Scottish Orientalism and the Bengal Renaissance

About the Book: 

The historical relationship between Scotland and India is a relatively unexplored part of colonial history. This project seeks to re-examine the interchange of ideas initiated in the 18th century by the Scottish Enlightenment, and the ways in which these ideas were reformed and shaped to fit the changing social fabric of Scotland and India in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In this volume, the significance and influence both nations had on the other is examined and brought to light for the first time. With contributions from key individuals and institutions in both Scotland and India, the range of ideas that were interchanged between the two nations will be explored in the contexts of culture studies, history, the social sciences and literature.

About the Author:

BASHABI FRASER was born in West Bengal in India. Living a multicultural, Bashabi divides her life between the two countries she loves most—India and Scotland. With a PhD in English Literature, she is now a Professor in English Literature at Napier University, Edinburgh. She travels widely working as a poet, attending councils and conferences around the world and has written many publications, has numerous collections of poems in print and has been included in a number of anthologies. Bashabi has also written children’s stories and is writing a shadow puppet play and a book on the Bengal Partition and is a classical Indian dancer and choreographer. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband and daughter.