Sumathi Ramaswamy delivered a lecture on ‘Largesse and Learning in Company Times’ on 15 April 2025. It was chaired by Prathama Banerjee.

Educational philanthropy has recently surged in India, rivaling other areas of charitable giving. In this presentation, with a focus on the so-called Company Raj, I trace the roots of this consequential development to the colonial period. The British touted “English education” as their pre-eminent “gift” to their vast empire, the very same education that postcolonial theorist Gayatri Spivak has characterized as an “enabling violation.” I explore the ironic underwriting by native capital of this enabling violation, as I track the critical role played by local donor money in the development of the so-called British gift. In fact, British India’s most important educational institutions emerged because of Indian capital and initiative, precociously exemplifying the global phenomenon of “public-private partnership” in educational philanthropy. 

Sumathi Ramaswamy is James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of History at Duke University, USA.  Her areas of research are language politics, gender studies, the history of cartography, visual studies, digital humanities, and the history of Indian philanthropy.  A recent monograph is Gandhi in the Gallery: The Art of Disobedience (New Delhi: Roli Books, 2020).

Tuesday, 15 April 2025, 4 pm, Seminar Room