{"id":65,"date":"2018-11-20T16:09:18","date_gmt":"2018-11-20T16:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/?page_id=65"},"modified":"2019-01-15T21:00:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-15T21:00:18","slug":"collecting-bodies-bodily-collectives-trace-identities-in-british-india-1918-47","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/collecting-bodies-bodily-collectives-trace-identities-in-british-india-1918-47\/","title":{"rendered":"3\/4: Collecting Bodies, Bodily Collectives: Trace Identities in British India, 1918-47"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Projit Mukharji, Associate Professor in History &amp; Sociology of Science (University of Pennsylvania)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Roughly, the last three decades of British rule in South Asia produced a host of new scientific ways, such as serology and statistical analysis, for determining the identities of human beings. British administrator-ethnographers, however, were no longer the primary users of these new scientific methods. Rather, South Asian scientists now enthusiastically embraced these techniques. Their objective was to determine both the \u201cracial history\u201d and the \u201cnational futures\u201d of subcontinental populations. This paper will explore how bodily traces, such as blood and bones, were scientifically collected and studied to produce new forms of identities located in the remote past or distant future.<\/p>\n<p>Projit Bihari Mukharji is an Associate Professor in History &amp; Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. His work explores the intersections between the histories of science and the political and cultural histories of modern South Asia. His articles have appeared in journals such as the <em>Comparative Studies in Society and History, Journal of Asian Studies, Indian Economic and Social History Review<\/em>, <em>Bulletin of the History of Medicine<\/em>, <em>Social History of Medicine<\/em> and <em>History of Science<\/em>. He is also the author of <em>Nationalizing the Body: The Medical Market, Print and Daktari Medicine<\/em> (London, 2009) and<em> Doctoring Traditions: Ayurveda, Small Technologies and Braided Sciences<\/em> (Chicago, 2016).<\/p>\n<ul class=\"lcp_catlist\" id=\"lcp_instance_0\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/11\/science-of-race\/\">Science of Race<\/a>  March 11, 2019<lcp_author>slattia<\/lcp_author><div class=\"lcp_excerpt\">Projit Bihari Mukharji\u2019s \u201cCollecting Bodies, Bodily Collectives\u201d was very interesting and unique from our other presentations, being that he approached the topic of \u201cpresence of the past\u201d differently. As opposed ...<\/div><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/11\/a-historic-look-at-genes-and-where-they-are-taking-us\/\">A Historic Look at Genes and Where They are Taking Us<\/a>  March 11, 2019<lcp_author>Grace Eagan<\/lcp_author><div class=\"lcp_excerpt\">Professor Projit Bihari Mukharji from the University of Pennsylvania began his talk on the bodily collectives with a present look at the Indian genome project. The purpose of this research ...<\/div><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/11\/removing-racialization-from-informal-conversation\/\">Removing Racialization from Informal Conversation<\/a>  March 11, 2019<lcp_author>Kallie Hutchinson<\/lcp_author><div class=\"lcp_excerpt\">In personal reflection of professor Projit Bihari Mukharji\u2019s presentation, I am thinking a lot about the cultural significance of ethnicity and race. Previously in anthropology courses, I have been fascinated ...<\/div><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/11\/is-there-unity-in-diversity\/\">Is there unity in diversity?<\/a>  March 11, 2019<lcp_author>Isabella Scribano<\/lcp_author><div class=\"lcp_excerpt\">Projit Bihari Mukharji\u2019s lecture was all about how genetics affect race and the how Indian scientists have considered the dangers about using genetics to categorize people. He brought in many ...<\/div><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/11\/understanding-today-with-help-from-the-past\/\">Understanding Today With Help From the Past<\/a>  March 11, 2019<lcp_author>William Kirby<\/lcp_author><div class=\"lcp_excerpt\">I truly enjoyed Professor Projit Bihari Mukharji\u2019s lecture on Collecting Bodies, Bodily Collectives. \u00a0Determining the identity of human beings through acts of science and experimentation are nothing but fascinating to ...<\/div><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/11\/racism-in-the-name-of-science\/\">Racism in the Name of Science<\/a>  March 11, 2019<lcp_author>easogu21<\/lcp_author><div class=\"lcp_excerpt\">Projit Bihari Mukharji\u2019s lecture on \u201cCollecting Bodies, Bodily Collectives\u201d explores how in India genetic research has been done to create a caste system between different socioeconomic groups. Countless studies have ...<\/div><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/11\/scientific-deception-and-division\/\">Scientific Deception and Division<\/a>  March 11, 2019<lcp_author>Adam Zarfos<\/lcp_author><div class=\"lcp_excerpt\">In this discussion, we learned more about biological studies involving the human genome. This lecture was interesting to listen to because as an american studies major I have learned about ...<\/div><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/10\/362\/\">The Difficulty of Defining Race<\/a>  March 10, 2019<lcp_author>Nathaniel Dowd<\/lcp_author><div class=\"lcp_excerpt\">In this discussion, the general topic of discussion was talking about the elements that constitute what makes a race of people. And the takeaway message, revealed mainly in the questions ...<\/div><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/10\/to-question-science-is-good\/\">To Question Science (Is Good)<\/a>  March 10, 2019<lcp_author>Audrey Bell<\/lcp_author><div class=\"lcp_excerpt\">In the past, the subject of race has been viewed as an innate biological difference, often with the ill-intent of declaring one racial group superior to another. It would of ...<\/div><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/10\/science-as-a-justification-for-racism\/\">science as a justification for racism<\/a>  March 10, 2019<lcp_author>gohwil21<\/lcp_author><div class=\"lcp_excerpt\">Projit\u00a0Mukharji&#8217;s talk entitled &#8220;Collecting Bodies, Bodily Collectives&#8221; explored the relationship between genome projects, the biologization\u00a0of race, and the ethics\/practices behind these projects. Much of Dr. Mukharji&#8217;s lecture focused on the ...<\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Projit Mukharji, Associate Professor in History &amp; Sociology of Science (University of Pennsylvania) Roughly, the last three decades of British rule in South Asia produced a host of new scientific ways, such as serology and statistical analysis, for determining the identities of human beings. British administrator-ethnographers, however, were no longer the primary users of these &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/collecting-bodies-bodily-collectives-trace-identities-in-british-india-1918-47\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;3\/4: Collecting Bodies, Bodily Collectives: Trace Identities in British India, 1918-47&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7111,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65\/revisions\/154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}