New Books Network David Boyk, "Provincial Metropolis: Intellectuals and the Hinterland in Colonial India" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Nov 18, 2025
David Boyk, an Associate Professor at Northwestern University, dives into the rich history of Patna, once a thriving Mughal city now seen as part of the mofussil. He explores its vibrant intellectual culture, fueled by Urdu literary gatherings and institutions like the Khuda Bakhsh Library. Boyk discusses the impact of railroads on Patna’s economy and the campaign for a separate Bihar province, highlighting how its uniqueness thrived from provinciality. His insights reveal how local identity shaped broader cultural and political movements.
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An Obscure Tazkira Sparked The Project
- A 1930s biographical compendium by a local Patna lawyer catalogued bakers, counterfeiters, and bagpipers to record a vanishing city.
- That eccentric source led Boyk to investigate Patna's cultural life and changing self-perceptions.
What A Provincial Metropolis Means
- 'Provincial metropolis' names cities that are both vibrant and provincially rooted, not just mini-metros or overgrown villages.
- David Boyk argues Patna's urbanity was shaped by its provincial ties to the mofussil and colonial administrative geography.
Colonial Rule Rewrote Urban Hierarchies
- The British colonial order transformed earlier layered urban geographies into a binary capital-versus-mofussil logic.
- This recursive peripherality made many district seats simultaneously central and provincial in different scales.
