Review: Eurocentrism in World History: A Critique of Its Propagators

Reviewed Work(s): Eight Eurocentric Historians by J. M. Blaut

Review by: Laxman D. Satya
Source: Economic and Political Weekly , May 14-20, 2005, Vol. 40, No. 20 (May 14-20,
2005), pp. 2051-2055
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/4416641

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Economic and Political Weekly is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Economic and Political Weekly

This content downloaded from

103.99.197.128 on Mon, 17 Aug 2020 21:29:00 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Review article

Eurocentrism in World History

A Critique of Its Propagators
intellectual sphere, horror of all unknown according to Weber explained the unique-
Eight Eurocentric Historians things, lack of genuine sympathy and ness of the west as rational, scientific, and
by J M Blaut; warmth, absolute docility, incomparable modem and the east as irrational, super-
The Guilford Press, New York, 2000; dishonesty, and distrust for one another, stitious and traditional. The main Source
pp 228, $ 50. (which stands in sharp contrast to the trust of Weber's prejudice was his ignorance,
and honesty of the faithful brethren in the says Blaut. This ignorance and prejudice
Puritan sects - in Europe)" [ibid:20-21]. laid the foundation of Eurocentric ideology
LAXMAN D SATYA According to Blaut, Weber was a German in the 20th century. Weber's prejudice pre-
social Darwinist who believed that Euro- vented him from the simple understanding
This book systematically dissects eight peans were culturally as well as biologi-that rationality, science, and modernity
well known Eurocentric historians and cally superior to non-Europeans.' could never be a monopoly of any one
thoroughly exposes their biases and pre- society or culture.2 History of civilisations
judices on which presumably most Euro- 'Oriental Despotism' vs the is much more complicated then that.
American scholarship is based. The 'Inventive European' Even though this book focuses on ex-
author's major preoccupation is with posing and demolishing the theory of
comparing Europe and Asia in the context Weber also subscribed to the theory of Eurocentrism, its major preoccupation is
of world history. Blaut pertinently states 'Oriental Despotism'. Supposedly the drywith Asia's contribution to the develop-
at the outset: "It is not Eurocentric to environment of Asia developed a depen- ment of modern Europe. This comes out
prefer European music to other music, dency or on irrigation agriculture. The state clearly in Blaut' s critique of Lynn White's
European cuisine to other cuisine. It built is on such a dependency must be des-'Inventive European' thesis (1962, 1982).
Eurocentric to make the claim that Euro-potic and undemocratic. Asians were White is taken to task for stating that
peans are more inventive, innovative, therefore unprogressive because 'orientalmedieval Europeans invented the iron
progressive, noble, courageous, and so on, despots' ruled their societies. The fact thatstirrup, heavy metal plow, horse collar,
than every other group of people: or that agriculture in Asia did not depend solelyand the three-field system of crop rotation.
Europe as a place has a more healthy, on irrigation but also on rain-fed farmingFirstly, the heavy plough was not invented
productive, stimulating environment was totally ignored by Weber. Further,in Europe. D D Kosambi, the eminent
than other places" [Blaut:4]. Blaut pre- "irrigation came to be used in most partshistorian of ancient India has established
sents a detailed definition of the term of Asia not because the land was too dry(1965) the fact that heavy plows drawn
'Eurocentrism' in the very first page to ofsupport agriculture but because irriga-by as many as twenty-four oxen were in
the book. Accordingly, Eurocentric theo- tion intensified food production", arguesuse in northern India during the time of
rists have advanced four main factors to Blaut [Blaut:22]. Most early irrigationthe Buddha in the fifth and sixth century
explain why the west grew richer and moresystems in Asia were small in scale and before Christ. Similarly, the open field
powerful than all other societies. They are: controlled by either villages or inter-system whereby agricultural land is
religion, race, environment, and culture.village councils and not by overarchingopened and cultivated by cooperative and
Blaut launches his opening strike onstate structure. "So the idea that the techno-communal method of decision making by
Max Weber. the godfather of all Euro- logy of irrigation somehow calls into beingvillagers was also not a European in-
centric scholars in the 20th century. a despotic government is a false causalnovation. There is more then enough
According to Weber, 'rationality' is theargument" [Blaut: 141]. evidence to show that it had existed in
monopoly of European society. All other On the development of systematic cul-primitive times in central Asia. The horse-
societies were basically irrational. Africans ture, Weber was rather blunt. Arguingcollar was first experimented on camels
were plainly inferior as "Negroes are along neo-Kantian and Hegelian lines, in central Asia before it was successfully
unsuitable for factory work and the op- Weber maintained that religious sects inused on horses in China. Joseph Needham
eration of machines". Native Americans India fell short of developing a systematicin his monumental study of Science and
were "unsuitable for plantation labour." theology unlike Christianity and thatCivilisation in China (1954) has claimed
As for the Asians, Weber believed that geometry in ancient India had no rationalthat the modem horse collar has been in
Chinese have "striking lack of nerves, proof unlike Greek mechanics and phys-use in China for centuries before its
strong attachment to the habitual, toler- ics. Similarly "the highly developed his- appearance in Europe.3
ance for monotony, slowness in reacting torical scholarship of China did not have Quite early in its historical past, China
to unusual stimuli, especially in the the method of Thucydides" [ibid:25]. Thishad successfully built and maintained

