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Cosmopolitanism and Imperialism in Nineteenth-Century British India
- Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Volume 12, Number 1, Spring 2021
- pp. 47-58
- 10.1353/hum.2021.0003
- Article
- Additional Information
Abstract:
In this essay, I examine the link between cosmopolitanism and imperialism in colonial India. In the late eighteenth century, colonial rulers redefined Britishness as a racial category, excluding from it all those who were not of pure white British stock. This racial regime led a growing group of Western-educated Indian literati to adopt cosmopolitanism as an alternative strategy of empowerment. But their cosmopolitanism took different forms: some opted for imperial cosmopolitanism and sought a form of imperial citizenship; others found political models outside Britain, to inspire them in a struggle against empire.