Routledge A Distant Sovereignty: National Imperialism and the Origins of British India

In this broad study of British rule in India during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Sudipta Sen takes up this dual agenda, sketching out the interrelationships between nationalism, imperialism, and identity formation as they played out in both England and South Asia. Review "Addresses themes that are central to the current historiography in colonial discourse studies.Its discussion of topics not often brought together in one volume make Sen's work a valuable contribution." -- Thomas Metcalf, University of California, Berkeley "Addresses themes that are central to the current historiography in colonial discourse studies. Its discussion of topics not often brought together in one volume make Sen's work a valuable contribution." -- Thomas Metcalf, University of California, Berkeley "Distant Sovereignty brings together discussions of British-imperial and Indian-colonial histories in ways that have not been attempted before. Sen demonstrates powerfully-and with remarkable historical imagination-that the colonizer and the colonized had conjoined, and not separate, histories. The emergent field of 'new imperial history' will be truly enriched by this book." -- Dipesh Chakrabarty, University of Chicago "In this thought-provoking work, Sudipta Sen makes a stimulating contribution to the ongoing scholarly discussion of the construction of identity and nationality. This suggestive account of how the British came to terms with India will engage not only historians of India, but students of nationalism alike in Europe and the colonial world." -- Thomas Metcalfe, University of California, Berkeley "In this thought-provoking work, Sudipta Sen makes a stimulating contribution to the ongoing scholarly discussion of the construction of identity and nationality. This suggestive account of how the British came to terms with India will engage not only historians of India, but students of nationalism alike in Europe and the colonial world." -- Thomas Metcalf, University of California, Berkeley About the Author Sudipta Sen is assistant professor of history at Syracuse University. His first book, Empire of Free Trade: The East India Company and the Making of Colonial Marketplace was nominated for the John Ben Snow prize of the Council of British Studies and the Morris Forkosch prize of the American Historical Association.