Economic and Political Weekly May 14, 2005 2051

This content downloaded from

103.99.197.128 on Mon, 17 Aug 2020 21:29:00 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
canals for large-scale movement of grains trade between Europe, Asia, and Africa development of early industries in Europe
on boats at very economical rates. This was and instead argues that capitalism beganin the late 18th century [Blaut 1993].
at a time when Europeans still moved to diffuse outward to the rest of the world
Europeans used the tools of these early
goods on horses and ox drawn carriages, after its birth in north-western Europe.industries to subjugate and physically
even though it would have been relatively Without having any knowledge of Asiacolonise
or Asia and Africa in the 19th and
easier and cheaper to build canals in rest of the world, Brenner has come to the20th century. So by making a case for
northern Europe. However, no innovation Eurocentric conclusion that rest of the world
inherent superiority of Europeans over
took place in Europe until very late in its received the light of capitalism from others, Jones is not only promoting
history. There is no doubt that the canal Europe. Eurocentric racism, but also falsifying
technology came to Europe from China. According to Blaut (p 74), the 1981 history.
Lynn White, seeped in the prejudice of book The European Miracle by Eric L
Eurocentric blindness has failed to notice Jones "marked a watershed in modern
Europe vs the Rest
this important fact of world history and Eurocentric history writing". Subsequently,
continued to believe until his death that this notorious phrase became the catchall Another historian who assumes the per-
moder science and technology was dis- for all Eurocentric historians ever since. petual superiority of Europe over rest of
tinctively occidental. "It is a Eurocentric
Even though Jones ( 1981) denigrates every the world is Michael Mann. According to
society in comparison to 'peculiarly inven-him, civilisation originated in ancient
tunnel of history that quite ignores the past
of non-European civilisations. Enough tiveis and progressive Europeans', his worstMesopotamia and marched westward to its
now known about the history of Chinese, nemesis is Asia. Using a blatantly racist
last stop, northern-western Europe (1986,
language, Jones condemns Asians across
Indian, and Islamic science to make it very 1988) "At the end of all these processes
clear that European science and techno- stood one medium-sized, wet-soil island
the board as being 'servile, lazy, uncre-
ative' and preferring 'copulation...over
logy was in no way superior to them... Each state, perfectly situated...fortake-off: Great
civilisation had special flair in one orcommodities' [Blaut:74-75]. Conse- Britain" argues Mann (Blaut p 122). Dis-
another branch of science and technology, quently, the poverty and degradation of covery of iron is what propelled this
Asian societies is an inherent and perma-
but none was truly in advance of the others. 'Occidental Express' or 'Oriental Express'
Indeed, most of the ideas were shared. nent characteristic and has therefore noth- going on a westbound track. "Greece is an
Massive criss-cross diffusion of ideas, ing to do with European colonialism. Ir- important station on this 'Occident
traits, inventions, skills, and skill-bearers rational preoccupation with copulation and Express'...providing history with demo-
took place throughout the eastern hemi- population growth has kept Asians fromcracy..." Blaut states that, Mann does not
sphere during the middle ages, and all of developing economically. In comparison, want to confront the well-documented fact
the major civilisations tended, in this aspect Europeans were intellectually rational and that "iron plows were used in Asia... earlier
of culture, to share a common evolution... thus free from Malthusian disasters. Jones than, in 'Iron-Age Europe'. Blaut also
The idea that non-Europeans do not be- ignores the historical evidence that "Asian questions the democratic credentials of
lieve in progress, either as a matter of civilisations were indeed on a par with or ancient Greece. "A society in which the
culture or as one of religion, is quite false" even well ahead of European ones" in majority are slaves is not a democracy, no
[Blaut:41-42]. standard of living and per capita energy matter how much equality there is among
output [ibid:77]. Birth control was not its elite minority (of males)." Mann is
uniquely a European practice. It was in fact taken to task for failing to take notice of
The European Miracle
practiced by all societies in one form or the much documented fact "of contempo-
Blaut also challenges the Eurocentric another: Therefore population was really rary oligarchy-democracy experiments else-
views of Euro-Marxists like Robert not a problem in Asia in terms of food where (for example, in northern India)"
Brenner's (1985) claim that capitalism availability.
first But Jones still holds on to the [Blautp 115, 16]. The historians of ancient
originated in Europe and that long thediscarded myth that the environment India have established conclusively that
colonisation of Asia and Africa was not has a bearing on human energy output. there were republics and kingdoms
significant to the development of capita- Blaut argues that the technological in- ('Mahajanpadas') flourishing in the
lism. Ignoring the histories of the world
ventions that Jones associates with Europe Gangetic valley and northern Deccan
outside Europe is a serious lacuna in thewere actually developed elsewhere. For during thetimeofBuddha.5 In fact, Buddha
Euro-Marxist perspectives. Accordingly, example, the origins of wind mill, water himself was from the republics of Malla
mill, clocks, cannon, and the printing press and Licchavi [Kosambi 1965:109]. There-
socialism will rise in the European heart-
land and can never rise in the "...back- have been well documented and traced to fore, Mann's 'WESTWARD HO!' type of
ward, laggard, and late-maturing third either ancient China or Korea and not history needs to be rejected in favour of
world" [ibid:46]. The Euro-Marxists dis- mediaeval Europe as surmised by Jonesa in more historically accurate interpretation.
claim Wallerstein and Gundre Frank's the European Miracle. The reason why Furthermore, his imagery of rural Europe
Industrial Revolution did not happen as
proposition that the events outside Europe ina land "...of small groups of peasants
have been crucial in the social develop- Asia was not so much because Europeans and lords,standing looking at their fields,
ment of Europe.4 Therefore, the world were somehow inherently inventive and tools and animals, figuring out how to
superior but because the European
outside Europe according to Brenner "...did improve them. with their backs to the
not become underdeveloped as a result colonisation
of and exploitation of Asia and world", is not only comic but also false
European imperialism" [ibid:47]. To sup- Americas put enormous resources inatits depiction of the existence of a bond
port his 'European origin of capitalism' their disposal. This exploitation of the of brotherhood between serfs and their
thesis, Brenner ignores the late medievalcolonies and its people was central to the feudal masters [Blaut: 121].

