This course delves into techniques and technologies of modern governance, seen especially through the lens of British colonial liberalism, in two broad ways: first, as a central project in the global history of the present, and more particularly, as a key story in the genealogy of contemporary neoliberal mappings of society, subjects, and agency. The seminar will introduce students to foundational literature on the concept of governmentality, historicizing the term by reading it alongside key primary texts on political economy and sovereignty, and postcolonial approaches to political theory. In particular, it poses British India as a site through which to open investigations on the key features and contradictions of liberal governing more broadly, most especially, the relationship between economy as the dominant idiom of governance and the politicization of culture/identity politics.