History as Critique and Critique(s) of History Author(s): Dipesh Chakrabarty Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.

26, No. 37 (Sep. 14, 1991), pp. 2162-2166 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41627001 . Accessed: 01/04/2014 03:36
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History

as

Critique

and

Critique(s)

of

History

Dipesh Chakrabarty ' ' and ! effort The historiographica as critique of SubalternStudies has been describedas history imperialism are seen as thesubjectsof thiscritique . By thismeasuretheSubalternStudiesproject, and imperialist knowledge inpost-colonialdebatesin Indian history which is at leastpotentially began as an intervention capable of transforthe that is in the idea discipline represented university very of history itself ming departments organisedunder that name. and implicationsof this claim regarding This essay exploresthe ramifications how the global and the local in thepost-colonialscene of writing The essay goes on to discuss the mannerin which come together history. have handled the themeof 'death of history'. certainstrandsof post-modernist writing andopenup us to renew to whomI am im- of 'history' thediscipline* THE three authors thatis discussion itself, helps in that of mycolleagues I represented in university indebted forthe questions many mediately departmentsa question treat Inthe under that name. first discussin this articleare the Indian organised usually history departments part university CollI want toexplore the ramifica-as a problem (bymessrs article, long-solved historian, RanajitGuha, the American ofthis andhence andCarr) of thisinteresting Edward and implications Said, and the tions permanently theorist, ingwood literary Morris. claim culture how the andthe local closed: Australian ifthe What is history? critic, Meaghan regarding global Indeed, postinthe Said has come scene of modern In someof his recent as Grossberg post-colonial first-world, writings, together suggests, is tosayif that is a place without of writing ical effort described the historiograph 'history', history. has nolonger that themetropolis Studies The othermoment of mydiscussion itis true Subaltern , and thoseof Guhain what do wemake ofSaid'sclaim tothe ofthe as "history as critique".1 Criti- relates the 'death 'history', question way particular, effort atpractisSubaltern Studies' the in certain that but of history' has beenhandled Ofimperialism, Said, says queofwhat? the can transform as critique' in post-modernist HereI ing'history inthe more contextrofstrands writing. present importantly totake a trajectory that cuts In discussing want across cer- discipline itself. centre itself when the atthevery knowledge imperialist in centre of tain Morris traverses thework of Guha,thefounding-editor tothis lineofreasoning) positions Meaghan (according him the conditions Subaltern Studies article at doesnot , Said places among herstimulating any longer provide 'Metamorphoses itspossibility? such as the Sydney Tower'.3 I should itclear otheranti-colonial writers make that for of'the C L R James, the invocation death of history' Trinidadian author has will a discussion betoweave Syrian my Myaimhere and the nothing todo with Francis intellectual well- on 'history' Studiesby and Subaltern GeorgeAntonius, Fukuyama's historian S H Alatas.Noneof publicised but neverthelessvulgar moving twopoles. these between Malaysian ornativist Hegelianism.4 them areinany sense traditional' I find itmore for productive within the my as Critique theinteresting History to engage with intellectuals; fully they operate purpose andinstitutions that way raises the of Morris7 knowledge-procedures Meaghan question recent is a relatively 'history' instudying Writing as a problem ofmethod to their history brought European imperialism there While Indian culture. in innovation Which iswhere her interests countries. "These writes 'popular culture^, figures", respective of traditions have been certain chronicling with those in intersect Subaltern Said, represented the between historians court (distinctions Studies the address the tostudying the using techniques, metropolis (committed 'jJopular' by be would traditions andtheMuslim Hindu ofscholar- in thecontext the the of south discourses, very weapons Asia). and and someidentifiable in order here) andcriticism once reserved exclusively If I can translate ship Morris's interests into vigorous of producing mythointhe now either for practices for European, adapted then the that arises mine, question (via graphies and a modern of various kinds, atthe heart of orrevisionism very surgency is something likethis.History is secular Morris) - what Burke Peter ofhistory sense the Western centre. about social over But ina different time. studying change callsthe'renaissance context ofthe'originali- perhaps Saidraises the question a slow-paced like India sense society British the wassomething ofthe past'ofthese intellectuals. Onemight ask,for makes ty* allitsinternal far visi- brought more changes tothesubcontinent.6 Itis notdifIsn'ta non-western intellectualbleto theobserver instance: than do late-capitalist, was sense of history this ficult to seethat with 'western* of procedures operating countries? 