The Library

Colonial gifts : family politics and the exchange of goods in British India, c.1780 –1820

Tools

Finn, Margot C.. (2006) Colonial gifts : family politics and the exchange of goods in British India, c.1780 –1820. Modern Asian Studies, Vol.40 (No.1). pp. 203-231. ISSN 0026-749X

Preview

PDF
WRAP_Finn_download.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
Download (158Kb)

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X06001739

Abstract

This paper situates Anglo-Indian gifts within a spectrum of emotionally-charged exchange mechanisms through which material objects circulated in British India. At one end of this spectrum was the market, perhaps best exemplified by the public auctions at which the personal possessions of deceased Anglo-Indians were sold to any buyer who could pay the purchase price set at probate. At the other end of the spectrum of exchange were gifts, commissions and bequests, forms of exchange that offered the British colonial elite mechanisms for combating the powerful centrifugal forces that operated within Anglo-Indian families—most notably disease, death and distance.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DS Asia D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts > History
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	British -- India -- History, India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947, Ceremonial exchange -- India -- History
Journal or Publication Title:	Modern Asian Studies
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0026-749X
Date:	9 March 2006
Volume:	Vol.40
Number:	No.1
Page Range:	pp. 203-231
Identification Number:	10.1017/S0026749X06001739
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/307