Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The colonial city in the postcolonial era

2014; Routledge; Volume: 15; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14649373.2014.871775

1469-8447

Partha Chatterjee,

Global Maritime and Colonial Histories

AbstractThe Black Hole of Calcutta was once known throughout the English-speaking world as a dark dungeon in which many European prisoners were suffocated to death by an Indian ruler. A monument was built in Calcutta in 1760 to commemorate this event, but it was pulled down in 1821. It was rebuilt by the viceroy Curzon in 1902 in the era of high imperialism. But Indian nationalists had the monument removed in 1940. This essay looks at the ideological history of empire in the last 250 years by tracing the travels of this monument in a postcolonial city. It shows that academic history and popular memory have a strong influence on each other.Keywords: British EmpirecolonialismIndian nationalismpostcolonial monuments AcknowledgementThe talk was given in the “Asian Circle of Thought 2012 Shanghai Summit,” October 12–19, held in Shanghai, China, organized by Inter-Asia School and 2012 Shanghai Biennale, with the general theme “World in Transition, Imagination in Flux.” I am grateful to all those who participated in the discussion.Notes1 One careful estimate puts the population of the town in 1750 at 120,000 (Ray Citation1902).2 They added: “ … You can't be insensible the Mogull is daily drawing nearer his end which will very probably give birth to many Intestine Commotions before his Successor be quietly Settled in his Throne during which time all Rich Unfortified Places will be a tempting bait to those perfidious people” (“General Letter from the Court to Bengal” Citation1906).3 The French at Chandannagar heard that the English “have put all their money on the ships they have, on which also they have embarked all the women, and that in this state they are waiting for the Nawab” (“Letter from Council” Citation1905).4 Account of the loss of Calcutta by Grey, Junior, June 1756, in Hill (Citation1905a, 107–108).5 John Zephania Holwell (Citation1758) A Genuine Narrative of the Deplorable Deaths of the English Gentlemen, and Others, Who Were Suffocated in the Black-Hole in Fort William, in Calcutta, in the Kingdom of Bengal. All quotations of Holwell's narrative used here are from this source.6 I do not think, therefore, as Betty Joseph suggests, that Holwell writes from a position usually reserved for women and children in, for instance, North American captivity narratives. There is a fundamental difference between the image of the Native American “savage” and that of the despotic Moor. Holwell's avowed position seems to me to be that of the scientifically knowledgeable and morally disciplined European male, fully in control of his body and mind and able to strategically deploy his resources even in the most adverse conditions. This is where he would claim cultural superiority over his ignorant and undisciplined countrymen as well as the rich and powerful but innately tyrannical Moors. See Joseph (Citation2004, 67).7 Calcutta Journal, April 6, 1821 (cited in Busteed [Citation1888, 47]).8 Thomas Babington Macaulay (Citation1946) Critical and Historical Essays, vol. 1. All quotations from Macaulay used here are from this source.Additional informationAuthor's biographyPartha Chatterjee is Professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies, Columbia University, New York, USA, and Honorary Professor, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, India. Among his many books are Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World (1986), The Nation and its Fragments (1993), The Politics of the Governed (2004), Lineages of Political Society (2011) and The Black Hole of Empire (2012).