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4 - The Price of Pageantry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2023

Callie Wilkinson
Affiliation:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
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Summary

Conspicuous consumption and display were central to the Residents’ representational strategies at court. Britons in India are often assumed to have dismissed gift-giving as mere bribery and regarded regal pageantry as empty spectacle; in fact, the opposite is true. Residents were very aware of the symbolism of gifts and their efficacy at securing relationships both vertically and horizontally; this awareness is clearly manifest in their efforts to monitor and regulate these exchanges at court. The attempt on the part of the Company to impose a rigid, contractual framework on gift-giving was therefore not a sign of ignorance or disregard, nor was it simply an attempt to preclude corruption at court. By situating these debates within wider disagreements about the Residents’ expense claims, it becomes clear that there were other, more abstract issues at stake. These squabbles about money were a product of ambivalent attitudes about conspicuous consumption and display and reflect serious differences of opinion regarding the basis of the Company’s legitimacy in India.

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Empire of Influence
The East India Company and the Making of Indirect Rule
, pp. 145 - 176
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • The Price of Pageantry
  • Callie Wilkinson, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • Book: Empire of Influence
  • Online publication: 23 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009311717.005
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  • The Price of Pageantry
  • Callie Wilkinson, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • Book: Empire of Influence
  • Online publication: 23 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009311717.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Price of Pageantry
  • Callie Wilkinson, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • Book: Empire of Influence
  • Online publication: 23 March 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009311717.005
Available formats
×