2052 Economic and Political Weekly May 14, 2005

This content downloaded from

103.99.197.128 on Mon, 17 Aug 2020 21:29:00 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 For John A Hall, the whole world is Fascism and Nazism. "Today almost all argument of Europe's cultural superiority
hierarchical while Europe is egalitarian. Eurocentric theories of history argue that over rest of the world. He combines this by
China is branded 'imperial'; India as environment and culture have jointly stating that Europe also possessed superior
steeped in 'caste hierarchy'; and Islam in worked to produce Europe's superiority or geographical features compared to China.
'pastoralism'. We are told that, 'oriental' priority in history" (ibid, p 149). Euro- "Europe had a highly indented coastline,
religions and despots 'blocked' the deve- environmentalism is an ingrown branch of with five large peninsulas that approach
lopment of free enterprise system in Asia Eurocentric history writing today. Histo- islands in their isolation... China's coast-
while Christianity encouraged it in rians of this sub-school argue that what line is much smoother. Europe is carved
Europe. Therefore, it was but natural for makes Europe superior is its geographical up by high mountains (the Alps, Pyrenees,
capitalism to evolve in Europe and not in location and its temperate environment. Carpathians, and Norwegian border moun-
Asia. Oriental empires and despotic rulers The 1997 Pulitzer Prize winning book. tains), while China's mountains east of the
stifled economic development of cities as Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Tibetan Plateau are much less formidable
commercial centres. Countering John Human Societies by Jared Diamond barriers" (ibid, p 167). So physical geo-
Hall's Eurocentrism, Blaut argues that, "in strongly promotes this view of world graphy was the main reason why Europe
fact the urban economy of pre-moder history. What he calls 'A Natural Experi- evolved a superior culture then China.
China was always massive and vibrant, ment', by which the environment deter- This superior culture gave Europe its ulti-
long-distance trade as well as local ex- mined Europe as the final winner of the mate hegemony in the world. China was
change was of immense importance, the civilisational race for supremacy in his- centralised under oriental despotism while
merchant community was omnipresent and tory. The Mediterranean climate, i e, hot, Europe remained decentralised and deve-
sometimes shared personnel with the dry summers and mild winters with rainfall loped diverse cultures out of which sprung
imperial bureaucracy..." (ibid, p 130). So concentrated in the winter month's, ulti- democracy.
the picture of China that is painted by Hall mately determined Europe's superiority According to Blaut, Diamond exagger-
is thoroughly distorted. With regard to over all other societies. The wheat and ates the role of geography in shaping
European culture. The development of
India, Hall readily adopts the myth perpe- millet based agriculture, which eventually
trated by the British colonisers that caste developed in the temperate mid-latitude
diverse cultures in Europe into states had
hierarchy was central to Indian society. zone of Europe and China were far supe- nothing really to do with its topography.
"The boundaries of most of these states
Even if one agrees with this distorted view rior to all other cereal and grain crops
of India, how would it be any different because of higher protein content. While do not reflect topographical barriers, and
most of their cultural cores are not eco-
from the hierarchy promoted by the papacy other grains such as rice, maize, and sor-