'What absolutely consumerist, fast-moving and to the relations essential a producer of do by definition knowledge whom structures do',asksLawrence you Grossberg set the ofpower upin Europeans second-handideas? Said Morris derivative, in formulating her own India. quotes colonial TheBritish administrators, andinsists that what these intellec- problem: disagrees rules themselves for bywhich constructing work tuals achieve is nothing short when bytheir event is potentially evidence, they every in andoverseeing, India could govern of a radical of these transformation proand at thesaine the potentially determining, of creation the large-scale cedures themselves. arewriting the colprocess, They tooquickly toallow the comtime, changing inland andother resources, To thecentre of theempire. property onybackinto fortable leisure ofacademic criticism?5 private be what could inthe18th built century up putitin Said'swords: It is possible that hasdiedinthe 'history' of Indian archives as the first regarded I want that their work to argue is,on its advanced ina sense countries capitalist quite history.7 ina series Guha As Ranajit argued merits, (some different only apparently dependent to Societies Fukuyama's. running in in Calcutta delivered lectures of on a mainstream wouldsay parasitic) public on fast mode cannot any longer 1988, have the19th ifIndians since like history, discourse science, the -forward century political ishow the would often argument andthat it bestudiedthis to orcultural and actedon a desire criticism, economics, expressed for even the the of authenticate evidence, gomemory whose isinfact and creative has colonialism their work, original history, is destroyed inthe History toberecognised process. ofthe result has been the transformation indeed an "as a condition, very change, exists in third world capitalism precisely essential terrain ofthe disciplines.2 ol for theformulation condition, ithasnot been devoured con- that yet by measure then weshould beable because BySaid's agenda"/ socialpractices. toseethe which sumerist Subaltern Studies did notgainthissenseof YetIndians project, 1 should that this is not modern in as an intervention without a strugemphasise began post-colonial history conducting inIndian as at least debates theideologies thatsustained Thequote from history, poten- Morris's position. Grossberg gle against idea is what was oftransforming the in India.History heressay takes offfrom. Buther British very tially capable imperialism 2162 andPolitical Economic 14,1991 Weekly September

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the hermeneutic as critiquing of its 'history' themaintarget as Guhaputs it: not, gesture, polemical thatconstitute historio- aspectsof the practices British a spiritual liberalism beingthe imperialist polemics pressed by gift hisbookas Guhapresents in 'writing Yet nationalist of India*. history'. onIndia for the benefit ofthe natives. history, For, graphy thearchives work of 'reading' stanceand deliberate to sucha cargo culttheory of spiteof its anti-imperialist contrary Thefunculture retailed writers arebased. hisnarratives meta- onwhich a deeply embedded shared blithely by imperialist substance, Indian the of narrative and their inElemenhesets himself imitators, production o British damental accounts with problem imperialist a colonialist wasfrom the India.Thiswas themeta-narrative is: Howdoesone read'rebel historiography of the tary Aspects indominance and not modern outset anexercise colvery in a historically Indian consciousness' British Ifthe state. given emplotted Itis,therefore, anact ofcharity. theentire documenimpossible where from onialsituation in termsof a movement pasts of an Indian 'despotism' to deal with thequestion the from comes consciousness ofthat 'rule oflaw' tation toa British-inspired of India as anything other (instituted historiography native andthe the nationalist dominant colonial colonial the classes, state), by than a question ofpower.9 ofinThefigure ofthe allanti-imperialist peasants? exploiters portrayed history-writing from struggles Indian was structured works historiography he discusses consciousness a surgent in India as steps towards im- sovereign the as a battle where a positivist beginning ground than inhistext a trope like that would more a state national state, ofIndian onedaystand andnationalist versions latas the read perialist itisoften that 'discovery' foundations onthe (though very in their wrestled with eachother at- the understanpasts Guha's toexpress andserves Thelife ter) hadlaid. themselves imperialists their tolegitimise in colonial tempts respective projects. ofthepeople a dingof howpower within subsumed wasthus operated Itis true that thefirst modern of hallowed histories - whichis whatthis India. within his archives Helocates squarely biography India were written the colonists history - of the(nation by of power. European andcritique this was -)state. understanding but, for the nationalists, ina theynever Ranajit ofhistory book Guha's writing Elementary Aspects Thispost-colonial toan Indian inany amounted