The YMCA in Late Colonial India

This book explores the history and agendas of the Young Men''s Christian Association (YMCA) through its activities in South Asia. Focusing on interactions between American ''Y'' workers and the local population, representatives of the British colonial state, and a host of international actors, it assesses their impact on the making of modern India. In turn, it shows how the knowledge and experience acquired by the Y in South Asia had a significant impact on US foreign policy, diplomacy and development programs in the region from the mid-1940s. Exploring the ''secular'' projects launched by the YMCA such as new forms of sport, philanthropic efforts and educational endeavours, addresses broader issues about the persistent role of religion in global modernization processes, the accumulation of American soft power in Asia, and the entanglement of American imperialism with other colonial empires. It provides an unusually rich case study to explore how ''global civil society'' emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, how it related to the prevailing imperial world order, and how cultural specificities affected the ways in which it unfolded. Offering fresh perspectives on the historical trajectories of America''s ''moral empire'', Christian internationalism and the history of international organizations more broadly, this book also gives an insight into the history of South Asia during an age of colonial reformism and decolonization. It shows how international actors contributed to the shaping of South Asia''s modernity at this crucial point, and left a lasting legacy in the region.>

Meticulous scholarship and innovative research make this a highly original contribution to understanding the historical significance of American soft power in South Asia. By foregrounding the seminal role of transnational agency and Americanization on India and Indians, the book radically reconfigures the story of colonial India and nationalist opposition.

Préface
A study of the history and agenda of the YMCA in late colonial India to assess the ways in which international actors influenced modernity in South Asia.

Auteur
Harald Fischer-Tiné is Professor of Modern Global History at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He has published extensively on global history, South Asian colonial history and the history of the British Empire.

Texte du rabat

This book explores the history and agendas of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) through its activities in South Asia. Focusing on interactions between American 'Y' workers and the local population, representatives of the British colonial state, and a host of international actors, it assesses their impact on the making of modern India. In turn, it shows how the knowledge and experience acquired by the Y in South Asia had a significant impact on US foreign policy, diplomacy and development programs in the region from the mid-1940s. Exploring the 'secular' projects launched by the YMCA such as new forms of sport, philanthropic efforts and educational endeavours, The YMCA in Late Colonial India addresses broader issues about the persistent role of religion in global modernization processes, the accumulation of American soft power in Asia, and the entanglement of American imperialism with other colonial empires. It provides an unusually rich case study to explore how 'global civil society' emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, how it related to the prevailing imperial world order, and how cultural specificities affected the ways in which it unfolded. Offering fresh perspectives on the historical trajectories of America's 'moral empire', Christian internationalism and the history of international organizations more broadly, this book also gives an insight into the history of South Asia during an age of colonial reformism and decolonization. It shows how international actors contributed to the shaping of South Asia's modernity at this crucial point, and left a lasting legacy in the region.

Contenu
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Rationale of the book Modernization or Modernity? Note on Sources and Literature Spatio-chronological frameworks and chapter previews 1. A mission to modernize: colonial administrators, nationalists, and religious bodies in South Asia (1870s-1930s) Modernizing missions in late colonial India: actors and agendas The Y's Passage to India: A brief institutional history of the Indian YMCA 2. 'Make them pure, fit and brotherly!': The Indian YMCA's welfare work for railwaymen and soldiers (c. 1904-1945) Towards war work: early philanthropic efforts (1890-1914) Entertainment, caregiving, and 'intercultural training': the association's service on the home front Targeting the sepoy: the YMCA triangle on the battlefields of Europe and the Middle East The contradictions of Y-philanthropy: issues of sexual purity and racial hierarchies Summing up 3. 'Physical ministry': The Indian YMCA's sport and physical education programmes (c. 1900-1950) In quest of strength and manhood: The place of sports and physical culture in British India Preparing for the 'modern strain': science and physical education in the American YMCA Working out India: American physical educators and their programmes Somatic orientalism and Indian Eigensinn: limitations and modifications of the YMCA's 'democratising fitness' project Summing up 4. 'One fifth of the world's boyhood' American 'boyology' and the Indian YMCA's work with early adolescents (c. 1900-1950) Contours of the Boy Problem in the United States and India The development of boys' work in the Indian YMCA 'The field of action': motives and methods of YMCA boys' work in South Asia Summing up 5. The 'gospel of rural reconstruction': the YMCA's rural development programmes in South Asia (c. 1916-1955) Historicizing rural development schemes in India A Man with a mission: Duane Spencer Hatch and the Martandam Rural Demonstration Centre (MRDC) From southern Travancore to southern Arizona: the regional and global circulation of 'low modernist' rural development knowledge Summing up 6. Concluding observations: modernization without modernity? Bibliography