A basic mistake regarding orientalism is the expectation that orientalists will be consistently haughty and disdainful of the ‘Orient’ they describe. The consistency of orientalism lies in its conviction that ‘Orientals’ are better off being ruled by Europeans. Orientalists portray the ‘East’ as static, tyranical, and obscure, but they oftentimes express this discursively established pattern in apparently objective or even sympathetic terms.
There can be no doubt that F.S. Growse’s Mathurá: A District Memoir is a work of orientalist scholarship. Growse was a colonial administrator, and this volume is a work in service of empire. He can be critical of the actual administration of empire, particularly his own transfer out of Mathurá, but he does not seem to doubt in the slightest that Indians are better off under English tutelage.
That said, Growse is not some comic book imperial villain. He shows great curiosity in the culture he finds himself surrounded by and is generally sympathetic in his portrayal of this culture. At times he seems haughty or dismissive, but he usually takes care to note the beauty and truth of particular Hindu doctrines.
Growse is neither ill-informed about nor disdainful of Indian culture, but his sympathy, intelligence, and curiosity do not prevent him from advocating and personally participating in European domination of distant societies.
Cross posted from 113th Street.
