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Mr Upjohn's Debts: Money and friendship in early colonial Calcutta
- Source :
- Modern Asian Studies. 47:1185-1217
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2013.
-
Abstract
- The paper discusses the effective operation of money and credit among Europeans in Calcutta around 1800, arguing for the importance of informal processes and ties of friendship that facilitated, regulated, and enforced agreements, helping both to tide over individuals in times of economic stress and to underwrite the provision and transfer of capital. The argument is advanced by a detailed case-study of debts owed by one resident—Aaron Upjohn—to another, the diarist, Richard Blechynden, amid a web of acquaintance, officialdom, and law that variously ensured that the debts were honoured. It is defined as a support system among acquaintances, necessitated in part by shortage of money and abundance of risk.
Details
- ISSN :
- 14698099 and 0026749X
- Volume :
- 47
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Modern Asian Studies
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........ee13d748c5a8cf240993890312a761f9