Monopolizing Knowledge

'By situating East India Company collections in the context of the political economy of British colonialism in Asia, this book presents a compelling new view of the role of knowledge resources - books, artefacts, specimens, models, artworks - in the making of imperial science.' Felix Driver, Royal Holloway, University of London
'Through a material-institutional focus on East India Company's knowledge resource accumulation, this book simultaneously puts Company science at the heart of British science in the 18th and 19th century and highlights the India connection of this scientific enterprise.' Prakash Kumar, Pennsylvania State University
'This compelling, meticulously researched account is essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand today's informational monopolies and their genesis in the practices of colonial capitalism, informational accumulation and knowledge prospecting enacted by the world's first truly global corporation: the East India Company.' Bronwyn Parry, King's College London
'Deeply researched and engagingly written, Ratcliff's captivating account of the East India Company's often controversial efforts to assert a 'natural monopoly' over scientific knowledge offers a refreshingly new interpretation of the Company's colonial expansion and its enduring legacies, all while provoking readers to reflect on the fundamental tensions between private and public claims to 'own' knowledge that very much remain with us today.' Philip Stern, Duke University