and the Roman Catholic Church in logical cores. The idea that the pattern of
ghum are poor in protein and rich in starch,
Europe? [Beteille 1979:529-48]. Similarly, multiple states somehow favoured demo-
the people who do not have access to wheat
Hall condemns Islam as despotic and and millet are not properly nourished cracy
hostile and is a misconception: each of these
therefore lag behind in cultural develop-
to the development of science, technology, states was as despotic as - probably much
trade and commerce. Nothing could mentbe [Blaut:156]. more despotic than - China...." (ibid,
more distorted then the fact that Eurasia
early is supposedly on an 'east-west' p 169). There is now a huge body of lit-
Islamic scholars and merchants from the axis in relation to other continents with erature that systematically questions every
Abbasid era actually rescued and revived 'north-south' axis. East-west axis providedEurocentric explanation for the rise of the
the ancient Greek learning, transferred and for a rapid diffusion of technology be- west.6 Diamond ignores all this scholar-
developed the ideas of mathematics, as- tween Europe and China because of the ship and views the matter of European
tronomy, medicine, geometry, algebra, absence of geographic barriers. Compara- supremacy as settled. In fact,China did not
anatomy, and other sciences from India tively, Africa and America do not have this really fall behind Europe in technology
and China to the rest of Afro-Eurasia. advantage because of its north-south axis until the late 18th century, when
Trade and commerce flourished without intercepted by insurmountable geographic Europeans and Americans systematically
hindrance for centuries in the great Islamicbarriers that prevented the free diffusion 'injected' opium into China [Hsu 2000:
urban centres of Damascus, Baghdad, of ideas and technology. Therefore ac- Chapter 7, 8].
Cairo, Isfahan, etc, and the universal cording to Diamond, "Europe and China Almost any tropical region with distinct
egalitarian appeal in the rise of Islam is were fated to be the winners in the world- dry and wet seasons is potentially suited
a well-documented fact [Shaban 1970; von wide historical competition, because of for most of the major cereals domesticated
Grunebaum 1970; Hodgson 1974; Burke their environmental advantages (ibid, 165). in temperate Eurasia. Diamond's design-
1993]. Therefore John Hall's Eurocentric However, the ultimate winner in this raceation of wheat and millet culture of Europe
belief in 'oriental despotism' needs to be is Europe because of certain 'proximate' or China, as somehow superior to other
rejected. Hall's blanket premise that pri- cultural factors that Europe possessed andgeographical regions is actually overstated.
vate property rights in land were absent China lacked. "The proximate factors Because there are other regions in the
in Asia, simply suggests his total lack of behind Europe's rise are its developmentworld such as northern and central India
knowledge of Asian history [Blaut: 145]. of a merchant class, capitalism, and patent where wheat and millet has been grown
protection for invention, its failure to for centuries and which also fit very well
The Geography Factor develop absolute despots and crushing in the Diamond's model of agricultural
taxation, and its Greco-Judeo-Christian production [Chattopadhyaya 1988;
The contemporary Eurocentric scholar- tradition of empirical inquiry." So Dia- Ghoshal 1973; Bhasham 1954; Bose 1967;
ship has dropped race and religion from mond also in the end presents nothing Das 1944; Kosambi 1990]. But Diamond
its agenda because of its association with new other then the classical Eurocentric has either ignored this fact or is ignorant

