For over two decades, Manchester Studies in Imperialism has been a trailblazer in the realm of imperial history. Positioned firmly at the forefront, this series has illuminated the annals of history and transformed our understanding of empire.
Pioneering perspectives
The Studies in Imperialism series has embarked on a transformative journey, reshaping not only British history but also the vast landscape of imperial histories. It has boldly expanded boundaries, delving into uncharted territories, and shining a light on subjects that were once overlooked. More importantly, it has masterfully unveiled the intricate and inseparable relationships between these domains.
A treasury of knowledge
Within the pages of Manchester Studies in Imperialism lies a treasure trove of scholarly exploration. It unveils the rich tapestry of cultural encounters between colonisers and the colonised, shedding light on the intricate web of power that flows through the production and organisation of colonial knowledge. It unravels the complex construction of identity, both at the heart and on the peripheries of empire.
2025 Manchester Studies in Imperialism
In October 1860, at the culmination of the Second Opium War (1856–60), British and French troops looted and then burnt the imperial buildings in the Yuanmingyuan (known at the time by foreigners as the ‘Summer Palace’) in the north of Beijing. This widespread destruction of China’s most important complex of palaces, and the dispersal of the imperial art collection, is considered one of the most extreme acts of cultural destruction of the nineteenth century. Over a million objects are estimated to have been looted from buildings in the Yuanmingyuan; many of these are now scattered around the world, in private collections and public museums. This chapter analyses the display of ‘Summer Palace’ objects in five military museums in the United Kingdom, exploring the meanings constructed around China’s imperial artefacts at these particular sites of representation.
This chapter uses a model of British Army organisational culture and historical analysis to examine the nature of the ‘military interior’ – specifically the public rooms in the officers’ mess and the artefacts found within. The authors seek to combine their expertise to create a broader understanding of how military culture is lived out in this space, dynamically in terms of how the members treat the mess as both a domestic space and a focal point for performance of battalion and regimental identity, and statically as a place where artefacts – from regimental silver to pieces acquired on imperial campaigns – are displayed. By placing these artefacts in their historical mess settings, this chapter examines the various meanings that can be ascribed to them in this culturally distinct environment. These meanings may be associated with the nature of the military hierarchy; with the expression of mutual respect and affection towards present and past mess members; with operational performance and success; and with the identity of the battalion or regiment.
The spread of military museums across the United Kingdom reflects the atomised regimental system which characterises the history and organisational culture of the British Army. The history of most British regiments includes colonial campaigns, and opportunities to acquire trophies and souvenirs, an ongoing practice since the beginning of human conflict itself, have rarely been lacking. Enemy weapons, flags and other military accoutrements have always been popular choices as souvenirs but non-military objects, some of which would now be classified as ethnographic material, were also eagerly procured. This chapter examines, using the first-hand experience of the author, the regimental collecting of contemporary or near-contemporary conflict, reviewing practices and challenges. Applying the findings of several regimental museum surveys and other research, these present-day practices will be compared with those of longer established regimental museums to help contextualise and better understand why certain types of objects might have been collected historically. It considers the relationship between provenance and legitimacy both in historical and contemporary contexts.
In his ‘Notes on Photography’ dated 1860 Captain Henry Shaw of the Royal Engineers itemised the uses to which photography could be applied for military and scientific purposes. He notes that over time, capturing scenes, places and persons would prove of personal interest to the photographer and more generally, justifying the physical encumbrance of carrying photographic equipment on campaign. Analysis of photographs and scrap albums recording the 1903–04 ‘Younghusband Mission’ into Tibet takes us beyond straightforward photographic representation into considering the afterlife of the images created on campaign. Evidence of practices of duplication, compilation and curation of images, shows the importance of recognising the album as acomposite artefact, drawing in official and personal photographs. Many of these albums were made after the event, and can include further visual material (eg: newspaper cutting or cartoons). A close reading of the combination of photographic prints on a page, combined with their captions, demonstrates the function of these albums as individual and collective memorials.