sense. of Peasant of history as a means came in ColonialIndia country where 'history' Insurgency For not were these histories orientalist(Delhi, only work colonial and nationalistdomination saythe 1983)-andonemight ofthe the of theSubaltern (inSaid'ssense term) ofcritiportraying as a necessarily ends collective Studies ways upsuggesting in'civilisation', Indian as lacking were whole - aimed they Some of this nar- quingthediscipline itself. inthis a breach tomake each oneofthem, unashamed celebra- rative. also, intotheproject onehundred critical waswritten than stance more Examining tions ofimperialist their documented power reminding thevery from rebellion ofSubaltern Studies ofpeasant instances beginnreaders but British later the Indians in19th a (initially that ing.Forinstance, Guhahimself establishes Guha presents India, century as well)thatBritish rulein Indiawas a nationalist Indian ofthecolonial wasanactofap- scintillating reading historiography to 'the ofBritish propriation tribute, ultimately, relamight collusive on archives a deeply todocument Indians, (andelitist) byelite 10 arms'. ofpeaan Indian tionship causal between ofbuilding oftheir behalf explanations project - causalexplanations, we of the santinsurgency historical of diverse struggles A different kind ofhistory, but all state, history characteristic a defining arealmost classes.WhatGuha'sanalysis shall see, thesame,could be theonlynationalist subaltern of and theexercise andim- of secular bonds historiesoutarethedifferent answer to thisboastof the imperialist.brings state.15 the powerby the modern that ofcollectivities However, inspired 'Indian'pastsin thisreceived aginations Narrating of theelement their is nowno denying to resist (both there oppressors peasantry of 'history', butwith a recognisably genre to the that contributed time andagain.In this theoretical naivete andnative) 'Indian' as both Guhaand foreign voice, became, aim debt boisterous limited a rather ofthe nature owed early political only peasant his Partha have shown, the colleague Chatterjee elite the subaltern the to see that Studies of idiom of Subaltern liberal the to politics a sacredand urgent task for the naoftheir as the andgroups the classes had learntfrom subject(s) tionalist.11 A passage byGuhafrom Indiannationalist quoted of ownhistory. in thebeginning, notions Wedidnot, hadother Thepeasants the writings of the nationalist author British. between the of thenation. about thanthat tothink They stop relationship Bankimchandra the community Chattopadhyay captures andthe than 'discourse' ourown) of communication means pro(including ofthis for Italsosug- hadother desire intensity history. that is a problem This classes of'subjects'. usedbythemiddle (rumours duction how wasitself seen as those history gests writing but Their toourattention to newspapers). ordering wasbrought byfriendly ofitscommunal as opposed an activity that, byvirtue from one the secular to often critical was of time particularly responses, contrary could in turn foster a new sense nature, help work andthework Guha's that ofpunish- feminists, Their understanding ofcommunity, the will ofhistory. nation that (a point 16 Andwe evoked. Studies not besummed could andcoercion up oftheSubaltern notbe loston readers of Benedict Ander- ment in what Taken more of law'. it 'the rule in the consciously experienced expression is in This what Bankim wrote 1880 son). as thesecond moment thesedifferences be described Guha argues, might when writers often used'Bengal' together, Bengali when ourownwork a substantial of Subaltern Studies classes thesubaltern allowed and'India'interchangeably: of the and of cultural inadequacy autonomy registered political increasingly degree must have her own Otherwise Bengal history. as wellas therhetoric ofthe both andpolitics thecategories statist the project there isnohope for Who istowrite vis-a-vis Bengal. of all 'modern' elites. political emancipatory it?Youhave towrite it.I have towrite it. nationalist the of philosophies insatisfactorily Guha's treatment about isnovel . . . Anyone who isa Bengali hastowrite What conveying ofthe different ofanobjectivist texture andthe . . . Itisnot it a task ishisavoidance vthat canbedone one hissubject specificities by that are narratives itisa task for allofustodo stance to andoften so fundamental is otherwise that alone; contradictory person relations which Guha's archival entailed inprocesses While ofhistory. the together.12 through prose and subordination are ofpower, i e,domination, andhisnarratives isscrupulous we know, wasa leading Bankim, literary research in India.17 as see shall to the a concern are marked resistance, (I produced Obscure from the peasant by figure. writing period this is notan of his/her however, shows howwidely shared thishunger for thesubject why Elementarysoonexplain history, for a straightforward either not anethnohistory isemphatically was. 