Economic and Political Weekly May 14, 2005 2053

This content downloaded from

103.99.197.128 on Mon, 17 Aug 2020 21:29:00 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
of it. As an example, the Cape of Good seriously as a historian. This is becauseplaces Europe before Asia and rest of the
Hope "remained a region of pastoralism Landes openly espouses colonialism, world in most world history curricula of
until Europeans arrived" [Blaut:158-59] imperialism, and racism by unabashedlyEuro-American academia. The time-
and introduced temperate agriculture to justifying European domination as neces- frame and spatial reach of the book
civilise it, states Diamond. However, sary precondition for the economic deve-encompasses the entire globe and all time
"Diamond seems not to know that he is lopment of the modern world. He is thusperiods, i e, ancient, medieval, and
accepting here a large part of the historic advocating the 'civilising mission' ideo- modem. As stated earlier, tht comparison
myth used to justify apartheid" in South logy promoted by European imperialistsbetween Europe and Asia is the major
Africa (ibid. p 159). Therefore, Guns, and colonialists in the 1-9th and 20th preoccupation of this book. The context
Germs. and Steel. is not presenting any- centuries. Consequently, Asia and Africa of course is European colonialism, im-
thing new but "inserting old and discred- could not have modernised or progressed perialism, and racism, not only physically
ited theories of environmental determin- without western colonisation [Landes but also more importantly in the writing
ism. That is bad science," according to1998]. According to Blaut, Landes is a of history. It squarely exposes the intense
Blaut (p 190). Here another fact can be pure and simple Eurocentric racist who prejudice that exists in Euro-American
added to Blaut's thesis that geographically vehemently wants to recreate colonialism mass media. educational system, and
and culturally, Europe is not very differentand imperialism. Hence Blaut's 9th Chap- culture even to this day.
from south-east Asia and India. South-east ter is humorously titled: 'David Landes: The main ideas and arguments of the
Asia also has an irregular coastline, highThe Empire Strikes Back'. book are easy to follow. Blaut nicely lays
and low mountains and plateaus, penin- In the final chapter of the book, Blaut out the basic premises of Eurocentrism
sulas and islands while the Indian subcon- makes some very interesting observations. right in the beginning. Discussion of the
tinent can boast of evolving a rich diversityApparently, most western historians seem definition of Eurocentrism makes for a
of cultures.7 So to say that Europe is to share some of the Eurocentric views good starting point. Since most Euro-
somehow geographically and culturally consciously or subconsciously in their centric historians share many ideas in
'unique and incomparable' is a far cry ofwriting. There also seems to be a "model
common, the readers will find it fairly easy
Eurocentrism. of world history that is widely accepted
to grasp their arguments. In fact there is
Finally. Blaut dismisses David Landestoday, and it is not free of Eurocentric
an entire chapter (10) devoted to this and
as a 'myth maker', who cannot to be takenerrors" (Blaut, p 205). And this model
sarcastically titled: 'Thirty Reasons Why

