Global governance and place-making: India, internationalism and empire in 1930s London

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this article I argue that two core components of contemporary British human geography curricula (global governance and place making) can and should be taught together. I also argue that materials from the past provide valuable teaching tools in the present. As such, this article also makes the case for historical geography. It does this through examining historical phases of what is now called globalisation. It outlines geographical perspectives on imperialism and internationalism, two variants of inter-war, modern globalisation. It introduces India as a key site in British history, but argues that we can understand large-scale processes like globalisation through small sites of place-making, such as international conferences. The Round Table Conference sessions of 1930–32, which brought Indian leaders came to London, is presented as an example of a space and time in which place-making and global governance came together.