'Modern' concernsfor Aspects rejecargument 'history' or for a India. Nor tion of politicalphilosophy iir colonial and for 'national'collections ofpeasant insurgency posterity cultural oftheIndian account relativism.) pea- politically-innocent marked what waswritten who is ita mentalist byauthors I inwhat ofour'experience' of his Inspeaking thevalidity that is to saythat havedeservingly A sant, passedintooblivion. from hisdocumen- have ofSubaltern moment doesnotderive second the called tract in 1879 said: project Bengali published sub- Studies as empirical the topaint of what in Bharat picture Noone hasyet hadthe taste of tation , I do notintend peasants, consciousness anduntutored orbelieved not are books have jolted Otherwise, (though ofa raw history. why being jects, thought may of 'evidence' . .? What written onhistory. for scholars rectitude are we will into in such material interested bythepressure doing the future children ofBharat? How of benefit was informed Guha'sbook).14 In alone.This'experience' from by many reading in usarecollecting histories?13 of ourownwork innova- criticismbut, Guha's that surely sense, methodological to it and no lessimportantly, aimed at renovatingaddition by arenotso much Indianhistory was thusbornwitha tions andPolitical Economic 14,1991 Weekly September 2163

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ofthe ofEuropean a sense of sovereignty criticisms nation-state isnow atleast political philosophy Burke,threefoundations: anachronism ideathat itself andofemancipatory meta-narratives canbeout a debated Thenation a is no longer (the things topic. thatin Europe's case sacrosanct in the of date,something ir.particular, that have It hastocontend beenvoiced with concept. dates backtotherenaissance), rules factors andthe Burke for a certain lastfew of that, years bythephilosophers subject/reader - the andcausality as a major means history, It ofevidence, condition. ofthepost-modern have indeed aesthetes become englobal Wecould add a fqurth ele- vironment; todeny ofexplanation. for ifnotimpossible oreven is difficult the ideaof today example, of ment to all this:a senseof anachronism a 'world of post-structuralist theforce Norcouldone deny rejection heritage'.22 ideasof history.18 would for its own historicist survival a sunder- what andconsumerist rqquire technology practices ofsecular in ing time from sacred the ofthe death ofhistory Yet a heralding doneto make us question modernist time, 'city have of gods', the'city that is a constructions ofa con- of man'from and/or oftime, the name ofpostmodernity a questioning that is of godsand other that consumes even its own banishment in the post-modern sumerism of unworldly inherent gesture from narratives about the world of 'junking' and disabling. creatures seemspremature in theinsistence (after analyst, history, Thisiswhat isoften referred hold ofthe toas Heidegger) because the that'timehas ceasedto be Premature, political humans. the 'humanism' of the disciplineof anything of theEuropean other than velocity, instanenlightenment categories - after world order the media- history.20 over the new taneousness and simultaneity, and [that] indetail over theGulfwarand thedevelop- I do notneedtoargue here the time as history hasvanished from the lives hype - seems ineastern between nationalism andhistory of all peoples'.23 ments Morris's Europe (paradox- connection quote from bothtenuous and tenacious at the or thatbetween and history.21 I cited inthe that first ofthis modernity ically) Grossberg part itwould Suffice alsobecause same time. ittosayhere that wasab- essay ustothis returns Premature, the so'history' very problem, inthe coun- solutely that even central tothe ideaof'progress' death of history. metropolitan appear (o called on which both colonialism It is notdifficult death to accept tries this so-called ofhistory theproposirequires 'development') andtowhich nationalism ina landofpure with wasbased that forits owndecipherment a subject if consumerism, aspired. tion mode ofproduction andthe sucha land could everexist,history historical consciousness capitalist (whoelse wobld Ifthe - would know that otherwise hasdied?).1 nation-state were thetwoinstitutions that perhaps even the history die,for memory such ofthe 19th alsofind tothe rest of subject ofpure would have no hasty pronouncements century exported Europe consumption ofhistory because rein- theworld, death italsoexported then twoforms usefor thehistorical oftemconstruction they disabling thefirst world/third world ofknowledge vent and reify that tothe two porality, i e, forwhatBurkecalls the corresponded 'Economics' embodies in a (modern) sense ofanachronism. This would anddeny ofdialogue on institutions. division the ground distilled form the ofthemarket bethe ofpure not which aresituated theinterpretive rationality (I amfollowkingdom capital only ofthe human as the ingMarx's useofthis term as an abstract of Subaltern butthose of inits Studies efforts imagination being like Derrida, homo-economicus, otherpost-colonial critics to the anduniversal logico-philosophical category) 'history' speaks Morris and figure ofthe citizen. isoneofthe in pursuit of itsownaim^>ferasing difSaid,Bhabha, Spivak, Nandy, 'History' most others. inwhich welearn to ference, whether important ways spatial or temporal. I want thedialogue with identify Here toresume ourselves with thenation and its