-:' a . .. ~A SOUTH ASIAN REPRINT! . 2005

'| ~DOING YOUR MASTERS DISSERTATIO
_?-it e Ia SS r - Realizing Your Potential as a Social Sc
(paper)
CHRIS HART
Vistaar

If you are about to embark on your Masters dissertation but don't quite know where to Publication
begin, then this is just the book for you. For, it will show you just how to write an Originally pri
excellent dissertation. A clear and comprehensive guide to the practicalities of ? 60.00 (cloth)
researching, preparing and writing a Masters dissertation, the book also includes materials ? 19.99 (pap
and comments aimed at engendering higher-level scholarship based on reflection,
contemplation and critical thinking. The author includes numerous examples and
illustrations on how to tackle both the technical and the intellectual aspects of
constructing a dissertation.

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO DOING RESEARCH * 2005

ZINA O'LEARY * 240-pages
. Rs 350.00
This book is a comprehensive and practical guide to understanding and embarking (
upon social science research. Adopting an accessible and logical approach, the book Vst
encourages students to understand, think about, and engage with every aspect of doing P
research. It is designed to encourage lateral, strategic and creative thinking, while
providing the essential knowledge and skills needed to undertake research. The author Ori
covers all aspects of doing research, from conceptualization and design to 60.00
? 18.99 (paper)!
implementation and dissemination.

SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B-42, Panchsheel Enclave, Post Box 4109, New Delhi 110 017, Tel: 2649
e-mail: delhi @ indiasage.com * Ground Floor, 59/5, Prince Baktiar Shah Road, Tollygunge, Kolkata 700 033, Tel: 24172
e-mail: kolkata indiasage.com * 11, Saravana Street, T Nagar, Chennai 600 017, Tel: 24345822,24348132,24326265; e-mail-
* 31, LB Stadium, Post Box 131, Hyderabad 500 001, Tel: 23231447, 23230674; e-mail: hyderabad@indiasage.co
Shivajinagar, Off Ghole Road, Pune 411 005, Tel: 25513407, 25513408; e-mail: pune@indiasage.com

