Colonial Masculinity: The ‘Manly Englishman’ and the ‘Effeminate Bengali’ in the Late Nineteenth Century

This is a tremendously important book. It not only details the complex history of the interdependent constructions of colonial masculinities in British India, it also provides a model for how such histories should be written. The attention to detail and to theory produces a study that is nuanced, complex and clear–one that offers new insight into the contradictory ways in which race and gender structure the politics of both imperialism and nationalism." (Joan W. Scott, Institute for Advances Study, Princeton) Mrinalini Sinha’s monograph makes thoughtful and original contributions to a whole range of crucial historical themes. It stands at the intersection of several different histories that have rarely been woven together. Imperial discourses on British masculinity are read as evolving and internally contested processes. They are then placed against changing colonial policies and strategies which, again, are made to intersect with the formation of Bengali self-images, produced through discursive struggles with imperial and colonial attitudes. The evolving pattern of historical developments is then traced through specific narratives of colonial administrative history. Each of these areas had been somewhat obscure fields within the historiography of colonial studies and her work adds critical insights as well as important and fascinating new material. What is most striking is that each history is complex and nuanced, and the meshing is done with great skill and clarity" (Tanika Sarkar, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.).