About the Author

Dilip Chavan is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Chair and Studies Centre at the Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded, India. His areas of interest are social history of language education, cultural history of caste, and language planning in India.

Reviews

“This insightful study explores the domains of education and language pedagogy in nineteenth century Maharashtra as an instance of cultural politics that was shaped by the ideologies of empire, caste and class. The pedagogical practices of two educational institutions, the Sanskrit [School] and Elphinstone Institution, are subjected to a keen scrutiny to bring out how English education was used to maintain social inequalities rather than demolish them.”– Maya Pandit“Dilip Chavan has evolved a theoretical framework, which has its bearing on the seminal works of Marx, Gramsci and Althusser. Interestingly, he has also attempted to define the disturbing relationship between language and caste in the light of the ideas expounded by the well-known subaltern thinker of Maharashtra, Jotiba Phule. This balancing of Western theoretical notions with their Indian counterparts has given an unusual depth to his work.”– Simon Barnabas“I have closely followed Dilip Chavan’s book on language politics and education in colonial Western India for the last several years. On the strength of new archival data, the present work masterly demolishes certain stereotypes [of] British policy. The author shows how the policy was continuously dictated by upper class interest.”– Joseph Bara