Description
Book SynopsisRule by Numbers offers original perspectives on the construction of the colonial state and colonial power in the framework of governmentality and draws implications for the postcolonial nation-state in the contemporary period. This book specifically focuses on the production of statistical knowledge as part of colonial governance.
Trade ReviewU. Kalpagam has given us a book that is brave, challenging, and ambitious. Drawing on her familiarity with the diverse literatures of postcolonial theory, Foucaultian 'governmentality' and Indian colonial history, she explores the shifting categories of space, time, measurement, and causality involved in the emergence of a colonial governmentality in India that parallels, but differs substantially from, the liberal governmentality that emerged in Europe at around the same period. Both governmentality and postcolonial theorists who are unfamiliar with the other perspective will find here a book that challenges their preconceptions. -- Barry Hindess, Australian National University
Rule by Numbers is a valuable contribution to what has come to be generally known as postcolonial studies. Drawing her inspiration from Michel Foucault, U. Kalpagam has provided a fascinating account of the way the colonial state of British India was formed as an administration producing modern scientific discourses, through which it introduced Western conceptions of space, time, measure, reason, and causality. This book contains a wealth of historical material. -- Talal Asad, Emeritus Distinguished Professor, Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Resolutely Foucauldian in her approach, U. Kalpagam offers a refreshing survey of the emergence of modern technologies of government in colonial India. After a useful overview of notions of sovereignty in pre-British India, she looks at how the abstract space of modern state sovereignty was filled out under British colonial rule into functional sites and the spaces of political economy. She documents this epistemological conquest by looking in turn at the domains of history, economy, society (castes, tribes, religion, race), public health, and the public sphere. This is a valuable introduction to the subject of governmentality and biopolitics in colonial India. -- Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Colonial State and Statistical Knowledge Chapter 1: Sovereignty and Governmentality Chapter 2: The Production of Space Chapter 3: Temporalities, Routines of Rule, and History Chapter 4: Colonial Governmentality and the “Economy” Chapter 5: Classification and Society Chapter 6: Biopower and Statistical Causality Chapter 7: Governmentality and the Public Sphere Conclusion: Modern Freedom and Governmentality