The chapter considers the archaeological activities of soldiers during the nineteenth century, both in Britain and abroad as an adjunct of empire (e.g. India and Palestine). This is not just a matter of skill-set transfer (e.g. surveying) and landscape appraisal, but also the very idea of ‘discipline’ and the organisation of labour. In this, the career of Lieutenant-General Pitt Rivers looms large, particularly for his conceptualization of formal proofs based on his experience in military ordnance and legal proceedings. The contribution also extends to service-based collection activities, such as the Navy’s transportation of antiquities destined for the British Museum and the establishment of the United Service Institute’s museum. The latter underpinned Pitt Rivers’ Primitive Warfare studies and directly influenced his own museum collections.
This chapter reviews the evolution of British military practices in the acquisition of valuable artefacts, battlefield trophies, and other curios from the wars of empire in Africa. It sets the practices of appropriation and acquisition in Africa, which begin with the Anglo–Abyssinian campaign (1867-8), in a broader context, including past imperial practices in India and China, looting in the Peninsular War, and the formal codes that had developed to regulate the division and handling of prizes seized in war. It notes that the quasi-official practices, endorsed at various times by governments and parliament, coexisted with unofficial practices. It emphasises, too, that major acquisitions were brought back for the royal collections, and that the British military were joined in these practices by war correspondents, museum representatives, and colonial allies. The chapter reflects upon the various ways in which items were acquired and traded, and how they were transported from source back to the United Kingdom, noting how some have been preserved in private collections, often within stately homes, or in national and regimental museums.
This book explores the class experiences of white workers in Southern Rhodesia. Interest in white identity, power and privilege has grown since struggles over white land ownership in Zimbabwe in the early 2000s, yet research has predominately focused on middle-class and rural whites. By critically building upon whiteness literature developed in the United States and synthesising theories of race, class and gender within a critical Marxist framework, this book considers the ways in which racial supremacy and white identity were forged and contested by lower-class whites. It demonstrates how settler anxieties over hegemonic notions of white femininity and masculinity, white poverty, Coloureds, Africans and ‘undesirable’ non-British whites were rooted in class experience and significantly contributed to dominant white worker political ideologies and self-understandings.
Based on original research conducted in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Zimbabwe, this book also explores how white workers used notions of ‘white work’ and white ‘standards of living’ to mark out racial boundaries. In doing so the author demonstrates how the worlds of work were embedded in the production of social identities and structural inequalities as well as how class interacted and intersected with other identities and oppressions. This book will be of interest to undergraduates and academics of gender, labour, race and class in African and imperial and colonial history, the history of emotions and settler colonial studies.
This chapter outlines what made Rhodesian settler colonialism unique and brings together different themes explored throughout the book including gender, race, class, nationalism, colonial anxieties and the logic of elimination. It contends that working-class experience produced its own brand of imperial whiteness and that the workplace was an essential site where race was produced. The conclusion also highlights the utility of Marxism in understanding class, race and inequality and returns to David Roediger and Deborah Posel’s notions of the ‘wages of whiteness’ to consider how their ideas have been reinterpreted throughout the book. It reasserts that wage labour was an important part of many white women’s lives and was important in reshaping dominant notions of femininity. The chapter ends by highlighting the relevance of the book to understanding current conceptualisations of white poverty, reverse racism and inequality, as well as their use by right-wing groups globally.
Chapter 2 focuses on the Great Depression and examines the concept of poor whiteism from the perspectives of European trade unions and the Rhodesia Labour Party. It makes the case for recognising the dynamism of white worker experience by evidencing that the economic crisis forced the reworking of white workers’ identities and the boundaries of white, male work outlined in Chapter 1. It details the entrance of white women into wage labour and shows that unskilled work, in certain circumstances, was valorised as character building. It also explores how trade unions utilised the symbolism of childhood and youth in their political agitation. In 1934 the colour bar was formalised under the Industrial Conciliation Act. This chapter probes how white workers agitated around this important piece of legislation and argues that the Act failed to fully consolidate white worker loyalty or successfully cauterise their struggles against employers and the state.
The introduction provides an overview of Rhodesian settler colonialism and the relevant historiography, while making a clear argument for the importance of class in the settler colonial context. Through a critical engagement with labour histories of southern Africa and US literature on whiteness, the introduction outlines an innovative framework for scholars of race and class in the African settler colonial context. The theoretical approach developed in the Introduction draws upon recent work on colonial anxieties, imperial mobility and settler colonial theory. It also explores research into women’s wage labour in Britain and the United States to consider how work was fundamental to the construction of gender.