Introduction: the odyssey of indigo; 1. The world of indigo plantations: diasporas and knowledge; 2. The course of colonial modernity: negotiating the landscape in Bengal; 3. Colony and the external arena: seeking validation in the market; 4. Local science: agricultural institutions in the age of nationalism; 5. The last stand in science and rationalization; 6. A lasting definition of improvement in the era of world war.
Prakash Kumar documents the global history of agricultural indigo, exploring the effects of nineteenth-century globalisation on a colonial industry in South Asia.
Prakash Kumar is Assistant Professor of South Asian History at Colorado State University.
'In examining the history of indigo cultivation and agricultural
science in India, Kumar lucidly explores the intersection between
imperial systems, technological modernity, and global knowledge
diasporas. The book combines exemplary research with insightful and
challenging theorization about the application and understanding of
science in a colonial setting.' David Arnold, Emeritus Professor of
Asian and Global History, University of Warwick
'In his insightful history of modern indigo, Prakash Kumar nicely
demonstrates that knowledge of the blue dye was fluid and fugitive,
mobile and global.' Joyce Chaplin, Harvard University
'Professor Kumar has brought an entirely fresh perspective to the
subject of indigo in India by examining the science and the
patronage of science involved in the 'improvement' of indigo over
several hundred years and by placing his study in a truly global
framework. This book is a major contribution both to the history of
modern South Asia and to the history of science.' Douglas E.
Haynes, Dartmouth College
'Professor Kumar's book is a scholarly work of profound erudition.
It is a masterful analysis of the complex and shifting interactions
between agricultural practices, relations between European planters
and Indian farmers, scientific research in Britain and India, and
the role of the colonial state in Indian agriculture. Scholars
interested in agriculture and science in colonial India will
consult this work for years to come.' Daniel Headrick, Professor
Emeritus of Social Science and History, Roosevelt University
'Prakash Kumar writes a new kind of history of indigo cultivation
in British India, focusing on the vast mobility of productive
scientific knowledge and its localization at the agrarian
foundations of India's modern development regime in Bengal.' David
Ludden, New York University
'This book is the first full-scale study of the odyssey of natural
indigo manufacturing by European entrepreneurs and planters in
South Asia across three centuries, as seen from the point of view
of technical knowledge and efforts at 'improvement'. Its particular
merit is that it analyzes the complex interplay between
metropolitan science and local practice in the colony within a
wider context of transnational market connections and cosmopolitan
knowledge circulation at the global scale. This is a landmark
study, based on wide-ranging and diversified sources, and written
with impeccable clarity.' Jacques Pouchepadass, Emeritus Research
Director, CNRS, Paris
'A meticulously researched work based on a wide variety of sources
skilfully used in the narrative. It presents an engaging story of
the indigo industry in India, in its global expanse and immensity,
with its links to the international market, imperialism, and
ultimately to the global system of capitalism … Well written, and
impressively readable, the book is sure to stimulate interest in
the subject and prove a reference work for future research on
indigo in India.' Reviews in History (history.ac.uk/reviews)
'Prakash's greatest achievement lies in recovering from the seams
of history the course, context, and commercial benefits of indigo
science, doing so in a way that contributes to the broader social
history of colonial South Asia. Indigo Plantations and Science,
therefore, deserves to be read as one of the finest studies on
'colonial knowledge' that has been published in recent years.'
Madhumita Saha, Technology and Culture
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