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This important volume by Edward W. Ellsworth examines the conflicting interests, programs, and goals which influenced the emergence of Anglo-Indian social purpose and scientific organizations between 1780 and 1880. The intellectual energy that promoted the growth of these multi-racial associations and their efforts toward reform was often diverted by British government structures, financial limitations, and Indian resistance. Ellsworth's study traces how, despite these obstacles, these Anglo-Indian groups became the foundation for both the official and reformist programs which were integral to the formation of the Indian Congress at the end of the 19th century.
After a brief historical introduction, Ellsworth offers an overview of social science ideology from British and Anglo-Indian perspectives with specific emphasis on the progressive intellectual development, both social and personal, advanced by members of the Bengal, Bombay, and Punjab associations. The author traces government involvement in select areas of science associational research and the relationship of that research to official policies and regulations, agribusiness goals and the commonweal. He also deals with key elements of Anglo-Indian science associational programs shaped by needs of the community but also by the British science world and British and Anglo-Indian economic interests. The creation of a colonial science is thus outlined. Concluding with a selected bibliography and full index, the book proves a comprehensive account of an intellectually vital period in Indian history.
List of contents
Introduction
Associations for Political Stability and Social ProgressAnglo-Indian and British Social Science Ideology
Bengal Anglo-Indian Social Purpose Associations and Research Activity
Bombay and Punjab Social Purpose Associations
Science Research for a Modern Imperial State and Capitalist EnterpriseAnglo-Indian Perspectives on Science
Government and Science Associations
Indian Botanic Gardens
Agricultural Experimentation by Association and Government
British Associations and Indian Science and Agriculture
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
About the author
EDWARD W. ELLSWORTH is Professor of History at Wheelock College. He is the author of
Liberators of the Female Mind: The Sherreff Sisters, Educational Reform and the Women's Movement (Greenwood Press, 1979), and numerous articles in journals such as the
New England Quarterly Historian, the
Lincoln Herald, and the Journal of the
Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.
