Indography / Signs of Race (PDF)

Jonathan Gil Harris is a professor of English at George Washington University.

'In 1614, Samuel Purchas noted that India was a term that had begun to be used to describe 'all farre-distant Countries.' This volume is a careful, thought-provoking and wide-ranging analysis of the meaning, implications and consequences of that usage. It uncovers the astonishing diversity of peoples and locations signified by the term in early modern English writings. Even more important, it tracks the connections between the different 'Indians' forged through material as well as imaginative channels. 'India' and 'Indians' emerge as important points of entry into the early histories and discourses of globalization. An important and illuminating book.' - Ania Loomba, Catherine Bryson Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania

"The geographic miscalculation that persuaded Columbus to identify the New World as part of 'India' is at once so gross and so familiar that its imaginative consequences have never seemed to deserve serious consideration. The brilliant tessellation of essays that make up Indography show how mistaken that neglect has been. By opening a fascinating variety of perspectives on the many 'Indias' of the Renaissance imaginary, Gil Harris and his contributors promise to transform our understanding of early modern ethnography and its relation to the discourses of trade and empire." - Michael Neill, emeritus professor of English, University of Auckland