India in the American Imaginary, 1780s–1880s

Anupama Arora is Associate Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Massachusetts, USA.Rajender Kaur is Associate Professor of English at William Paterson University of New Jersey, USA, where she teaches courses in postcolonial, Asian American, British, and World literatures.

“India in the American Imaginary reject monolithic explanation and provide diverse and new perspectives on how Europeans or Americans related to Indians and Indian culture and society. These images and interactions are contextualized in realms … thereby making them appealing to the interest of students and scholars in many disciplines.” (Tara Sethia, Journal of World History, Vol. 30 (4), December, 2019)

• 1 Introduction: India in the American Imaginary, 1780s-1880s.- 2 An Eye for Prices, an Eye for Souls: American Merchants and Missionaries in the Indian Subcontinent, 1784-1838.- 3 The Empire Comes Home: Thomas Law’s Mixed Race Family in the Early Republic.- 4 Indo-American Encounters in Melville and Thoreau: Philosophy, Commerce, and Religious Dialogue.- 5 “Every India Mail:” The Lamplighter and the Prospect of U.S. Transoceanic (Postal) Empire, 1847-1854.- 6 Cast in Print: The Indian Mutiny, Asiatic Racial Forms and American Domesticity.- 7 India and U.S. Cultures of Reform: Caste as Keyword.- 8 “Considered a Citizen of the United States:” George DeGrasse, a South Asian in Early (African) America.- 9 “A Dazzle of Light:” Edwin Lord Weeks and Royal India.