Publication

Looking at the data collection mission led by John Anderson on behalf of the British East India Company in 1823, this paper considers whether it is possible to collect data in a purely objective, neutral manner. The author contends that the process of collecting data is seldom ever a truly neutral enterprise; and that in the framing the object of analysis, the cultural and socioeconomic subject-position of the researcher is always present. He suggests that keeping this is in mind is also relevant for contemporary scholars who attempt an "objective" approach to their work.