Paper short abstract:

Westernizing practices by North Indian Christian converts in the middle of the 19th century will be examined from the perspective of Homi Bhabha’s concept of mimicry, which will then be critiqued, and then from the perspective of Michel de Certeau’s concept of re-employment.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will examine debates about the appropriateness of westernization among North Indian Protestant Christian converts in the middle third of the 19th century, drawing on primary material from missionary archives. Indian converts were part of a larger Christian community in North India, which included Europeans and Eurasians. By converting to Christianity, Indians thus knew they were joining a community that was heavily influenced by European society. Ironically, it was not unusual for missionaries to criticize Indians for being too Europeanized. Native adoption of western culture, norms and mores, especially in light of European Christian critiques of such practices, will first be viewed from the perspective of Homi Bhabha's ideas on mimicry. For Bhabha, underlying the practice of mimicry was a desire for control on the part of Europeans, and a challenge to that control on the part of Indians. Bhabha's concept of mimicry will then be critiqued, because it gives no space for strictly religious motivations, and because it views Indian Christian actions as permanently reacting to European ones. Finally, the paper will argue that Michel de Certeau's notion of re-employment provides a better explanation of Indian Christian motives for adopting various aspects of western society and culture. Re-employment, according to Certeau, is the practice of taking elements from one (cultural) system and using them quite differently in another system. While Certeau sees re-employment as a tool of the historian, this paper will argue that it can be fruitfully used to explain westernizing impulses among Indian Christian converts.