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Ghostly Past, Capitalist Presence: A Social History of Fear in Colonial Bengal
Writer : Tithi Bhattacharya
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Order cancellation allowed within 24 hours of placing it. Standard policy not applicable for undamaged/wrong product cases. Detailed info. - Genre : Literature>Novels & Novellas
- Publication Year : 2024
- ISBN No : 978-1478030713
- Binding : No Binding Available
- Pages : 232
- Weight : 499 gms
- Height x Width x Depth : 8.5x5.5x0.5 Inch
MRP : ₹3250.00/-
Discount : 23% Off
Your Price : ₹2487.00/-
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About the Book
Ghostly Past, Capitalist Presence: Haunting the Making of Modern Bengal
In Ghostly Past, Capitalist Presence, Tithi Bhattacharya explores how Bengali ghosts and ghost stories played a crucial role in shaping modern Indian identity amid British colonial rule. She examines how ghosts—once diverse, rooted in multi-faith folk traditions—were gradually replaced by more homogeneous, "rational" specters, reflecting the influence of European science and colonial modernity.
Bhattacharya traces this shift through literature, folklore, and the colonial archive, revealing how:
- British colonization transformed Bengal’s supernatural landscape, aligning it with emerging scientific rationality.
- Traditional ghosts—deeply embedded in local, pluralistic beliefswere expelled by the new upper-caste colonial elite.
- Séance sessions in elite drawing rooms redefined ghosts, turning them into tools of scientific speculation rather than remnants of folk spirituality.
- Hinduism was recast as the moral core of the Indian nation, erasing older supernatural traditions.
Through this lens, Bhattacharya connects colonialism, capitalism, and religion, arguing that ghosts became casualties of modernity, sacrificed to uphold a new national and capitalist order.
A compelling and deeply researched work, Ghostly Past, Capitalist Presence offers a fresh perspective on the entanglement of folklore, power, and modernity in colonial Bengal.