Sex and the Family in Colonial India: The Making of Empire

Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society

by Durba Ghosh

In the early years of the British empire, cohabitation between Indian women and British men was commonplace and to some degree tolerated. However, as Durba Ghosh argues in a challenge to the existing historiography, anxieties about social status, appropriate sexuality, and the question of who could be counted as 'British' or 'Indian' were constant concerns of the colonial government even at this time. By following the stories of a number of mixed-race families, at all levels of the social scale, from high-ranking officials and noblewomen to rank-and-file soldiers and camp followers, and also the activities of indigenous female concubines, mistresses and wives, the author offers a fascinating account of how gender, class and race affected the cultural, social and even political mores of the period. The book makes an original and signal contribution to scholarship on colonialism, gender and sexuality.

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction, Gender and Sexuality, Sociology, Politics, Gender

292 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Durba Ghosh is an associate professor of history at Cornell University where she teaches courses on modern South Asia, gender, and colonialism. She is the author of Sex and the Family in Colonial India: the Making of Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) and with Dane Kennedy, co-editor of Decentering Empire: Britain, India and the Transcolonial World, (Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 2006).

Her teaching and research interests focus on understanding the history of colonialism on the Indian subcontinent. She has written extensively on gender, culture, law, archives, and colonial governance in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century India, and is interested in the importance of history in legitimizing anti-colonial struggles. Her current research focuses on popular regional political movements in early and mid-twentieth century India and the ways in which violence against the British colonial state became an important, but underemphasized, form of protest. She is the general book review editor of the Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History and an elected member of the South Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies.

Reviews

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Dr Tufail Chandio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Durba Gosh has wonderfully drawn the role of doubly colonized women in British India - she was colonized by foreigners in the same time she was colonized by the male dominated society. The introductory chapter presents the reason of downfall of Mughal Empire, beginning of Trade of East India Company, the local war and mediation of the company and intimacy of the British people with the natives, which casualness was stretched when the British started to rule and the rebellion of 1857 took place.

The English people kept native women as their mistresses, sometimes married, the children born out of native woman were sent to Europe for their proper upbringing, the best example is William Makpeace Thackery, who was brought up with his "illegitimate" sister, his father working as collector got born in his extramarital relationship with a native woman.

The book reveals the plight of native women; children born out of Agnlo-Indian relationship, taken to Europe and devoid of mothers' love and care; they were called "Agnlo-Indian" "mix-child" or "Eurasian" , and the mothers torn-out by these circumstances, they were neither accepted by their community nor were fully embraced by the English society.

Further, the book penetrates into the various legal proceedings and precedents of the cases regarding the matters of the family and conjugal life

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghosh's methodologoy is unique and provides great insight into the gendered and raced history of colonial India by giving voice to Indian women who were partnered with British men. She analyzes women's resources, power, agency, and resistance within the context of class.

[Tara Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now I’m just having fun reviewing all of these niche books from my history class. Really interesting read that was extremely thorough in its research methods, and love that it centers women at the forefront of the interracial colonial dynamics conversation because that’s honestly rare.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a succinct analysis of gender and racial hierarchies in colonial societies. I especially enjoyed how Ghosh describes the agency of native women recognizing that although they did not necessarily benefit from these interracial cohabitations they were still able to navigate these relationships and reap some form of benefits and compensation despite their circumstances and the inherent oppressive nature of these relationships. The only thing is that I wish Ghosh pulled at the thread of how class/caste affects these relationships she is definitely aware that class and caste do impact these relationships which is present in the chapter about cases of domestic violence but is not directly addressed or discussed in great detail.

[Kenneth Goodall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Painstaking research must have went into this work, extremely well written.