[Reader-list] Death of Bernard S. Cohn (1928-2003)

[sadan]

Dear all,
sending you this forward from H-Asia.
Sadan.  

 The New York Times November 29, 2003
B. S. Cohn, Expert on Culture of Modern India, Dies at 75
By JO NAPOLITANO

CHICAGO, Nov. 28 - Bernard S. Cohn, who spent his life studying and
writing about British influence on modern Indian culture and society,
died here on Tuesday after a long illness. He was 75.

Mr. Cohn, a professor of anthropology and history at the University of
Chicago until he retired in 1995, was known for challenging his
students' work with simple questions that could take their research in
new directions. His offhand comments, which seemed to home in on
specific points but actually questioned the fundamentals of research,
could spark years of study, former students said.

Though Mr. Cohn would openly challenge professionals in his field, he
had a gentler touch with students, and some went on to become
professors themselves. In his later years, when Mr. Cohn's eyes began
to fail, they would read to him or record noteworthy books and
passages.

He wrote several highly regarded works, including the books "India:
The Social Anthropology of a Civilization," "An Anthropologist Among
the Historians and Other Essays" and "Colonialism and Its Forms of
Knowledge: The British in India."

Mr. Cohn's works helped solidify his position as an authority on
modern Indian culture. His interest in the subject grew from his
discovery of a preponderance of litigation in small Indian villages, a
clear example, he thought, of the influence of the British legal
system on Indian society.

"He brought new understanding to the colonial entanglements in Indian
society and the relationship with the British empire," said Alan L.
Kolata, the chairman of the department of anthropology at the
University of Chicago since 1987. "He is an innovator in historical
anthropology."

Born in Brooklyn in 1928, Bernard Samuel Cohn graduated from the
University of Wisconsin. He did his graduate work at Cornell
University and his postdoctorate at Chicago. During his career, he was
the chairman of the anthropology departments at the University of
Rochester and Chicago. He also was a visiting professor at New York
University, the University of Michigan and the California Institute of
Technology.

Friends and colleagues said Mr. Cohn's sharp sense of humor and
repertoire of jokes could bring levity to the most somber of
occasions. When a group of former students held a meeting in his honor
three years ago to talk about his dedication as a professor and his
influence on their work, he could not resist breaking their
seriousness.

"What shall I say?" Mr. Cohn said after their speeches. "I've had a
hell of a good time."

He is survived by his wife, Rella Israly; three daughters, Jenny,
Abigail and Naomi; a son, Jacob; a brother, David H. Cohn; and two
grandchildren.


Richard Jensen
Professor Emeritus
University of Illinois Chicago