Pre-colonial Indian society changed along distinct, slower paths than Europe
Evidence
The notion of significant changes in pre-colonial India’s economy and society is a recent entrant in Indian historiography; and no hard effort is called for ro explain Marx’s ignorance of ir. Yet the significant difference implied by Marx in the pace and nature of changes in pre-colonial Indian society vis-a-vis premodern Europe remains an important pointer ro the different paths of development that those societies have followed for entering into the modern world. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 1037
Categorization
- XREF: Poignant to the reader’s pursuit of material structures over discourse: distinct structural-development paths are the ground Ahmad says postcolonial discourse-determinism obscures. — connects to: Indian stagnation predates and survives colonialism’s limited destructiveness — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 1077; Traditional societies resembled each other more than modern societies do; Pre-modern societies underwent change without experiencing it as accelerated rupture — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 409
Broader Connections
- Pre-modern societies underwent change without experiencing it as accelerated rupture
#expands(0.90) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 409 - Indian stagnation predates and survives colonialism’s limited destructiveness
#complicates(0.80) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 1077 - Traditional societies resembled each other more than modern societies do
#expands(0.75)