Indian stagnation predates and survives colonialism’s limited destructiveness

Evidence

Some fundamental aspects of decadence and stagnation are acknowledged to be much older than colonialism itself; these aspects are not dissolved into the comforting category of the ‘colonial legacy’ Meanwhile, colonialism itself is recognized as having come and gone without destroying ‘the stagnating and decadent society’; colonialism’s potential for constructive destruction was, after all, very limited. Finally, Namboodripad emphasizes that same tie between class and caste in India which we have noted above in the case of Marx and Ambedkar. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 1077

Categorization

• XREF: Aligned with Ahmad’s anti-discourse-determinist materialism: caste-class structure is the load-bearing economic base, not the colonial encounter. — connects to: Pre-colonial Indian society changed along distinct, slower paths than Europe — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 1037; British colonialism resolved India’s eighteenth-century crisis without a revolution — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 436

Broader Connections

• British colonialism resolved India’s eighteenth-century crisis without a revolution #complicates (0.78) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 436