Capital, as a category, does notrequire thestate. This is howMarxputit in the with Morris which 1 began this highest representative, history. Meaghan essay. Oncewegrant this connection between Grundrisse: while must ononeside strive totear historical narratives capital (causalexpositivist barrier to intercourse, Critique(S)of History every spatial a liberal down planations strung together through and the whole earth conquer of 'coincidences') i e,toexchange, sprinkling tells methat writing and strategic My'Indian' history for its it strives on the other side to market, and the social of the modern organisation secular sense)is (in its modern, history with i e,toreduce annihilate this time, space we realise that there is no (nation-)state, in a 'natural' nor anancient neither activity toa minimum the time inmotion from spent themodern historical sensibility. oneplace totransport men- escaping India. I only have myself toanother. Themore developed The to historical capacity produce positivist, that backtothe18th toknow century tally the the more the extensive therefore, capital, determines our todealwith ability inthe ofbeing narratives isnothing inherent there logic market itcirculates, over which which forms ofmodern that bureaucracies rationality would the an 'educated* (in India)that the orbit ofits person the more circulation, spatial for the exercise ofpower to, subject a knowledge or evenan encounter,weallare entail doesit strive for an even simultaneously these institutions involve the deploy- greater inthe with within ofschooling, somewhere of themarket and for extension process ofsuch narratives. Consider how the ofspace annihilation with time.24 there is today ment a subject called'history*. Yet greater oflawfunctions. Itleaches positivist It is obvious All court about this inthis that Marx ansubject. something compulsive passage narratives outofyou. Canweeven to historical insist onit.Itis impossible the fashionable statements governments ticipates currently ever a 'simhowever case, would imagine winning where a country now about'thedeath of history', with thedifhistory imagine the ofevidence rules byflouting (often ference ofa person's atsome ple', not bepart thathe locates this'death'as a education, judicial and historical tendency educational sharedbetween intheir within the of'capital' through progress point category pure the narrative itself. byemploying, say, What is at stakein doing discourses), institutions. For the with which Marx temporality ofan Nambikwara orthose says myth - its teaching, strives to kill methods, techniques e, space (i capital space history writing, Dennis Potter A as difference) - that play? hasallow- ofa post-modernist etc evaluative isalsoonethat aims to'reduce procedures, of is therefore not a sencritique history tousea Foucauldian edittobecome, toa minimum the time inmotion from expres- timental spent 1 am not one plea against history. ofthe self? such a universal Thistime must also sion, technique placetoanother'. imas 'cultural about history wasnothing talking Whatwould be lostif there kill historical of'progress' the narrative time, for that wasjustthat It oncesurely as we, the professionalperialism'. called 'history* as a marker ofdifdeploys temporality in thenameof ference.25 butto denynow, it?Why many, andpractice understand Ifthe world historians, were at tobeentirely social cultural relativism, any group that even as late as the themercy cannot countries ofcapital, then it would indeed early tothe beheld tribaisaccess aboriginals, didnothave I9thcentury called peasants, in ofsimulacra anything bya chain together of thepast'would aneternal sense 'post-renaissance ittoday?19 do without consumerist Insuch 'history', simultaneity. die could them. be to disempower History A booklike E H Carr's text What a Baudrillardian classic oflotus-eaters (the paradise ifthese ofpower that feed starving institutions it only will this cannot inis History? not answer would consume) question; history not it to No even were disappear. one, treats the as something upon deedbe an unwelcome for its 'history', discipline, distraction, that. is yet promising and in thatsense, 'natural'. a Braudrillard, of thestateand power entirely given grand-narratives ofthe This sense that wepractice inthe that these would tosuggest, like This isnot sound a siren-call tolabour, the past however, as 'history' The hard universities with time. Peter institutions have not toilof class, andother kinds has,tofollow changed gender 2164 andPolitical Economic 14,1991 Weekly September

