Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
"Through a landmark court case in mid-nineteenth century colonial India, this book investigates hierarchy and racial difference in the British encounter with Indian society"--
"How did British rule in India transform persons from lower social classes? Could Indians from such classes rise in the world by marrying Europeans and embracing their religion and customs? This book explores such questions by examining the intriguing story of an interracial family who lived in southern India in the mid-nineteenth century. The family, which consisted of two untouchable brothers, both of whom married Eurasian women, became wealthy as distillers in the local community. When one brother died, a dispute arose between his wife and brother over family assets, which resulted in a landmark court case, Abraham v. Abraham. It is this case which is at the center of this book, and which Chandra Mallampalli uses to examine the lives of those involved and, by extension, of those - 271 witnesses in all - who testified. In its multilayered approach, the book sheds light not only on interracial marriage, class, religious allegiance, and gender, but also on the British encounter with Indian society. It shows that far from being products of a "civilizing mission" who embraced the ways of Englishmen, the Abrahams were ultimately - when faced with the strictures of the colonial legal system - obliged to contend with hierarchy and racial difference"--
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Subjects
Social conditions, History, Trials, litigation, Inheritance and succession, Legal polycentricityPeople
Matthew Abraham (d.1842)Times
19th centuryShowing 1 featured edition. View all 1 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1
Race, religion, and law in colonial India: trials of an interracial family
2011, Cambridge University Press
in English
1107012619 9781107012615
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
Table of Contents
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-261) and index.
Classifications
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?December 29, 2011 | Created by LC Bot | import new book |