2054 Economic and Political Weekly May 14, 2005

This content downloaded from

103.99.197.128 on Mon, 17 Aug 2020 21:29:00 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Europeans Are Better Than Everyone Else interesting subject: S Mukerji 1969, Romila Ghoshal, U N (1973): The Agrarian System in
Thapar 1990. and D N Jha 1998. Ancient India, Saraswat Library, Kolkata.
(A Checklist).' This chapter provides a list
6 See the works of scholars: Janet Abu-Lughod, Hodgson, Marshall G S (1974): The Venture of
of all Eurocentric ideas along with the Samir Amin, M Bernal, K N Chaudhuri, Andre Islam: Conscience and History in a World
historians associated with those ideas.
Gundre Frank, Kenneth Pomeranz, Civilisation, University of Chicago Press,
However, every chapter has sharp quota-R Champakalakshmi, A Giraldez. D Flynn, Chicago.
tions and terminologies, which are perti-
J Goldstone, Jack Goody, Irfan Habib,Hsu,
Dharma
Immanuel C Y (2000): The Rise of Modern
nently placed. The catch phrases such as:
Kumar, G Kuppurum, K Kumudamani, LeChina, Roy Oxford University Press, New York.
Ladurie, F Perlin. Victor Purcell, Edward Jha.Said,
D N (1998): Ancient India in Historical
'The European Miracle': 'Westward Ho':
'The Tunnel of Time'; 'Occidental Ex- R S Sharma, Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Outline, Manohar, New Delhi.
L Subramanian, J C Van Leur, F Venturi, Wu Jones, E L (1981): The European Miracle:
press': 'Oriental Despotism': The Empire Gung Wang, A Watson, etc.
Environments, Economies, and Geopolitics in
Strikes Back', etc, instantly attracts the
7 Numerous works have appeared on this theme the History of Europe and Asia, Cambridge
attention of readers. The book is fairly easy of south Asian history. Here are two of the more University Press, Cambridge.
to read and written for a non-specialist recent books: Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal,Kangle, R P (undated): Kautilya's Arthashastra,
audience. m Modern South Asia: History, Culture. and 3 volumes, Bombay University Press,
Political Economy (Routledge: London. 1998. Mumbai.
chapters 1-3); and Herman Kulke and Dietmar Kosambi, D D (1965): Ancient India: A History
Email: lsatya_99@yahoo.com Rothermund, A History of India (New Delhi: of ts Culture and Civilisation, Pantheon Book,
Rupa and Co. 1994. introduction). New York.
Notes
- (1990): An Introduction to the Study of Indian
References History, Popular Prakashan, Mumbai.
1 For a full exposition of his ideas see the fol-
Kulke, Herman and Dietmar Rothermund (1994):
lowing works: Max Weber, The Religion of
Baber, Zaheer (1996): The Science of Empire:
A History of India, Rupa and Co, New Delhi.
China: Confucianism and Taoism (Glencoe,
IL: Free Press, 1951); The Protestant Ethics Scientific Knowledge, Civilisation, andLandes, David (1998): The Wealth and Poverty
and the Spirit of Capitalism (New York:
Colonial Rule in India, Oxford University
of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some
Press. Delhi. So Poor, Norton, New York.
Scribner, 1958): and The Agrarian Socio-
Beteille, Andre (1979): 'Homo Hierarchicus andMann, Michael (1988): 'European Development
logy of'Ancient Civilisations (London: NLB,
1976). Homo Equalis' in Modern Asian Studies, Approaching a Historical Explanation' in
2 Enormous research has been done to prove that
Volume 13, Number 4, pp 529-48. J Baechler, M Mann andJ A Hall (eds), Europe
Bhasham, A L (1954): The Wonder That Was and the Rise of Capitalism, Blackwell, Oxford,
rationality and science has flourished not just
in ancient Greece or Europe but in all major
India, Sidgwick and Jackson, London. pp 6-19.
Blaut. J M (1993): The Coloniser's Model of
- (1986): The Sources of Social Power: Volume 1,
societies and civilisations of the world. A few
the World: Geographical Diffusionism and A History of Powerfrom the Beginning to AD
examples of such scholarship from India alone
will suffice here. See the following works: Eurocentric History, The Guilford Press, 1760, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
B D Chattopadhyaya, Lokayata: A Study in
New York. Mukerji, S (1954): The Republican Trends in
Ancient Indian Materialism (New Delhi: - (2000): Eight Eurocentric Historians, The Ancient India, Munshiram Manoharlal. Delhi.
Guilford Press, New York. Needham, Joseph ( 1954): Science and Civilisation
People's Publishing House. 1967); and History
of Science and Technology in Ancient Bose, A N (1967): Social and Rural Economy
India in China, Cambridge University Press,
(Calcutta: Firma KLM. 1991); R P Kangle, of North India: 600 BC-AD 200. Kolkata. Cambridge.
Bose, Sugata and Ayesha Jalal (1998): Modern
(ed), Kai4tilya's Arthashastra, 3 volumes -(1962): Science and Civilisation in China: Vol 4,
South Asia: History, Culture, Political
(Bombay: Bombay University Press. 1965); Part I, Physics and Physical Technology:
Economy, Routledge, London.
and Zaheer Baber, The Science of Empire: Physics. Cambridge University Press,
Brenner,
Scientific Knowledge, Civilisation, and Robert (1985): 'The Agrarian Roots of Cambridge.
European Capitalism' in Ashton and Philips - (1965): Science and Civilisation in China: Vol
Colonlial Rule in India (Delhi: Oxford University
(eds), The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class
Press, 1996) surveys the development of science 4, Part 2, Physics and Physical Technology:
Structure and Economic Development in Pre-
and technology from ancient times to the British Mechanical Engineering, Cambridge
colonial era. Industrial Europe. Cambridge University University Press, Cambridge.
3 See Joseph Needham, Scienzce and Civilisation Press, Cambridge, pp 213-328. Shaban, M A (1970): The Abbasid Revolution,
in China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Burke. III, Edmond (ed) (1993): Rethinking World State University of New York Press. Albany,
Press, 1954). Needham has written several History, Cambridge University Press, NY.

