Language Politics Under Colonialism: Caste, Class and Language Pedagogy in Western India

This book tries to capture the reconfiguration of pre-modern power structure within colonialism in the specific context of education and linguistic policies implemented by the colonial administration. The interrelationship existing between caste power and dominance and colonialism and its cultural implications have been rather an ignored subject in the postcolonial theory; analysis of the interplay between primordial power structure like caste and colonial modernity has only currently reflected in some post-colonial writings. Against this backdrop the book offers a nuanced understanding of collusive role that the indigenous elites played in working out new ways to preserve their privileges and dominance which also strengthened the hold of colonial regime without fully altering and disturbing the existing modes of dominance. The book attempts to dispel the thesis that a thorough going eradication of pre-capitalist relation is a pre-requisite to the growth and advancement of modern capitalism. The Indian case points to the contrary. The colonial state could engender its capitalist motives without substantially altering the existing feudal, hierarchical socio-economic and political arrangements. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of Marx, Gramsci, Althussar and Jotirao Phule the text attempts to delineate the relationship between language and power in colonial Western India.