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ofstruggle without which there canonly be sion ofthe is no first world that andwithout there have now seized evidence, evidence, a capitulationist ofthe world we the ofthe classes ofmy 'history'. acceptance is therefore a practice of imagination ruling History find in. ourselves and of many others. So this,I 'monumentalising' fromdocucountry objects- of simultaneously Butcapital in history, was what in doing mentsto sculptures exists i e, incon- thought, was at stake in Indian peasantshavinga acknowledging and uqeven with history, anddenying their existence tradictory relationship another seriesof structures it madeit a lot in 'our' own time.What allowedmy consciousness: thatneeds historical sense ofanachronism, secular easier for somepeople tomake toexpress out Melbourne student sense of her (the 'history* money - the the narrative ofprogress) nation- of them! time, anachronism aboutmyflares (and about state andits attendant formations. Toquote Morris onthe the'dag')wasthat existed (Telecom- their Reading Sydney wearer, they Marx onceagain: hasgiven me as tangible evidence inthe Tower, same time munications) however, as the ofwhat wasatissue onesheinhabited as shespoke. I hadkind appreciation drives national barriers and a sharper Capital beyond overmy of monumentalised encounter as much as beyond wor- in thatcross-cultural nature my anachronistic, prejudices Morris studied a Indian/third-world of style! aswell sense asalltraditional, com- Indianflares. Meaghan confined, ship, encrusted satisfactions ofpresent small death that diedinthat tower Monumentalising, a placent, 'history' making preserving, andreproductions of old ways of between when shefirst needs, 'read' the outof assorted is essen1981, tower, 'heritage' objects . . But life. from the fact that shewent backto it for a tialtothe capital posits and 1989when ofboth nationalism and politics such limit as a barrier andhence every gets diachronic, In the nation-state. This is wherehistory post-bicentennial snapshot. itdoes not means 1981 it, ideally beyond by any the Tower andstood, the business ofthecitizen, whois portrayed among becomes follow that ithasreally overcome it,and, other for a cliched 'narrative ofpro- the subjectof the grand of -narratives things, sinceevery suchbarrier contradicts its gress', 'as an annunciation of modernity':freedom and progress. As an activity, its incontradicmoves character, production can onlylivein tension monumentalising Thelower deck the transformaproclaimed tions which areconstantly overcome as just with consumerist Thisisthe contion of as a ... the practices. deck locale; Sydney upper constantly posited.26 tradiction celebrated thehistory thatmarks oftowers, thehistoric lifeof lookouts, Oneof these contradictions of 'capital in andassociated tourist activities. Thetheme capital, the tension between the citizen and isthat weare citizens andconsumers linking history' the two . .wasthe levels. overthrow the consumer. Itpoints ustoa deeper conatthe same and'history* survives 'the time, of.. . "the ofdistance". . . enabling tradictionbetween capital and the tyranny oflate cultural this logic capitalism' through Australia's into the integration ageofglobal nation-state. tensionthesometimes hostile andsomesimultaneity. When I say'contradiction', I mean a contimes collusive between citizen- All this relationship wasgonein 1989. writes tradictory For the collusion bet'Worse', relationship. andconsumerism. Which means that Morris, ship ween consumerism and 'heritage', i e, betthe ofconsumption does empirical subject ween the consumer andthecitizen, itwas reveals as though none ofthe representations not tobea post-historicist have The subject. I hadstudied inthe oftourism. hadever discourse This isthe been I asked itself there. sense of anachronism constitutive of about the of'heritage but noone discourse which some questions renovations, industry' historical time incan,doesand willfind who was there had nowseeas the been sideofthebread around working long historians albeit contradictory, teresting, meeting enough toremember the decor ofthe Tower that is buttered. Therelationship, however, with the anti-historical tendencies having ever been grounds different from the it isinherently way a fraught as so many cases one of consumerism. Andthisis where I get istoday. So there was a crazed culture critic pfheritage-litigation would Besides, suggest. backto my of Meaghan Morris. round theturret 'What the reading staggering saying sense ofcommodification of heightened done with the What I read with evidence?' Morris's you however, have help, thatassailsthe historian as the history is an anecdote that I have to present inan Thelower deck 'hadbecome a cafeteria', its heritage travel andthe industries increasingly An experience mode. in old photographs autobiographical replacedby 'plastic expose tothe ofthe market 'history' vagaries Melbourne oncebrought home to methe basreliefs with a wildflower andthe placeandthefickleness motif, ofpopular/public ofthe sense ofanachronism not upper level had lostmost of itshistorical culture, importance a tension between what is develops thestory of 'develop- references. onlyin fabricating 'With thewhole them, linking now called andwhat hasun'public history' ment' or'progress' marks nationalist discourse (that tothe ofSydney as a 'site' til nowconstituted history the'highculture' of but even inconstructing usas con- haddisappeared'.27 thought) Thework ofconsump- historicaf profession.28 sumers. Italsoindirectly metothink tion hadleft theTower helped with no 'historical' Theheritage isnew inIndia but industry about what beatstake for the Indian memory might of itsolder self. ' allthe shows ofthis tension betsymptoms