British Administration Research Articles

“Women’s Dynasty”: A Golden Century of an Indian Princely State

Bhopal, one of six hundred “native states” in colonial India, was for more than a century ruled by a unique “women`s dynasty”. At the same time, the men of the princely family, including the queens’ spouses, were entirely incompetent and pushed away from political life. Four generations of female rulers became famous for their energetic and effective works: always loyal to Islam and Muslim culture, they challenged gender stereotypes (both in their families and in the British administration), protected and ameliorated the territory, undertook many reforms and infrastructural projects, contributed significantly to female education and health protection, pursued the policy of religious tolerance. The achievements of the Bhopal queens earned recognition both from their compatriots and from colonial suzerains. The article discussed the life stories of the four women rulers, their “female destinies” against the background of the colonial epoch and its political crises, in relations with their families, local elites, and British administration.

Cyprus Under British Colonial Rule: Culture, Politics, and the Movement toward Union with Greece, 1878–1954 by Christos P. Ioannides, and: The Cyprus Frenzy of 1878 and the British Press by Marinos Pourgouris

Reviewed by: Cyprus Under British Colonial Rule: Culture, Politics, and the Movement toward Union with Greece, 1878–1954 by Christos P. Ioannides, and: The Cyprus Frenzy of 1878 and the British Press by Marinos Pourgouris Loizos Kapsalis (bio) Christos P. Ioannides, Cyprus Under British Colonial Rule: Culture, Politics, and the Movement toward Union with Greece, 1878–1954. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2019. Pp. xvii + 321. Cloth $115.00. Paper $42.00. eBook $40.50. Marinos Pourgouris, The Cyprus Frenzy of 1878 and the British Press. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2019. Pp. xii + 219. 13 illustrations. Cloth $95.00. eBook $90.00. The island of Cyprus passed from Ottoman to British control with the signing of the Anglo-Turkish Convention in the summer of 1878. At that time, the British had only a vague knowledge of the island and its people. And yet, in Britain, the acquisition of the small and largely neglected Ottoman province was followed with curiosity and enthusiasm vastly disproportionate to its size. As Marinos Pourgouris notes, the occupation caused “an unparalleled frenzy” that was “more akin to fetish” (7). In The Cyprus Frenzy of 1878 and the British Press, Pourgouris dissects this tremendous explosion of public interest in Cyprus through an examination of representations of the island in the writings of the first British journalists who traveled there to cover the occupation. The British press, he argues, played a most significant role in sustaining the sensation that dominated public discourse by “reporting, constructing, propagating and eventually solidifying colonial perceptions of the island” (2). Previous work in Cypriot historiography—most notably by George Georgallides (1979) and Andrekos Varnava (2009)—has shown that British enthusiasm was misguided and ultimately short-lived. By the second decade of the twentieth century, the island was seen as “an inconsequential possession” rather than an imperial asset (Varnava 2009, 3). Pourgouris eschews the longue durée approach of earlier analyses, adopting instead what he calls a “microscopic gaze” (1) at a single historical moment: the first year of the British occupation. Perhaps more importantly, he views the British colonial apparatus not as a vast and impersonal bureaucratic machine, but rather as a small network of [End Page 230] politicians, military officers, and special correspondents linked to each other by close interpersonal relationships. Pourgouris draws parallels between these men and the “creole pioneers,” described by Benedict Anderson in his seminal Imagined Communities (1983), who possessed a “consciousness of connectedness” (Pourgouris, 2019, 21) even as they travelled around the world to take up positions as colonial administrators in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In Chapters 3 through 8, Pourgouris follows six special correspondents commissioned by major British newspapers to report on the arrival and settlement of the British administration and army on Cyprus in 1878. In these chapters, the author painstakingly pieces together the body of work pertaining to Cyprus of each of these six individuals (a daunting task, since the majority of their writing, he notes, was published anonymously). A close reading of their writings brings to light how their sympathies and antipathies, their friendships and affiliations with colonial administrators, military men, and other British travelers, refracted their experiences on the island and their opinions of the colonial project. These interpersonal relations, Pourgouris shows, exerted a remarkable influence on their views of topics as varied as the island’s climate, the nature of its inhabitants, the issue of slavery, and matters of law. A central node in the network of relationships, and a figure to which the narrative frequently returns, is Sir Garnet Wolseley, the first high commissioner of Cyprus (1878–1879). Sir Garnet, a highly decorated army man, is presented as a staunch pragmatist and cunning colonial administrator who demanded unwavering loyalty and discipline from his staff. In Cyprus, the backbone of the first British administration was formed by a select group of officers personally selected by the high commissioner. Pourgouris shows in Chapter 3 that, during his extensive military career, Sir Garnet developed a real distaste for journalists (he wrote a book about it), but also a keen awareness of the press as “ ‘a medium’ to achieve military objectives” (52). Throughout his short tenure as high commissioner, he took advantage of the affinity...

