Ethnography and encounter : the Dutch and English in seventeenth-century South Asia / Guido van Meersbergen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Van Meersbergen, Guido, author.

Series:

European expansion and indigenous response ; Volume 35.

European expansion and indigenous response ; Volume 35

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

South Asians--Social life and customs.

South Asians.

Dutch--Attitudes--History--17th century.

Dutch.

English--Attitudes--History--17th century.

English.

South Asia--Social conditions.

South Asia.

Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Compagnie--History--17th century.

Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Compagnie.

East India Company--History--17th century.

East India Company.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Leiden, The Netherlands ; Boston : Brill, [2022]

Summary:

The global operations of the East India Companies were profoundly shaped by European perceptions of foreign lands. Providing a cultural perspective absent from existing economic and institutional histories, Ethnography and Encounter is the first book to systematically explore how Company agents' understandings of and attitudes towards Asian peoples and societies informed institutional approaches to trade, diplomacy, and colonial governance. Its fine-grained comparisons of Dutch and English activities in seventeenth-century South Asia show how corporate ethnography was produced, how it underpinned given modes of conduct, and how it illuminates connections across space and time. Ethnography and Encounter identifies deep commonalities between Dutch and English discourses and practices, their indebtedness to pan-European ethnographic traditions, and their centrality to wider histories of European expansion.

Contents:

General Series Editor's Preface

List of Maps and Illustrations

Abbreviations

Glossary

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Ethnography and Encounter

2 Company Writing

3 The East India Companies in Seventeenth-Century South Asia

4 Plan of the Book

PART 1: Corporate Ethnography

1 Company Writing and Early Modern Ethnography

1 Ethnography on Early Expeditions

2 Instructions: Cordiality and Caution

3 Civility and Barbarism

4 Despotism

5 Character and Complexion

6 "Moors" and "Gentiles"

2 Writing Routines and the Making of Company Discourse

1 'Continuall and True Iournalls'

2 The VOC's Memoir for the Writing of Reports

3 The Logic of Company Writing

PART 2: Accommodation and Conflict

3 Trade Relations and Representations: The EIC and VOC in Gujarat

1 'The Only Key to Open All the Rich and Best Trades'

2 Brokerage and Trust

4 'No Thing but Feare Keepes a Moore in Awe': Local Conflict and Quotidian Exchange

1 Raids and Retaliations

2 Mutual Accommodations and Quotidian Exchange

PART 3: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange

5 Ceremonies of Submission: Diplomacy in a Mughal Register

1 Diplomacy and Mughal Court Culture

2 The Companies and Khilʾat

3 Diplomatic Communication and Self-Representation

6 Gratifying Mughal Tastes: Company Gift-Giving Strategies

1 Local Tastes and Global Gifts

2 Gifts and Interaction Ritual

3 Gift-Giving and Ethnographic Discourse

PART 4: The Birth of Company Settlements

7 'Safe Habitations': Colonial Settlement in Ceylon and Madras

1 'Under Your Owne Command': The Settling of Madras

2 'A Permanent Colony': Establishing Dutch Power on Ceylon

8 Governing Pluriform Populations: Company Rule in an Asian Setting

1 The Eic and Mestization

2 Cultures of Governance: The Case of Madras

3 Governing "Others": Voc Rule on Ceylon

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-04-47182-0

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004471825 DOI