Orientalism, Empire, and National Culture

Abstract

Includes chapters on New Zealand and the Pacific. The idea of an Aryan race became an important feature of imperial culture in the 19th century, feeding into debates in Britain, Ireland, India, and the Pacific. This study traces the emergence and dissemination of Aryanism within the British Empire. Introduction: Aryanism and the Webs of Empire -- 1. The Emergence of Aryanism: Company Orientalism, Colonial Governance and Imperial Ethnology -- 2. Indocentrism on the New Zealand Frontier: Geographies of Race, Empire and Nation -- 3. Systematizing Religion: from Tahiti to the Tat Khalsa 'Religion' -- 4. 'Hello Ganesha!': Indocentrism and the Interpretation of Maori Religion -- 5. Print, Literacy and the Recasting of Maori Identities -- 6. The Politics of Language, Nation and Race: Hindu Identities in the Late Nineteenth Century -- Conclusion: Knowledge, Empire, Globalization.