classesforthem to want to teach ruling I say historical for I memory' advisedly, ween the citizen andthe consumer. I quota i e, to givethem, a la amnot about useofthe peasants 'history', talking just any past a recent report: a sense ofanachronism. Theanswer tense. I amdiscussing Burke, a particular form of the Chau machi Tomb in came tomeonedayina flash I had memory pre-Mughal when thediscipline) which In1988 (i e, history, ontheoutskirts of Delhi almost at theUniversity t)f regulates juststarted lecturing itself to what Peter Mehrauli byappealing ofvanished theranks joined monuments. Melbourne inthe middle ofthe1980s. One Burke calls itsrules ofevidence, the kind of Enthusiasts of a citizens' known asthe group of my when shefelt 'evidence' students, second-year that Morris hadinmind when she ofDelhi Society (CSD) were free tobefriendly, saidtomeoneday com- referred tothe destruction ofitinthe Tower. Conservation tofind horrified a developer, armed with a sucha dag, Constructing I want toargue, is ingoutof theclass,'You're 'evidence', written about to demolish tomb. the decree, You still wear in a projectof preservation, of making The flares!', Dipesh. 'dag', had apparently found a developer Australian the derisive mean- 'monuments' slang, carrying ofcertain that areacobjects inthe uncoordinated loophole laws, zoning ofa person whois a source ofamuse- tually ing with ourselves. For contemporaneous but the the ofan alert CSD,with support for ment inshort, a 'character'. 'And them others, to acquire thestatus of 'historical press, ingetting succeeded a stay order from what's with I asked, that?', wrong we tobeable giving my evidence', todeny the have however, Court. ofthis Supreme Examples type Indian trousers a general, andsomewhat em- them their contemporaneity byassigning could bemultiplied. In Bombay, when the over. so 70s, them to a certain in a calendrical navy barrassed, looking 'They're period demolition of thehistoric proposed don't see?'washer answer. I was, past, There an actbywhich wesplit the'present' clock you inits tower various citizens' dockyard, I felt,face to face witha sense of intothe'modern' and the'traditional' the or Environmengroups including Bombay an extremely acuteone,a theirequivalents, anachronism, the SaveBombay and thereby Comdeclare talAction Group, senseof history without it ourselves and theIndian which, tobe modern. hyper mittee, Thisdenial ofthe Heritage Society seemed to me,there andsaved wouldbe no con- contemporaneity the structure. ofcertain is what intervened objects sumerism andnothing ofthekind of(nar- constitutesthe historical sense of Thesame ofcourse, discussion report, byits ratives andeconomic Without it thereis no of'conservation' and'tourism', of)prosperity reminds us expan- anachronism. andPolitical Economic 14,1991 Weekly September 2165

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Partha vol Subaltern Sense sideofthis the col- 6 Peter The Renaissance ofthe 1989; Studies, 6,Delhi, Burke, oj the relationship, flip Nationalist 1970. ; Dipesh London, Thought Chatterjee, theotherwise Past, side which laborative gives into haspioneered research Working-Class Cohn Chakrabarty, Rethinking industry', 7 Bernard 'heritage oxymoronic expression 1 New 8901940, Princeton, inthe some of Indian con"these History: Bengal processes somemeaning.29 The Con1989: AnAnthropologist the Pandey, Seehis Gyanendra Jersey, Among willdiewhen contradiction text. this History in Colonial struction Historians andOther Delhi, , New of Communalism Essays betbetween the citizen andthe consumer, 1990. India North 1989. , Delhi, is resolvthe nation-state andcapital, ween White inRobert 18Seethe discussion AnIndian Young, Guha, Historiography infavour 8 Ranajit oroverwhelmingly) ed(exclusively and the A Nineteenth-Century West, History Mythologies: Writing Agenda of India: Butuntil that consumer andcapital. ofthe W 48-87 andinEdward 1990, London, and Its G Deuskar Lectures pp (S Implications is no priori has happenedand there The Post-modern on Indian 3. Geographies: Soja, Calcutta, 1988, p History), this it must be resolved reason waywhy Social Reassertion 9 Ibid. of Spacein Critical will as Lyotard remain, puts 10See, post-modernity 1. A History for Robert Orme's , London, Theory 1989, Chapter example, of knowledge.30 ofthe a condition it,primarily see the discusof'history', British 19Onthe Transactions 'necessity' Military ofthe ofthe as the Onthe other hand, conception Anthrosionin QregDening, Nation in Indostan History's from the year both itonce hadfor the nation loses TheDeathof William 1762.The book, sanctity MDCCXLV Gooch, : London, pology: and nationalists New (one has to York, 1988). as an 'attempt to Lanham, described author imperialists bythe between Sense The Renaissance the close connection remember ofBritish Burke, Commemorate the Arms 20 Peter ofthe Success hspointed outto Donald Denoon two these inIndia', isdedicated to'HisMost Excellent Past. critiques ideologies), post-modern an empty and methat this alsorequires the Third'. Itis,ofcourse, of 'nation'and of the grand-narratives Majesty George which of'coincidence' not a simple that ofthese secular