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'''Thomas Callan Hodson'''
{{Infobox rai-fellow
| first_name = Thomas Callan
RAI Council 1909 Member<br />RAI Council 1910 Member<br />RAI Council 1913 Hon. Secretary<br />RAI Council 1914 Hon. Secretary [but left for France to translate for Indian troops, Edge Partington and T.A. Joyce acting Hon. Secretaries]<br />RAI Council 1915 Hon. Secretary [but left for France to translate for Indian troops, Edge Partington and T.A. Joyce acting Hon. Secretaries]
=== House Notes ===
1906.03.13 Proposed by Henry Balfour; seconded by William Gowland <br />1910.02 delivered first in series of popular lectures <br />report of the council for 1915: congratulations to the Hon. Secretary, Capt. T. C. Hodson, for the award by the French Government of the Palmes Academiques in recognition of his work as a railway transport officer in France <br />1917.12.11 The Treasurer stated in reference to the resignation of Mr T.C. Hodson that Dr Seligman had suggested that Mr Hodson should be asked to withdraw his resignation and to receive the Journal gratis until such time as he was able to resume paying his subscription. It was unanimously resolved that the Treasurer should write to Mr Hodson to this effect<br />report of the council for 1917: congratulations to Captain T. C. Hodson, who has been mentioned in dispatches <br />1918.01.22 The Treasurer read a letter from Mr Hodson thanking the Council for allowing him to continue as a Fellow of the Institute (his subscription being suspended until he could resume payment), and to receive the Journal.<br />1921.06.28 Proposed by Henry Balfour; seconded by H.J.E. Peake <br />1932.05.24 proposed by T.A. Joyce, seconded by H. Balfour <br />1953.02.05 death noted<br />William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology, Cambridge [1933 list]<br /><br />
=== Notes From Elsewhere ===
Thomas Callan Hodson (1871–1953) was the first William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, where he was a Fellow of St Catharine's College, notable for his writings on Indian anthropology and for coining the term sociolinguistics.<br />In Analysis of the 1931 Census of India[2] (Government of India Press, 1937) Hodson analysed the physical types in India, in great detail, adopting the models dominant in his day. This analysis was independent of the castes, and Brahmins and Dalits were classified in the same "racial groups". For example, Telugu Brahmins and Chamars were classified as "Racial Element A". In total, he distinguished seven "racial elements", from A to G.<br />Hodson used the classical "brachycephalic" and "dolichocephalic" terminology in force in racial discourses of the day. This was a typology constructed from the so-called "cephalic index" (the ratio of the maximum width of the head to its maximum length) and to classify human populations according to this purported scientific measure. Invented by the anatomist Anders Retzius (1796–1860), the cephalic index classification was disputed by Franz Boas's anthropological works, and Boas's criticisms are widely accepted today. Hodson also typically associates racial categories with supposed stages of economic and linguistic development, implying a hierarchy of racially defined cultures, a view characteristic of scientific racism.<br />Hodson believed that the earliest occupants of India were probably of the "Negrito race", followed by the "proto-Australoids". Later, an early stock probably of the Mediterranean race, came to India and mingled with the proto-Australoids. He believed that these people spoke an agglutinative language from which the present Austroasiatic languages are derived. They had a rudimentary knowledge of agriculture, building stone monuments, and primitive navigation. This migration was followed by an immigration of more civilised Mediterraneans from the Persian Gulf (ultimately from eastern Europe). These people had the knowledge of the metals, but not of iron. They were followed by later waves of immigrants who developed the Indus valley civilization. All these immigrants were of the dolichocephalic type, but the Indus valley people had a mixed brachycephalic element coming from the Anatolian plateau, in the form of the Armenoid branch of the Alpine race. These people probably spoke the Dravidian languages. Later, a brachycephalic race speaking perhaps an Indo-European language of the "Pisacha or Dardic family", migrated to India from the Iranian plateau and the Pamirs. During about 1500 B.C., the Indo-Aryans migrated into Northern India.<br /><br />Hodson's writings seem pretty unimpressive to me - mediocre ethnography early on and dull summaries of census and other material later. But he was also one of the very few Indian Civil Service officers ever to be dismissed for misconduct. In 1901, he shot and wounded a Kuki native porter while on an expedition, didn't report it and then tried to cover it up. When the case was investigated, it was found he had earlier had a man publicly whipped for annoying him in his office. Hodson then made a series of excuses about illness, worry about his family at home, etc., which didn't impress his superiors. He was dismissed, the decision was confirmed by the Viceroy's council and his appeal in England was rejected. Hodson was unlucky, because all this happened when the government was trying to stamp out racist violence against Indians. Even so, it was clearly deplorable conduct and it's hard to sympathise with him! How widely all this was known in England at the time, I don't know. Chris Fuller<br /><br /><br />