Autobiography of an Archive

A leading figure in higher education reflects on his early encounter with India, its history, and his discipline's turn to the study of ordinary lives and cultural rhythms. Nicholas B. Dirks revisits his early investigations of kingship in India, the rise of the caste system, the emergence of English imperial interest in controlling markets and India's political regimes, and the development of a crisis in sovereignty that led to an extraordinary nationalist struggle. He shares his personal encounters with archives on these subjects, ultimately revealing the limits of colonial knowledge and single-disciplinary perspectives. Drawing parallels to the way American universities balance the liberal arts and specialized research today, Dirks encourages scholars to apply multiple approaches to their research and build a more global archive.

A scholar’s intellectual awakening set against the backdrop of two disciplines and many journeys.

Nicholas B. Dirks is the chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also a professor of history and anthropology. An internationally renowned historian and anthropologist, he is known for his work on the history of kingship and the institution of caste in India, as well as for his writing on the British empire. His major works include The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom; Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India; and The Scandal of Empire: India and the Creation of Imperial Britain. He has edited several books, including Colonialism and Culture, Culture/Power/History: A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory, and In Near Ruins: Cultural Theory at the End of the Century.

Taut, clear language, which, at times, becomes almost lyrical.

An incredible book, a work that needs to be relished slowly...

Ann Laura Stoler, New School for Social Research:
Nicholas B. Dirks, with his consummate clarity and stylistic finesse, takes the reader on an autobiographical and historical journey to show both how history and culture are imbricated in the making of these fields and more generally to why history so matters to the future visions of the vitality and the openness we must embrace to understand our world today.

Michael S. Roth, president, Wesleyan University:
Autobiography of an Archive is a compelling synthesis of his extraordinary career as a scholar, teacher, and institution builder. Nicholas B. Dirks's account of the interconnections between anthropology and history and his commitment to the internationalization of liberal learning make his book a vital contribution to contemporary discussions of globalization and education.

Akeel Bilgrami, Columbia University:
Nicholas B. Dirks has taken to heart the disciplinary alliance between Anthropology and History that Keith Thomas so fruitfully articulated in theory (and then pursued in practice) a half century ago. In these essays he artfully pursues it himself via an autobiographical unfolding of his own archival path of discovery as a scholar of India. The essays will be greatly admired not only for their knowledgeable, distinctive, and acute grasp of the difficult and well-mined phenomena of kingship and caste and colonialism but also for the sustained and detailed angle of sympathy and regard they present on those oppressed by that phenomena.

Gyan Prakash, author of Mumbai Fables:
Using the conceit of an autobiography, this book dazzles with luminous reflections on the archive of knowledge on India. As a leading scholar of India in the American academy, Nicholas B. Dirks offers original insights on the history and politics of scholarship, on empire and its entailment in the production of knowledge, and on the career of history and anthropology as disciplines. Autobiography of an Archive showcases Dirks at his best as a scholar and cultural critic.

David Szanton, University of California, Berkeley, and editor of The Politics of Knowledge: Area Studies and the Disciplines:
A unique and compelling volume with a great deal of fascinating material and provocative observations. Nicholas B. Dirks's essays will be extremely influential for the large and growing public interested in India.