Tracing the valour of Kunwar Singh and Amar Singh in the revolt of 1857: From Bihar to Oudh

The British East India Company which entered in India in seventeenth century became the political master in the later eighteenth century. The rule of the British Colonial power exercised its authority and introduced many policies which disturbed the Indians. The atrocities done by the British administration was another factor for the discontentment of the people. As a result of the policies of the British East India Company, a revolt broke out in 1857. Many known and unknown persons came forward as the leaders of the rebels. The brother duo of Jagdishpur in Bihar, Kunwar Singh and Amar Singh were one of the examples who were instrumental in the spread of the revolt in northern India. The natives of Bihar, both led the revolutionary activities also in the territory of the United Provinces or territory earlier known as ‘Oudh’ (Awadh). The present research paper discusses the valour, leadership, challenges created by them to the British power and sacrifice of these two brothers in the revolt of 1857.

“Security begins with you”: compulsory heterosexuality, registers of gender and sexuality, and transgender women getting by in Kampala, Uganda

ABSTRACT This article examines how women getting by in Kampala, take up registers of gender and sexuality in a contemporary hybrid democratic-authoritarian state with compulsory heterosexuality. Sections 145–146 of Uganda’s fourth Constitution (1995–present) include language dating to the British colonial administration of the Uganda Protectorate (1950), which criminalizes “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature.” This has been regularly used by the Uganda Police Force, since the contemporary politicization of homosexuality in the early 2000s, to justify the harassment, incarceration, and torture of those who are identified as “homosexual.” In addition to the economic precarity most Ugandans already face, transgender women seeking social services are often instructed by Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) social workers that “security begins with you” and are encouraged to manage the way they performatively index their gender and sexuality. Drawing from interviews and participant observations in Kampala, Uganda from volunteer work at the NGO, Sexual Minorities Uganda (2015–2016), I find that transgender women use various registers of gender and sexuality that do not fully conform with the norms for performativity inside the queer community and must reconcile their insecurity through privatized social services, security, and market activities that determine the insecurity of their daily life.

К ИСТОРИИ ВОЗНИКНОВЕНИЯ ИНДИЙСКОГО ПАРЛАМЕНТСКОГО КОМИТЕТА В БРИТАНСКОЙ ПАЛАТЕ ОБЩИН

The aim of this article is to study the history of the formation of the Indian Parliamentary Committee (IPC) in the British House of Commons in 1893. To achieve this aim, the following objectives are envisaged: determination of reasons for establishing the IPC; analysis of the activities of the Indian National Congress and British liberals; analysis of the election campaign of Dadabhai Naoroji, which enabled him to get a seat in the House of Commons in 1892. The sources of the study are the pamphlets of the Indian National Congress members, which explain the need for Indian representatives to participate in the British Parliament; records of parliamentary hearings on the Indian issue; materials of the press describing the course of the election campaign of 1892 and the tasks of the Indian Committee in Parliament. In the course of the study, the author came to the following conclusions. The moderate branch in the Indian liberation movement considered the British Rule in India to be a progressive phenomenon in the Indian life. The defects of the British administration were due to the fact that the English people and Parliament did not understand the problems that the Indian population faced under the British Rule. The Parliamentary Committee dealing exclusively with the Indian issue could contribute to solving this problem. The main conductor of this idea in India was the National Congress, which, since its inception, began work on the formation of the IPC. In the late 1880s, an Indian political agency, which intensified attempts to organize an Indian committee in Parliament, was established in London. The interests of the Indians in the House of Commons at that time were defended by the Liberal MP Charles Bradlaugh. On the basis of the proposals of the National Congress, he prepared a bill on Indian councils, which came into force in 1892. Nevertheless, the creation of the Indian Parliamentary Committee became possible only in 1893, when Dadabhai Naoroji and William Wadderburn (founders of the British Committee of the Indian National Congress) were elected to the House of Commons as Liberal MPs. In general, the creation of the IPC was a progressive step in the development of the Indian liberation movement because the IPC gave the moderate nationalists and their British liberal supporters new tools of fighting for the rights of Indian subjects of the British Empire. The appearance of supporters of Indian reforms in Parliament was the evidence of the success of the IPC’s course of expanding political agitation in England, although it did not guarantee significant achievements in solving of the Indian question.