coincidence with thirdcanconverse conception many fruitfully 'progress* arevery tofill inwhat often isemployed ofBritish India were also historians ofmodernity. Itispossiworld early experiences with inthe serlarge capsincausal explanations. people military experience will blethat oneday the nation-state become of B Dirks, asa Sign ofthe East India For 21 SeeNicholas 'History Company. English a purely (at most) arrangement vice practical Culture Public the , vol2, no2, further discussions on this see Modern', question, unadorned or sentiments of by passions andGyan Prakash, AnIndian andmy 1990, Spring pp25-33 Guha, Historiography But even this cannothappen nobility. Histories ofthe the Post-Orientalist and Artifice of 'Post-coloniality 'Writing inany issuch a future without nor struggle; from Indian Third World: Who for "Indian" Pasts?', Perspectives History: Speaks In the meanwhile, however, way guaranteed. in Studies forthcoming. Comparative Historiography', inorder to 11 Representations, wewill need as critique* 'history vol32,no2, April An IndianHistoriography andHistory and , Guha, Society ofhistory* as part ofour develop 'critiques alsoPartha Partha Nationalist and 1990, Chatterjee, pp383-408; Chatterjee, Thought ofboth narratives the Colonial (the understanding capital and my 'PostNationalist World:A Derivative Thought of production/consumption) andthestate Artifice ofHistory'. andthe Discourse?. Ch 3. coloniality 1986, London, its ofprogress andfreedom). 12Chattopadhyay narratives (with if discussion conservative inGuha, AnIndian 22 Seethe interesting quoted In this weneed between intellecdialogues New E Harris, The inErrol , p 1. Reality ofTime, Historiography tualswho locatethemselves in the first 13 Sri Dey, : pratham star, Calcutta, 1988, York, p 141. Sopan - whereconsumerism world has been TheCondition 23 DavidHarvey, 1879, oj Postp 89. who outtheir 14 For 'naturalised*andthose a discussion 1990, ofmentalism, seeMichael Oxford, pp207-210. speak modernity, Foundations Grundrisse: inthe state third where the andItsCriticism Dialectic Marx, ofthe world, , 24 Karl experience Rosen, Hegel's Martin trans toGuha's dominant but Economy, ofPolitical Critique is,toreturn terms, 1984, Cambridge, pp7-8. 15 Ranajit nothegemonic. Guha, The Proseof Counter- Nicolau^, 1974, p 539. Harmqndsworth, for discusGuha toRanajit in Ranajit GuhaandGayatri 25 I amgrateful I therefore claims do notreadLyotard's insurgency' toMarx. ofthese Subaltern sion Selected points relating eds, Chakravorty Spivak about ofthe -narratives the death (of grand 1988. 26 Ibid, Studies , NewYork. p 410. the as realist Forme, the state) description. pp9-11. 'Metamorphoses', opcit, Spivak's Chakravorty essays 27 Morris, will 16See Gayatri deadofBaghdad of Kuwait) (orthose atten? receive ambivalences 28 Some of these 'Subaltern Studies: Deconstructing be farmore dead thanthelethal always of in Graeme Davison, and'ALiterary 'Paradigms Represen- rion Historiography' of freedom and progress grand-narratives A Woman's Chris and tation oftheSubaltern: Text Public Healy, 'Working History* killed them. which inJohn West' in herIn Other ofthe from theThird World' Museum for the Living Worlds: in Cultural Politics New andPeter Rickard eds, , Packaging Essays Spearitt Notes and241-268, and thePast?Public Melbourne, Histories, 1988, York, pp 197-221 1991. 'Can the inCathy Subaltern Nelson Speak?' are duetoFiona Chris Nicoli, Healy, [Thanks Past: ofIndia*s 'The Future andLawrence Marxism and 29 Vidya Dehejia, eds, Grossberg Henni and ngham, Gyanendra Pandey Stephen in Cultural of Conservation the Urbana and Heritage' Culture, Interpretation of Bracks their for criticisms and Carolyn helpful M and 271-313. I Marshall Bouton also have in 1988, Philip Oldenberg Chicago, pp comments.] mind the criticisms that Rosalind Boulder, 1990, 1990, eds,IndiaBriefing, thoughtful O'Hanlon made ofSubaltern Studies inthe I Edward Third World Intellectuals and Said, pp131-157. ofModern Asian Studies a few Winter pages ThePost-modern Culture', 9:3, years 30 Jean-Francois Metropolitan Lyotard, Rarifan, SeealsoSaid's Foreword to ago. A Report onKnowledge 1990, Condition: pp27-50. , trans 17SeeGuha, Guhaand Gayatri 'Dominance Without andBrian Geoff Ranajit Chakravorty Massomi, Hegemony by Bennington Selected Subaltern Studies andIts inRanajit Guha eds, Manchester , New 1984. Spivak ed, Historiography' 1988. York, 2 Said,'Third World', ibid, p 29. JANATA 3 New Summer Formations, 11, 1990, pp5-18. A Journal Weekly of DemocraticSocialism 4 For a discussion that rescues Fukuyamo's from itsbanality, see David proposition Editor 'Post-modernism andVision: Bennett, Ways H K Paranjape of Seeing in T (at) theEndof History' D'haen andH Bertens eds,Post-modern rates Subscription Studies 3: History andPost-War , Writing AnnualRs 75 Rs 40 Half-yearly Leiden, forthcoming. 5 Lawrence 'The formations Janata Grossberg, ofcultural studies:an American in National 6 Tlilloch Road, Hotse, , 2, 1989, Birmin^tiam', Strategies p 144 Bombay- 400 039 ibid, quoted p 5. it^ 2166 14,1991 andPolitical Economic Weekly September

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