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they served. The prima facie similarity of subject masked the multiplicity of agendas busily at work in the texts. It has long been recognised that one enterprise for which Livingstone was routinely marshalled was the British Empire. 2 Imperial endeavours were the ever-present subtext of numerous biographies, whose authors re-presented his life, time and again, in order to have
MUP FINAL PROOF – <STAGE>, 07/18/2013, SPi 2 Empire Empire and internationalism interacted in complex and conflicting ways. They bore underlying resemblances in that their practices frequently contradicted their rhetoric about progress and idealism. Similar to internationalism, empires used and created transnational networks; they drew upon expertise that had been gained within the contexts of scientific and cultural exchange, working with missionaries, explorers and scholars. While the unequal power relations at the heart of empire are self
This book is a study of the colonial officials who governed British Africa between 1900 and the Second World War. Historians have to date failed to provide a detailed examination of what caused these ‘men on the spot’ to think and act in the ways they did. Drawing on a vast range of hitherto underexplored private papers, this book assesses the scope of their different attitudes and endeavours. It considers the role of background, education, training, British culture, social and intellectual networks across Africa, and personal self-interest in shaping the ways that officials related to Africans and to one another, and their ideas of race, empire, governance, development, and duty. It considers the implications of these officials’ mental landscapes for some of the key theories of empire to have emerged in recent years.
Comic empires is a unique collection of new research exploring the relationship between imperialism and cartoons, caricature, and satirical art. Edited by leading scholars across both fields, the volume provides new perspectives on well-known events, and also illuminates little-known players in the ‘great game’ of empire. It contains contributions from noted as well as emerging experts. Keren Zdafee and Stefanie Wichhart both examine Egypt (in the turbulent 1930s and during the Suez Crisis, respectively); David Olds and Robert Phiddian explore the decolonisation of cartooning in Australia from the 1960s. Fiona Halloran, the foremost expert on Thomas Nast (1840–1902), examines his engagement with US westward expansion. The overseas imperialism of the United States is analysed by Albert D. Pionke and Frederick Whiting, as well as Stephen Tuffnell. Shaoqian Zhang takes a close look at Chinese and Japanese propagandising during the conflict of 1937–1945; and David Lockwood interrogates the attitudes of David Low (1891–1963) towards British India. Some of the finest comic art of the period is deployed as evidence, and examined seriously – in its own right – for the first time. Readers will find cartoons on subjects as diverse as the Pacific, Cuba, and Cyprus, from Punch, Judge, and Puck. Egyptian, German, French, and Australian comic art also enriches this innovative collection. Accessible to students of history at all levels, Comic empires is a major addition to the world-leading ‘Studies in imperialism’ series, while standing alone as an innovative and significant contribution to the ever-growing field of comics studies.
The whole business of British air transport during the period of 1919-1939 was infused with muddle, belt-and-braces attitudes and old-fashioned company ideas. The conditions of inter-war Britain militated against new technology, fresh approach to management, organization and the relationships between capital and the state. This book provides unrivalled insights into the massive hopes engendered by the supposed conquest of the air, and the ways in which these were so swiftly squandered. Aeronautical societies attempted to spark initiatives through 'juvenile' lectures. The initial pioneering efforts were in the form of trans-Atlantic flights by ex-RAF pilots, the journey of Smith brothers to Australia, and flights across Africa. The book discusses the efforts towards organising the civil aviation and propagation to serve the cause of air communication, and the reconnaissance mission of Alan Cobham and Sefton Brancker to negotiate over-flying and landing facilities. Empire route development took place in stages, starting with the Middle East before venturing to India and Africa. However, organised Empire aviation was alive only in the form of occasional news items and speeches. The book examines the stresses of establishing Britain's eastern airway, and the regularisation of air services to Africa. Criticisms on Imperial Airways due to its small fleet and the size subsidy, and the airline's airmail service are also dealt with. As part of reconfiguration, the airlines had to focus more on airmail, which also saw a curtailment of its independence. Imperial Airways was finally nationalised in 1938 as British Overseas Airways Corporation.
Recent cultural studies have demonstrated the weakness of some of the fashionable theoretical positions adopted by scholars of imperialism in recent times. This book explores the diverse roles played by museums and their curators in moulding and representing the British imperial experience. The British Empire yielded much material for British museums, particularly in terms of ethnographic collections. The collection of essays demonstrates how individuals, their curatorial practices, and intellectual and political agendas influenced the development of a variety of museums across the globe. It suggests that Thomas Baines was deeply engaged with the public presentation, display and interpretation of material culture, and the dissemination of knowledge and information about the places he travelled. He introduced many people to the world beyond Norfolk. A discussion of visitor engagement with non-European material cultures in the provincial museum critiques the assumption of the pervasive nature of curatorial control of audience reception follows. The early 1900s, the New Zealand displays at world's fairs presented a vision of Maoriland, which often had direct Maori input. From its inception, the National Museum of Victoria performed the dual roles of research and public education. The book also discusses the collections at Australian War Memorial, Zanzibar Museum, and Sierra Leone's National Museum. The amateur enthusiasms and colonial museum policy in British West Africa are also highlighted. Finally, the book follows the journey of a single object, Tipu's Tiger, from India back to London.
Decades after decolonisation, the meaning of the imperial past remains hotly contested in modern Britain, with both public and scholarly debates centring upon two opposing poles of celebration or lamentation. Both sides draw on traditions of legitimating and critiquing empire that have their roots in the colonial era. 1 Yet their interventions also speak to a
The image of Imperial Airways as an organisation, and its iconic status in the Empire, hinged partly on its perceived efficiency and reliability, and partly on the impression created by its senior management. In one of many such public displays, Imperial’s Chairman, Sir Eric Geddes, articulated a glowing, benevolent alignment between
The notion that the British Empire was in any way an 'Irish Empire' is not one that will cut very much ice on the contemporary island of Ireland, north or south. This volume explores aspects of the experience of Ireland and Irish people within the British Empire and addresses a central concern of modern Irish scholarship. The paradox that Ireland was both 'imperial' and 'colonial' lies at the heart of this book. One of the themes which emerges from the studies in this book is the irrelevance of the Empire to some Irish concerns. Popular culture, sport and film are investigated, as well as business history and the military and political 'sinews of Empire'. In cinematic terms, the image of Ireland has been largely in the hands of the British and American film industries. Analogies between Ulster loyalists and zealous British settlers are frequently drawn. The book examines the views of that region's businessmen on the British Empire, including their perception of Empire, the role of Empire as an economic unit and views the status of Northern Ireland within the Empire. The eventual choice of both flags illustrates that pre-partition strands of both loyalism and Unionism continued to survive among leading politicians within Ulster during the 1920s. The British Empire Union of 1915, established to make the Irish more Empire-minded, included the energetic promotion of imperial history in schools and of the idea of Empire Day within the population as a whole.
a series of embarrassing defeats to the French and Portuguese and the loss of Spain’s European supremacy. 3 To Whig political economist Roger Coke, this decline appeared paradoxical, as Spain possessed ‘greater dominions than any kingdom of the western or perhaps of the eastern world’. 4 Yet the conquest of territory and influx of treasure from around the globe had not made the country powerful. Coke and other seventeenth-century political economists argued that possession of this overseas empire had rendered the Hapsburg monarchy obsolete, as it sapped the