volumes dealing with almost every aspect of Cambridge. Thapar, Romila (1990): A History of India,
science and technology in China from ancient Chattopadhyaya, B D (1967): Lokayata: A Study Volume 1, Penguin Books, London.
times. He also suggests that there has been a in Ancient Indian Materialism, People's von Grunebaum, G E (1970): Classical Islam
steady exchange of ideas and information on Publishing House, New Delhi. Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago.
medicine and mathematics between China and - (1991): History of Science and Technology in Wallerstein, Immanuel (1980): The Modern World
India during ancient and medieval times. See Ancient India, Firma KLM, Kolkata. System, Volume 2, Academic Press, New York.
the bibliography for more references. - (1988): Essays in Ancient Indian Economic Weber, Max (1951): The Religion of China:
4 See Andre Gundre Frank, WorldAccumulation, History, Munshi Ram Manohar Lal Publishers, Confucianism and Taoism, Free Press,
1492-1789 (New York: Monthly Review New Delhi. Glencoe, IL.
Press, 1978); and ReORIENT: Global Economy Das, Santosh Kumar( 1944): The Economic History - (1958): The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of
in the Asian Age (Berkeley: University of of Ancient India, Howrah. Kolkata. Capitalism, Scribner, New York.
California Press, 1998); Immanuel Wallerstein, Diamond, Jared (1997): Guns, Germs, and Steel: - (1962): The Agrarian Sociology of Ancient
The Modern World System, Volume 2 The Fates of Human Societies, Norton, New Civilisations, NLB, London.
(New York: Academic Press, 1980). Wallerstein York. White, Jr. Lynn (1962): Medieval Telchnology
has written voluminously developing the 'core-Frank, Andre Gundre(1978): WorldAccumulation, and Social Change, Oxford University Press,
periphery' thesis arguing that Europe (core) 1492-1789, Monthly Review Press, New York. London.
steadily advanced by exploiting resources and - (1998): ReORIENT: Global Economy in the - (1982): Machina Ex Deo: Essays in the
labour from rest of the world (periphery). Asian Age, University of California Press, Dynamism of Western Culture, MA: MIT Press,
5 See the works of following historians on this Berkeley. Cambridge.

Economic and Political Weekly May 14, 2005 2055

This content downloaded from

103.99.197.128 on Mon, 17 Aug 2020 21:29:00 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms