Blake C Butler
World History 1500-Present
Essay Assignment #1
11 February 2015

Emergence of Knowledge through Co-Collaboration

Raj, Kapil. Relocating Modern Science: Circulation and Construction of Knowledge in South Asia and Europe, 1650-1900. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
Kenny, Dane. Reinterpreting Exploration: The West in the World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

The circulation and construction of knowledge in South Asia and Europe from 1650-1900 was a time of exploration, determination, and glory. It was also a time of anguish, disappointment, and even tyranny. There were those who were driven by curiosity and prosperity and also those who were driven by selfishness and greed. Britain and India’s newfound relationship was quickly gaining a more powerful and stable foundation. New fresh ideas, intriguing concepts, and upstanding principles were rapidly being introduced into society and this was really just the beginning; there was still so much to be learned. An identity was slowly beginning to form. Knowledge became the focal point of everything. Learning and understanding concepts as well as engineering them became a steady day to day operation. However, where did the fresh ideas, the carefully calculated risks, the brilliant notions, and the state of the art technology specifically come from? Who was really responsible for this European and South Asian enlightenment? Somebody had to be pulling the strings. Many people seem to think of the British as the primary source of all good things happening. Given their class, wellbeing and well organized social structure, it’s easy to assume why. That being said, Kapil Raj seems to have a different take on the events during this given time period. He attempts to break down the barriers of assumptions, and delve deeper into the tangled realm of the 17th 18th and 19th century. Relocating Modern Science challenges the belief that knowledge was purely a West European discovery, and that co-constructive negotiation between the two regions was a more appropriate explanation.
Raj wants the audience to understand that while Britain may have played a huge role in the nexus of knowledge emerging during this given time period, they most certainly could not have done it alone. India provided Britain with a myriad of ideas and techniques. They lived a completely different lifestyle and had a perpendicular perspective on life. Their customs, culture, and language for starters, were all potential jumping off points for learning and understanding; not to mention no one knows their playing field better than the home team themselves. British colonization in India, no doubt, help lead to many important discoveries and renowned achievements. One of the most important, if not the most important, was the Survey of India. One of primary reasons for being over there, other than trade and educational opportunities, was cartography and the construction of topographic maps. “The Survey of India, although named thus only in 1878, represents one of the oldest modern scientific and technological enterprises in the world, dating back to the mid-eighteenth century, and was arguably the technical backbone of the British administration in India” (Raj 63). The British needed the natives and intermediaries to better understand what they we’re dealing with. Despite the Europeans advanced education and already well organized social structure, developing a clear communicative understanding with the colonized was pivotal. It’s almost like stopping and asking for directions in a foreign country on the opposite side of the world during a family vacation. You could probably figure it out on your own, but it would be a hell of a lot more helpful to have local citizens, or inhabitants giving you a hand.
Raj goes on to explain the importance of cartography, and the central role it plays in Relocating Modern Science. Topographical surveys were being drawn up all around the world. It seemed to be a major step in this new age of discovery. There were many benefits to scaling and scribing out the land and countryside. British India colonizers believed it would helpful in stabilizing and securing South Asia and its surrounding territories. Captain Thomas Georgia Montgomerie, a Scottish gentleman, is touted as being the chief investigator and promoter of this particular eastern survey. It isn’t surprising that he’s Scottish or British or European for that matter. Their educational system was far superior and further along than that of Calcutta and Fort William, the first two major learning institutions in India. Despite this fact, Captain Thomas Georgia Montgomerie would have got nothing accomplished without the help of his native compatriots. Three names that spring to mind are Mahomed-i-Hameed, Nain Singh, and Mani Singh. Mahomed-i-Hameed was one of the first to venture into the dangerous, uncharted territories of the North. Though his journeys ultimately lead to his physical demise, his notes and journals proved to be extraordinarily important to Montgomerie, and provided him a place in the history books. Nain and Mani, two native Himalayan cousins, were already familiar with the bordering Tibet, having been experienced with their trade and barter system. Keep in mind, if unexpected or unwarranted surveyors were caught in Tibet, they would most definitely meet their doom. “The Tibetans, extremely jealous of their autonomy and identity, were even more suspicious of Europeans. Besides, a number of British emissaries to the few Central Asian khanates that were still outside the ambit of Tsarist power and met with a gruesome end, either hanged or beheaded in public or else murder in their sleep” (Raj 187). It must be understood that these journeys to the north were a lot of the times done by natives. The risk was monumental and the voyages alone were wearisome. Even if you did manage to avoid being captured, imprisoned, or killed, you still had to walk thousands of miles, tracking each and every individual step you took.
Nain Singh was very successful during his many expeditions and travels to the north as well. “His ardour and skill won him a pension, a grant of land, the Companionship of the Star of India, as well as international fame-the Royal Geographical Society’s gold watch in 1868, and gold medal in 1875. At the presentation ceremony it was aid that, his observations have added a larger amount of important knowledge to the map of Asia than those of any other living man” (Raj 199). This fact alone is enough to convince me, and should be enough to convince anybody, that the construction of knowledge, which heavily dealt with surveys, was not solely an accomplishment of British men, but of the indigenes as well.
Another topic of discussion that Raj frequently draws from is the establishment of the EIC. The East India Company provided a way for Britain to trade with India, thinking it would gain an advantage over Spain and Portugal in the process. This eventually led to the imperialism and colonialization of British India. The EIC was largely considered a floodgate for European enthusiasts looking to further their education and careers. “But the EIC was not just the public space within which aspiring Britons could realize their private ambitions. These ambitions were in their turn to refashion the public space which the Company administered by developing, through a rather chaotic process, forms of knowledge which are nowadays commonly referred to as Orientalism. As we saw in the previous chapter, their all too small number and lack of adequate specialized skills obliged Europeans abroad to rely heavily on indigenous intermediaries” (Raj 108). Revamping and reconstructing British India was hard work. It was a completely different space separated by 5000 miles of land and sea. It would only make since to indulge the pundits and intermediaries familiar with the territory. It was through this uniformity that true strides in education, knowledge, prosperity and ideas we’re being conjured. It took a collaboration of everything both parties knew, as well as a strong will and proper guidelines to fabricate and form an objective identity in this part of the world during this given time. This was a world renowned feat that eventually lead to many celebratory, calibrated practices. I guess team work and chemistry do provide a more effective coalition.
Some people even thought that Europe’s conquest of South Asia was simply an exotic exploration that stemmed from emotion and imagination. They dared to explore another vast, tropical landscape on the distant shores of another world. Dane Kennedy, author of Reinterpreting Exploration: The West in the World, also touches on the subject of British exploration into South Asia. “Even the most seemingly pragmatic instruments of rule, like British mapping of India, produced both written and visual texts that, in resonating emotionally with their domestic audiences, helped to mobilize support for the East India Company’s imperial expansion” (Kennedy 63). Maybe there are underlying intentions and purposes we as readers are unfamiliar with that truly fueled all that was happening in South Asia. This neither favors nor opposes Raj’s illustrious stance on colonialization in India. It does tell me though that you must keep an open mind when considering all the rational possibilities concerning the collaboration of South Asia and Europe. Intentions are difficult concepts to decipher. We can only go by what we’re being told, unless of course we plan on doing a little research of our own; Which in this case means we’d be feeding and relying on written texts composed by other people, which probably did the same thing for some other guy’s work, who heard set information from a person who knew a person, who miswrote something that they thought they saw which ended up being a total misunderstanding to begin with. However, I can safely and confidently say that Raj’s strenuous attempts to unfold a more transparent idea of what occurred during this particular segment of life is highly pleasurable and amendable. He opens new doors and ideas about British expansion into India, and ultimate make strong case for the interaction vs transplanted argument.