‘MENAWAN HATI MELAYU’: PERSPEKTIF PENGARANG SYAIR TUAN HAMPRIS TERHADAP KOLONIAL

This study was aimed at identifying the author’s perspective of the colonialists, and to analyse her relationship with one of them in her poem. The British colonisation of the Malay world in the nineteenth century gave rise to various reactions and attitudes among the indigenous communities, the majority of whom were opposed to colonisation, as recorded in traditional Malay literary works. Most of these works expressed the anxiety and hardships they encountered in life under the colonial government. Therefore, it would have been disturbing if any Malay writer were to heap praises on the British colonialists, more so if the writer happened to be a female, as according to the patriarchal system that dominated the conventional Malay literary world, women should be ‘silent’. Nevertheless, this tradition was broken by Hajah Wok Aisyah Nik Idris from Terengganu with her writing of Syair Tuan Hampris, in the early twentieth century. Ironically, in her poem, the author appears to have forgotten the miserable state of the Malays in the other states under the British administration. As such, did Hajah Wok Aisyah have her own reasons for writing the way she did? Was the author of Syair Tuan Hampris captivated by the British administrator? Did the British administrator, J. L. Humphreys, succeed in winning the hearts of the Malays in Terengganu? The method of text analysis was employed in this study, guided by the eight ways proposed by the first British Resident-General of the Federation of Malaya, Sir Frank Swettenham, to Syair Tuan Hampris. This study found that Syair Tuan Hampris invites its readers to savour the unique spectrum of relationships that existed between the colonised people, and the colonialists. The colonialists are no longer regarded as individuals who brought ruin and destruction to the local community, but instead, all their actions are held as being honourable. Thus, the author, being a woman, was able to perfectly explain her closeness to one such colonialist in the verses of her poem. In conclusion, Syair Tuan Hampris is strong and direct proof that women had a voice in the community at that time, even though they had to go against the conventions of Malay literature.

Evangelicalism and Empire: Rudyard Kipling on the Roman Cult of Mithras and Christianization

AbstractAmong the works of Rudyard Kipling, there are several short stories set in the Roman World that feature characters who are members of the cult of Mithras. These stories also involve Christian characters, but while the Mithraic initiates are loyal servants of the Roman Empire, the Christians create and attract disorder. The aim of this article is to explore why Kipling chose to make the heroic characters of these stories Mithraic initiates, and present the Christians in a less positive light. It will be argued that Kipling was attacking Christian evangelicals, who he disliked due to his experiences at the hands of one as a child, and also because of the difficult relationship between Christian missionaries and British imperial administrators, especially in the aftermath of the 1857 Indian Mutiny. In contrast, Kipling’s Mithras cult acknowledges that there are ‘many ways to the light’, and, moreover, by inferring that there are many similarities between the cult of Mithras and Christianity, Kipling hoped to urge evangelical Christians to moderate their behaviour and use his depiction of the Mithras cult as an example of how to better approach religious diversity within the Empire.

British Policy in Palestine: Interests versus Reality (1917-1922)

The period between the publication of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and League of Nations mandates official assignment to Great Britain in 1922 was not lengthy, but highly eventful. All this time England was maneuvring between the Jewish and the Arab national movements, which also gradually formed their own demands and objectives. The problem was, pursuing British interests was possible through maneuvring only, as support of just one local force was not quite strategically advantageous. Britains official commitment to the Balfour Declaration remained at the core of its policy, however it could not completely ignore the demands of the Arab polutaion of Palestine. Although there were quite a number of British administrators and imperial politicians, who were sympathetic towards the Zionist cause and thus were ready to meet their requests to a certain extent, adherence to the British Middle East interests remained crucial to them. The idea of a Jewish national home (not a state, though) in Palestine did not come into contradiction with the general policy of Great Britain in the Middle East: it was rather its integral part. At the same time implementing the Zionist project had to be in line with it: any relatively radical (from the British administrators point of view) proposals were rejected or postponed indefinitely. Towards the Arabs of Palestine Great Britain was conducting mainly declarative policy without any serious consideration of their problems and grievances, although trying to appease their demands to a certain extent. Even the Arab riots of 1920 and 1921 did not cause a serious change in the British political course in Palestine, although they did contribute to the emergence of Churchills White Paper in 1922, declaring certain concessions to the Arab national movement, which never accepted the document. At the same time British policy in general was neither pro-Zionist, nor pro-Arab: England was pursuing its long-term strategic goals in the Middle East, skillfully utilizing Zionist and Arab national movements to achieve them.

