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Much of the world today is governed by the clock. The project to incorporate the globe within a matrix of hours, minutes and seconds demands recognition as one of the most significant manifestations of Europe's universalising will. This book is an examination of the ways that western-European and specifically British concepts and rituals of time were imposed on other cultures as a fundamental component of colonisation during the nineteenth century. It explores the intimate relationship between the colonisation of time and space in two British settler-colonies and its instrumental role in the exportation of Christianity, capitalism and modernity. Just as the history of colonialism is often written without much reference to time, the history of time is frequently narrated without due reference to colonialism. Analysing colonial constructions of 'Aboriginal time', the book talks about pre-colonial zodiacs that have been said to demonstrate an encyclopedic oral knowledge of the night sky. Temporal control was part of everyday life during the process of colonization. Discipline and the control of human movements were channelled in a temporal as well as a spatial manner. In the colony of Victoria, missions and reserves sought to confine Aboriginal people within an unseen matrix of temporal control, imposing curfews and restrictions which interrupted the regular flow of pre-colonial patterns, rituals and calendars. Christianity had brought civilised conceptions of time to the Xhosa. Reports of Sabbath observance were treated by Britain's humanitarians as official evidence of missionary success in planting the seeds of Christianity, commerce and civilization.
landscape embodied Australia’s prehistory – a nebulous era, beyond the bounds of Western time, out of which the colonial nation would ultimately emerge. More than simply prehistoric, uncolonised Australia seemed literally timeless. An understanding of the uncolonised landscape as temporal Other to colonial Australia was fundamental to its re-creation as a space available for
it less important to contesting Englishmen and tended to sustain the colonies’ social and economic homogeneity. Puritanism may have had a similar effect, rendering New Englanders’ loyalty less of an issue during the civil war and making it easier for them to adjust to its ultimate result. During this time, too, moral and material support began to flow from England to help ministers like John Eliot in the
The military occupation of Egypt exposed the British government to charges of self-interest and the betrayal of Britain's liberal political principles. This book is a comprehensive portrait of the British colony in Egypt, which also takes a fresh look at the examples of colonial cultures memorably enshrined in Edward W. Said's classic
This book explores a particular 1918–20 ‘moment’ in the British Empire’s history, between the First World War’s armistices of 1918, and the peace treaties of 1919 and 1920. That moment, we argue, was a challenging and transformative time for the Empire. While British authorities successfully answered some of the post-war tests they faced, such as demobilisation, repatriation and fighting the widespread effects of the Spanish flu, the racial, social, political and economic hallmarks of their imperialism set the scene for a wide range of expressions of loyalties and disloyalties, and anticolonial movements. The book documents and conceptualises this 1918–20 ‘moment’ and its characteristics as a crucial three-year period of transformation for and within the Empire, examining these years for the significant shifts in the imperial relationship that occurred, and as laying the foundation for later change in the imperial system.
Transitioning out of the First World War was a massive undertaking for all belligerents, including for Britain and its empire. From armies, to economies and war cultures, people across the Empire had to demobilise. But de -mobilising could not simply be a matter of undoing what had been done. The war had changed many aspects of the imperial project, strengthening the Empire's prerogatives and structures in some regards, while at the same time challenging its unity and direction. There was no returning to a pre-war world: that world had
The war had shaken the world's foundations and its ending created unforeseen challenges, hopes and despair at the same time. Elgar's concerto is an artwork that metaphorically encapsulates the moment of imperial transition from war to peace, the subject of this book. This book explores the particular ‘1918–20 moment’ in the British Empire's history, between the First World War's armistices of 1918, and the peace treaties of 1919 and 1920. This moment was a challenging and transformative time for the Empire. While British authorities successfully
The 1918–20 British ‘moment’ in the Middle East, from the years of military occupation and administration to the time when the mandate scenario ultimately prevailed, was a pivotal period for the British Empire and the region. 1 Although British involvement in the Middle East was not a new feature of British imperial policy, the integration of this strategic land corridor between Egypt and India within the realm of the British Empire inaugurated a new phase of British imperialism. The occupation
motion on 1 July 1834 in the House of Commons for an inquiry into the state and condition of the Indigenous populations of Britain’s colonies. His motion, brought forward a month before the Emancipation Act came into effect, was tacked onto the sitting of the third reading of the Poor-Law’s Amendment, reflecting the humanitarian slant of parliament at that time, as well as the acknowledgement that the state
missionary expectations and following their own agendas. Missionary education as a religious ideal Religion was an important aspect of the British Empire; however, as David Bebbington noted in 2003, it is often relegated to the margins of analysis. 3 In spite of increased scholarly interest since that time, religion still remains understudied in considerations of Empire. 4 As this study has aptly demonstrated