking about Indian nationalism and British Imperialism. Some of these historical revisions, and the conclusions which may flow from them, are illustrated by the essays in this book. All of them grapple with questions of Indian political organization in different parts of the British Raj. They enquire how these organizations worked at different level; in the towns and in the countryside, in the provinces and in the subcontinent itself. They examine how these kinds of politics came to be bonded together into what were called 'nationalist' movements. They suggest that the interplay between these movements and British Imperialism was very much more ambiguous than has been commonly supposed. All these essays are preliminary announcements of findings which will later appear in longer versions.

1. Imperialism and nationalism in India Anil Seal; 2. Patrons and politics in northern India C. A. Bayly; 3. Municipal government and Muslim separation in the united provinces 1883 to 1916 Francis Robinson; 4. Non co-operation and council entry 1919 to 1920 Richard Gordon; 5. County politics: Madras 1880 to 1930 David Washbrook; 6. Partition, agitation and congress: Bengal 1904 to 1908 Gordon Johnson; 7. Congress in decline: Bengal 1930 to 1939 John Gallagher.

With the steady growth of interest in the history of India under the British, interpretations have emerged, and they may sharply alter much of our thinking about Indian nationalism and British Imperialism. Some of these historical revisions, and the conclusions which may flow from them, are illustrated by the essays in this book.