Cotton Textiles and the Development of Industrialization in India
In this paper, we will examine how the manufacture of cotton textiles contributed to the industrialization of India. We will look first at the importance of cotton in world history and economic development, and then at the history of cotton textile manufacture in India. Then we will examine the cotton textile industry during the colonial period. Finally, we will look at the cotton textile industry in the context of industrialization and the development of an urban labor force.
Background and History
Riello, Giorgio. Cotton: The Fabric That Made the Modern World. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
The history and importance of cotton in the world economy is well documented in Dr. Giorgio Riello’s book, Cotton: The Fabric That Made the Modern World, which was awarded the 2014 Bentley Book Prize by the World History Association. Riello, a professor at the University of Warwick, provides a thorough analysis of the subject. Give some details about the book and what part in particular is useful for your research.
Schlingloff, D. “Cotton Manufacturing in Ancient India.” Journal of the Economic and Social History or the Orient 17.1 (March 1974): 81-90. Web. JSTOR.
The German scholar D. Schlingloff provides an interesting look at the history of cotton textiles in India in his article “Cotton Manufacturing in Ancient India.” This establishes the long history of the industry and helps us to see its development over time. Give some details about the article. Mention some specific information.
Cotton in the Colonial Period
How India Clothed the World: The World of South Asian Textiles, 1500-1850. Giorgio Riello and Tirthankar Roy, eds. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
The colonial period brought tremendous changes to India, as it did to all of Asia and Europe. The cotton industry was strongly affected by changing international trade patterns, industrial development, and other factors. A book edited by Dr. Giorgio Riello and Tirthankar Roy, How India Clothed the World: The World of South Asian Textiles, 1500-1850, provides essays on many aspects of the textile industry in the colonial period. Give details and note particular chapters that will be useful to your research.
Parthasarathi, Prasannan. “The European Response to Indian Cottons.” In Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Divergence, 1600-1850. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Dr. Prasannan Parthasarathi, a professor of history at Boston College, gives further insight into colonial-era economics in his book Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Divergence, 1600-1850. The chapter “The European Response to Indian Cottons” details how the Indian textile industry related to the European economy. Give specific information on this chapter.
Lemire, Beverly. “Domesticating the Exotic: Floral Culture and the East Indian Calico Trade with England, 1600-1800.” The Journal of Cloth and Culture 1:1 (March 2013): 64-85. Web. Academic Search Complete.
An interesting article that relates art and economics is Dr. Beverly Lemire’s “Domesticating the Exotic: Floral Culture and the East Indian Calico Trade with England, 1600-1800.” Lemire, a professor of history at the University of Alberta, explains how aesthetics influenced the design and production of textiles. Give details and specific information.
Gupta, Bishnupriya. “Discrimination or Social Networks? Industrial Investment in Colonial India.” Journal of Economic History 74:1 (March 2014): 141-168. Web. Academic Search Complete.
Another point of view on the Indian textile industry in this period is provided by Dr. Bishnupriya Gupta, professor of economics at the University of Warwick, in “Discrimination or Social Networks? Industrial Investment in Colonial India.” She argues that trade and distribution patterns were more heavily influenced by local social networks than by European discrimination against Indians. Give more details.
Modern Industrialization and the Cotton Textile Industry
Two articles provide some insight into the development of the Indian cotton textile industry in the twentieth century.
Chandavarkar, Rajnarayan. “The Development of the Cotton-Textile Industry: A Historical Context.” In The Origins of Industrial Capitalism in India: Business Strategies and the Working Classes in Bombay, 1900-1940. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2002, c1994. 239-277.
The late Dr. Rajnarayan Chandavarkar, formerly a professor at Trinity College, Cambridge, provides a chapter on “The Development of the Cotton Textile Industry: A Historical Perspective” in his book The Origins of Industrial Capitalism in India: Business Strategies and the Working Classes in Bombay, 1900-1940. Give details about the chapter and link the information to previous ideas.
Morris, Morris David. The Emergence of an Industrial Working Labor Force in India: A Study of the Bombay Cotton Mills, 1854-1947. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965.
Another study of the development of industrial labor is the late Dr. Morris D. Morris’s book The Emergence of an Industrial Labor Force in India: A Study of the Bombay Cotton Mills, 1854-1947. Dr. Morris was a professor of economics at the University of Washington. Give information about the book and you might compare it to the information in the Chandavarkar article.
Summary
Summarize and synthesize your main points. Demonstrate the importance of your topic. Show how the sources support the main ideas and how they relate to each other.
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