Tværkulturelle og Regionale Studier > Forskning > Komparative > Igangværende forskningsprojekter > Danish colonialism in ...
Danish colonialism in India: The encounter with Indian commercial and agrarian traditions
Research project by Esther Fihl
Praktikant Simon Rastén, se praktikbeskrivelse
The project is part of the Tranquebar Initiativ e of the Danish National Museum and also part of Galathea3
Project abstract
The Danish-Norwegian colony Tranquebar was established in 1620 on the southern Coromandel Coast in India as headquarters for the Danish expansion in Asia, parallel to and following the examples of especially the Dutch and English merchants. In the prevailing historical research, Danish colonialism in India is related primarily to the contemporary Danish or European context of expansion and to questions mainly on the profitability of the colonial trade and the relationship between the Danish and the other European colonial powers in India.
In contrast, and as a supplement to this perspective, my project concentrates on an investigation also from the perspectives of the pre-colonial and colonial Tamil society and culture. I explore the cosmological and practical implications resulting from the activities of Nordic colonial administers and traders in India , especially in Tranquebar. First, what were the local socio-economic and cultural conditions for the establishment of the Danish-Norwegian colonialism in India and next, what kind of local social and cultural processes of change were initiated in the area through the colonial activities? Who were the social agents or players who welcomed the foreign merchants, and why and what kind of cosmological and practical strategies did the Indian and the Danes/Norwegians, respectively, follow in the cultural encounter? How did they establish categories of “cultural otherness” in this process and how did these perceptions influence daily life in the colony? Is it possible to establish paradigmatic shifts in the European/Danish representations of India from the beginning of the 17th century until the end of the Nordic colonial adventure in India in 1845?
This project is formulated as part of the large project “The Tranquebar Initiative of the National Museum of Denmark ”.