The Birth of an Indian Profession

Description

The Birth of an Indian Profession is the first comprehensive history of engineers in modern India. Charting the development of the engineering profession in the country from 1900 to 1947, it explores how engineers, their roles, and their organization were transformed during the politically tumultuous interwar years. Through detailed case studies of engineers in public works, railways, and private industry, the book argues that the profession, once dominated by expatriate British engineers closely associated with the state, saw an increasing proportion of Indian members, and an emerging emphasis on industrial engineering. In the process, it fashioned for itself an Indian identity.
Turning the spotlight on practitioners of technology and their professional lives, Ramnath explores several themes including the work culture of engineers, their conception of their own identity, their status in society, and their relationship with the evolving colonial state. In so doing, he provides a fresh perspective on the history of science and technology in twentieth-century India.

About the Author
Aparajith Ramnath is a faculty member at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, India. He is a historian of science, technology, and industry in South Asia, and teaches courses on Indian society, business history, and the global history of industrialization.

Table of contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements

Introduction: Engineers in India, 1900–47
1. The Context: Indianization and Industrialization in Indian History
2. Putting Down Roots: Professional Institutions and the Growth of an Indian Identity among Engineers
3. Men of Character: Indianization and the Culture of Public Works Engineering
4. Keepers of the Peace: Efficiency, Loyalty, and the Limits of Indianization on the Railways
5. Beyond Empire and Nation: The Technical Experts of the Tata Steel Works

Conclusion

Bibliography
Index
About the Author