Book Reviews : PARTHA CHATTERJEE and ANJAN GHOSH, eds, History and the Present, Delhi, Perman ent Black, 2002, pp.273

Abstract

While Wickremesekera emphasises European perceptions, he differentiates himself somewhat from scholars of Orientalism (including Edward Said and Ronald Inden) who stressed how Europeans constructed Indian difference based on European-centred cultural concerns. For Wickremesekera, there were ’genuine differences’ (p. 183) between the two military cultures. Further, while Wickremesekera also invokes scholars who highlight dialogue, continuities and collaboration between Indians and Britons (including Irschick and C.A. Bayly), he himself mainly emphasises 3ritish attitudes, with few direct Indian voices. For example, he measures the essential desires of Indian sepoys by the issues they mutinied