CLAIMING THE HIGH GROUND - THEORIES OF IMPERIAL AUTHORITY AND THE BRITISH HILL STATIONS IN INDIA

By the 1880s, imperial government's practice of 'retreating' to the In dian hill stations for much of the year was well established. Despite the strength of this new tradition, such a relocation of colonial admi nistration never lacked its critics. This paper examines the expanding administrative use of the hill stations from the early nineteenth cen tury through the 1880s. Gs the nineteenth century 'scientific' framewo rk for British control of India was formed, conflicting strategies and practices for maintaining imperial control required mediation and con trasting frameworks for defining duty and loyalty between government a nd subject vied for dominance. The significance of Utilitarian thought , changing appraisals of climate and constructions of race are evaluat ed in an analysis of the imperial hill stations. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd.