In Those Days There was No Coffee: Writings in Cultural HistoryThe essays fall into two distinct sections. The essays in the first section contribute to an as yet unwritten history of consumption in colonial India. Taking up both material (coffee, tea and tobacco) and cultural (the cartoon, the city and modern literature) artefacts, the first five chapters explore how these were consumed in colonial Tamil society. The chapters in teh second part, broadly concerned with the politics of language, literature and identity in colonial Tamilnadu, make an important contribution to the cultural history of the Dravidian movement. A historical exploration of how the Tamil literary canon was constructed leads to chapters on the ways in which this canon was used to construct identity. The author draws from sources as varied as poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, comment, advertisemnet, and notices to bring to life a rich and vibrant cultural history. As authoritative as they are captivating, the nine essays in the volume represent another valuable addition to the small corpus of history titles which also qualify as accomplished writing. |
Contents
In Those Days There Was No Coffee | 11 |
Coining Words | 30 |
Triumph of Tobacco | 32 |
Copyright | |
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associated autobiography Bharati Brahmins C.N. Annadurai called canon cartoons caste century chapter Chennai claim classics coffee coining collected colonial condemned Conference considered critical cultural Delhi Dravidian earlier early edition elite English especially essay expressed fact Figure further Gandhi give given Government hand identity India instance intellectuals Jaffna journalism June Kudi Arasu late later literary literature living look Madras Maraimalai Adigal marked Mathimosa Vilakkam meeting mentioned movement Mudaliar nationalist non-Brahmin Notes original past Pillai poems poets political popular present publication published Pudumaippithan Puranam question referred religion religious Review Saiva Saivism Saivite Sangam Sanskrit scholars seen Self-Respect Movement sense short similar social South story Subramania Tamil language Tamil society Tamilnadu technical terms texts tobacco tradition turn U.V. Swaminatha Iyer various views village writing written wrote