Ryan Perkins: London, Lucknow and the Global Indian City c. 1857-1920

Date
Mon February 1st 2016, 12:00pm
Event Sponsor
Center for South Asia
Location
Encina Hall West Room 219
Ryan Perkins: London, Lucknow and the Global Indian City c. 1857-1920

When Abdul Halim Sharar (1860-1926) set sail for England to ensure the Eton College-bound son of Viqar-ul Omrah (Prime Minister of the Nizam of Hyderabad, 1894-1901) received an Indo-Islamic education, it was Sharar’s first foray outside of India.  Like many previous Indian travelers he found his experiences to be eye-opening.  Inspired by his sojourns in England, Italy, France, and Spain, he serially published his travelogues upon returning to India in 1896.  Providing examples of the failures and successes of industrialization, such accounts were evocative in their detail.  They provided middle class Indians with global and historical perspectives of the changes brought by colonialism, industrialization, and urbanization in cities throughout Europe and India.  Drawing from Sharar’s travelogues, and other travelers’ accounts of the period, this essay examines the ways in which Indians increasingly imagined their cities in conversation with and in relationship to other global cities.