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- Author: Andrew S. Thompson x
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The book shows how people have come to approach the writing of imperial histories in the early twenty-first century. It explores the social and political contexts that informed the genesis and development of the Studies in Imperialism series, and the conceptual links it has sought to forge between empire and metropolitan culture. The book provides an insightful account of John MacKenzie's 'Orientalism': the problems of 'power' and 'agency'. The 'MacKenziean moment' needs to be read historically, as a product of the 'delayed arrival of decolonising sensibilities', where contemporary popular phenomena and new types of scholarship integrated Britain and its empire. Sexuality made early appearances in the Series through the publication of 'Empire and Sexuality'. MacKenzie's 'Empire of Nature', 'Imperialism and the Natural World', and 'Museums and Empire' convey the impact of his scholarship in the themes of exploration, environment and empire. The historical geographies of British colonialism have enjoyed a prominent place in the Series, and the book explores the ways in which different 'spatial imaginations' have been made possible. Discussions on colonial policing during the depression years, and on immigrant welfare during and after decolonisation, take their cue from MacKenzie's European Empires and the People. The later nineteenth century witnessed the interaction of many diasporas, which in turn produced new modes of communication. By dealing with the idea of the 'Third British Empire' and the role of the Indian press during and after the British Raj, the book repositions British imperial histories within a broader set of global transformations.
This chapter provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book marks and reflects the fact that the Manchester University Press Studies in Imperialism series has passed its 100th publication. The process likewise evident from the way the Series has, over time, ranged more widely geographically, with volumes focused on the imperial culture of metropolitan Britain increasingly matched by those focused on the history of one or more of the colonies. The book explores the deeper set of social and political contexts that informed the genesis and subsequent development of the Series and the conceptual links it has sought to forge between empire and metropolitan culture. It talks about the 'trans-nationalism of empire', the idea that colonialism was as powerful a trans-nationalising force than was anti-colonialism.
This book introduces the reader to emerging research in the broad field of 'imperial migration' and shows how this 'new' migration scholarship had developed our understanding of the British World. This is done through an analysis of some of former colonies of British Empire such as Australia, Canada, India and Zambia. The book focuses on the ideas of Reverend Thomas Malthus of how population movements presaged forces within sectors of a pre-industrial economy. The formation of national and imperial identities along racial lines in the mid-nineteenth century is covered by an analysis of the mid-nineteenth century British censuses. The clergy played a pivotal role in the importation and diffusion of a sense of British identity (and morality) to Australian churchgoers. The resistance and accommodation of Welsh Presbyterianism in Eastern Bengal is investigated through the varieties of engagement with Indian Christians and non-Christians. The book argues that Asian migration and the perceived threat it posed to the settler colonies was an issue which could unite these seemingly incongruent elements of the British World. Child migration has become a very sensitive and politically charged issue, and the book examines one of the lesser studied child migration agencies, the Middlemore Children's Emigration Homes. The book also deals with the cultural cross-currents in the construction of an Anglo-Canadian or 'Britannic' national identity. The white settlers' decisions to stay on after independence was granted to Zambia are instructive as it fills an important gap in our understanding of Africa's colonial legacy.
This chapter explores the origins of the concept of multiculturalism by comparing official rhetoric about 'new' Commonwealth immigration during the 1950s and 1960s with the social policies introduced by the government. Multiculturalism concept is provided for the welfare of West Indian, Indian, Pakistani and later Bangladeshi immigrants. The chapter provides an overview of immigration trends in Britain 1945-62, before comparing and contrasting British and French approaches to integration. It provides the government immigration policy in Britain, drawing out the tensions that existed between domestic political pressures and the management of Commonwealth relations. The chapter focuses on the introduction of restrictive immigration legislation and the measures introduced to integrate 'new' Commonwealth immigrants and tackle racial discrimination, and the interplay between them. It describes the contemporary British immigration policy comprising border controls, the promotion of integration and anti-discrimination legislation.
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces the reader to new and emerging research in the broad field of 'imperial migration'. It shows how this 'new' migration scholarship is helping to develop and deepen our understanding of the British World. The book focuses on the Reverend Thomas Malthus, arguably the most important Victorian thinker on emigration, and his ideas about how population movements presaged forces within sectors of a pre-industrial economy. It investigates the varieties of engagement with Indian Christians and non-Christians between 1860 and 1940. The book discusses the dynamics of inter-faith dialogues between Christians, Hindus and Muslims and the cultural transfers which occurred at all levels of Welsh missionary activity both in the field and at home.
This chapter takes one of the foundational themes of Studies in Imperialism, the reciprocal influences and complex connections that arose from the traffic of people between metropolis and colony, to explore immigrant welfare systems during and after decolonisation. It is explicitly comparative, framed around the experiences of Britain and France, and focuses on the crucial matter of immigrant housing, an issue at once economic, political, social and cultural in nature. The chapter argues that, notwithstanding significant national differences in public discourse, there was a deeper, underlying similarity or convergence in assumptions and outcomes as both countries confronted the process of decolonisation and rapidly increasing immigration in a period of housing shortage between 1945 and 1974. Housing affords an unparalleled viewpoint on the politics of immigration and the making of Britain's and France's multicultural urban experiences.