Bernard S Cohn: Historian of the Future

Abstract

Bernard Cohn was most interested in the historical and anthropological making of the British colonial state in India, especially the modes in which 'colonial' culture and practices were enforced through multiple regulatory mechanisms. His work retains immense relevance even today. In his writings, he ably demonstrated that the colonial state and its historical anthropology was inseparable from the ideology of power and the political character of the state.