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This is a book-length study of the ideological foundations of British imperialism in the early twentieth century. By focussing on the heretofore understudied concept of imperial citizenship, it illustrates how the political, cultural, and intellectual underpinnings of empire were constructed and challenged by forces in both Britain and the ‘Britains Overseas’, the settlement colonies of Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Debates about imperial citizenship reveal how Britons conceived of the empire: was it an extension of the nation-state, a collection of separate and distinct communities, or a type of ‘world-state?’ These debates were also about the place of empire in British society, its importance to the national identity, and the degree to which imperial subjects were or were not seen as ‘fellow Britons’. This public discourse was at its most fervent from the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) to the early 1920s, when Britain emerged victorious, shocked and exhausted from the Great War. Drawing on the thinking of imperial activists, publicists, ideologues and travellers such as Lionel Curtis, John Buchan, Arnold White, Richard Jebb and Thomas Sedgwick, the book is a comparative history of how the idea of imperial citizenship took hold in early-twentieth-century Britain and how it helped foster the articulation of a broader British World. It also reveals how imperial citizenship as a form of imperial identity was challenged by voices in both Britain and the empire, and how it influenced later imperial developments.
So the tribune came and said to him, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ The tribune answered, ‘I bought this citizenship for a large sum.’ Paul said, ‘But I was born a citizen.’ So those who were about to examine
Citizenship, Nation, Empire investigates the extent to which popular imperialism influenced the teaching of history between 1870 and 1930. It is the first book-length study to trace the substantial impact of educational psychology on the teaching of history, probing its impact on textbooks, literacy primers and teacher-training manuals. Educationists identified ‘enlightened patriotism’ to be the core objective of historical education. This was neither tub-thumping jingoism, nor state-prescribed national-identity teaching. Rather, enlightened patriotism was a concept used in the development of a carefully crafted curriculum for all children which fused civic intentions alongside imperial ambitions.
The book will be of interest to those studying or researching aspects of English domestic imperial culture, especially those concerned with questions of childhood and schooling, citizenship, educational publishing and anglo-British relations. Given that vitriolic debates about the politics of history teaching have endured into the twenty-first century, Citizenship, Nation, Empire is a timely study of the formative influences that shaped the history curriculum in English schools.
The first part of this article focuses on previously unstudied materials relating to the critical recuperation of William Blake in the period between c.1910 and 1930. It notes how commentators utilised ideas of citizenship and hospitality when they attempted to modernise Blake’s interests and concerns. It explains how these distinctive critical idioms were constructed, what they had in common and how they situated Blake in larger public arguments about the social significance of cultural creativity. The second part of the article traces the ramifications of this new way of thinking about Blake by noting his appearance in modernist and neo-romantic art criticism in the 1930s and 1940s.
1 Citizenship by civic virtue? Introduction The cases for and against voting rights for prisoners have been widely examined in academic literature and political discourse (see, for example, Abramsky, 2006; Campbell, 2007; Clegg et al., 2006; Easton, 2011; Ewald and Rottinghaus, 2009; Itzkowitz and Oldak, 1973; Kleinig and Murtagh, 2005; Manfredi, 1998; Manza and Uggen, 2006; Mauer, 2011; Plannic, 1987; Ramsay, 2013; Reiman, 2005). It is widely accepted that even in the most advanced liberal democracies there are limitations on the right to vote, depending on
7 Imprisonment and citizenship This chapter brings the book to a close by making the case that enfranchisement is one element, albeit an important one, within wider fields of prisoners’ rights and opportunities for participative citizenship. It outlines the challenges for prisoners in embracing the franchise and makes some suggestions about how to re-engage a section of the population disconnected from society and disillusioned with political and civic institutions. If the goal of enfranchisement is inclusion and allowing prisoners to participate as citizens
Refugee communities and the state in France v 10 v Citizenship on the move: refugee communities and the state in France, 1914–18 Alex Dowdall Introduction The outbreak of war in 1914 generated large-scale population displacement in France, as in other belligerent states. In the combat zones of the north and east, few civilians could avoid the conflict’s direct impact. The movements of armies, German atrocities, bombardments of towns by both sides, and the fears that these events engendered, prompted large numbers to flee. In mid-October 1914, the parish priest
5 Active citizenship for women: war and protest T he involvement of the MU, CWL, NCW, WI and TG in highlighting the welfare needs of housewives and mothers throughout the 1930s and 1940s has shown that these organisations were able to influence social policy and did so through their effective mobilisation of women as active citizens. The five did not limit themselves, however, to issues relating to social welfare. They also envisaged a role for women in a number of other key campaigns that came to public attention during these years. Three campaigns will be
4 Training for world citizenship: internationalist education between the wars It is undoubtedly true that a remarkable growth of interest in the study of international relations at each level of education has sprung from the circumstances and the ideas of the post-war period. The deep emotional and intellectual impression left by the War and its aftermath has created an unwonted desire to take stock of the conditions of the modern world, and to grapple with the new problems of social conduct and organisation to which the changes of the last one hundred and fifty
If there has been a theme characterizing Britain’s relationship with her overseas relations throughout the twentieth century it is ambivalence. This book has evaluated the efforts of a select group of late Victorian and Edwardian imperial ideologues to articulate a concept of citizenship which could unite Britons at home and in the Empire. Their