Civil society in Bengal: The postcolonial conundrum

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article seeks to interrogate the concept of civil society in the postcolonial context of Bengal. Under colonialism the English educated Bengali elite engaged with colonialism in a critical and creative manner and played a crucial role in the making of civil society, public institutions and a new nation. All these overlapped and reinforced each other. This article critiques the works of the Subaltern school scholars, Partha Chatterjee and Dipesh Chakraborty for discounting the role of civil society in the history of Bengal.