Malayness in Gema Dari Menara (1968)

This paper argues that the film Gema Dari Menara produced in 1968 reflects Brunei’s attempt towards constructing a Brunei Malayness as a national identity. During the early twentieth century, the colonial powers particularly in the Peninsula, tried to help establish a sense of unity among the Malays. Although it was not clear whether this was entirely successful, it is possible that the presence of colonial powers had some influence towards fuelling Malays to be more proactive in their own identity construction. After the British began to leave Brunei, the nation-state can be perceived to have intensified its efforts in creating a national identity as a way to unify its people, including the preservation and reconstruction of its Malayness. A close analysis of the characters in the film will reveal portrayals of ideals of Malayness and how Islamic values penetrate Malayness in the Bruneian context. The main character Azman is arguably the epitome of ideal Malayness, as his behaviour, his way of thinking as well as the way he dresses complement what Brunei aspires to for its people, whereas his younger siblings’ partying and wild behaviour are a cautionary tale. These findings will hopefully provide insights for further studies on the impact of the British administration on the Brunei Malay culture or identity formation in Brunei as a postcolonial state.

“Kans Is King and the Cultivator Is His Subject”: Environmental History and Agrarian Development in Modern India

Abstract Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, cultivators and administrators in India contended with the ravages of kans grass (Saccharum spontaneum), a deeply rooted wild sugarcane capable of rendering productive land wholly barren. Difficult to eliminate and endemic throughout India, kans disrupted agricultural efforts in north and central India, particularly in the regions of Jhansi, Bundelkhand, and the Himalayan Terai. Yet the fight against this ecological antagonist was bound up in broader political transformations. As India’s colonial agriculture grew increasingly tied to global markets in the late nineteenth century, and dry regions offered new possible spaces for settled agriculture, imperial administrators grew certain that mechanical tractors held the solution to its eradication. Likewise, postcolonial Indian agronomists cast the production of abundant food as central to their political legitimacy, and they made the eradication of kans a national aim, enlisting the World Bank as a partner. British administrators, nationalist Indians and their postcolonial successors, as well as the World Bank all found a mechanized approach to the eradication of kans politically expedient, at the expense of heeding local ecological and social conditions. The remarkable resilience of kans defied efforts at mechanical removal, and the project foundered until the political economy of Indian agriculture shifted to emphasize chemical pesticides and decentralized control.

THE SOCIAL INTERACTION BETWEEN EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND COMMUNITIES IN NORTH BORNEO (1881-1941)

This study focusing on the social interactions between the European community and the communities in North Borneo during the era of the British North Borneo Company from 1881 to 1941. This study identifies the interrelated factors between the European community and the communities in North Borneo. This study is specific to social interaction between European community with Chinese, Indians, Muruts, Dusun and Sulu’s people in North Borneo which began when these group was given the opportunity to hold positions in the British administration. Based on primary and secondary sources obtained from archives and libraries, the findings of the study found that the beginning of the relationship between the European community with the communities mentioned above is as soon as they work as subordinate workers. After that, the officials followed a lifestyle of the middle class in Europe as revealed by European administrative officials serving in North Borneo. They are not only exposed to the lifestyle of European officials’, but also the image and prestige. However, what limits the social interaction between the European community and the community in North Borneo is the cultural differences and social position in society. Therefore, this study would like to see the role of European community associations and clubs in North Borneo as it can improve the relationship between the European community and the community in North Borneo because, these associations and clubs not only accept non-European members, but also organize sports and leisure to all races, religions and genders. Therefore, this study would like to see the social interaction between the European community and the community in North Borneo which can be seen not only based on their relationship in clubs and associations as well as the relationship of European men and women in North Borneo.

MULTILINGUALISM AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDE THE “CAMEROONIAN PARADOX”

The colonial past of Cameroon has serious consequences on its present, positive as well as negative. As a positive consequence, French-English bilingualism is perhaps the most noteworthy, resulting from the shared governance of the colony between France and Britain. However, while the British administration adopted the ‘Indirect rule’, the French colonists were led by a policy of assimilation which aimed at turning the colonized people into French individuals, particularly in their mind and education. This process involved relegating the numerous indigenous languages (about 250 in Cameroon) to the background, for the benefit of the French language whose prestige was high enough to subjugate Cameroonians. Thus, parents gradually ceased to pass down their language to their children. The younger generations, therefore inherited French as their mother tongue, but now they feel the need to recover their lost inheritance, i.e., indigenous languages. This is what we call here the “Cameroonian paradox”. This paper presents the results of a sociolinguistic survey of 32 Cameroonians living in France. The Postcolonial theory helps us understand this paradoxical phenomenon while raising issues of identity and language endangerment.

Socio-Demographic Factors Associated with Health Condition among Adult Bhantu Population of Andaman: A Cross-Sectional Study

Malnutrition encompassing both under and over nutrition increases health risks in the adult population. In recent days, the increase in obesity and in turn, the incidence of chronic disease in adult population, now urges weight management interventions in obese adults. Bhantu, a De-notified Community of Andaman, labelled as a Criminal Tribe during British administration for their criminal acts, was settled here after their imprisonment. The present study is the first attempt to understand the impact of socio-economic determinants of health condition of Bhantu. It is a community-based study conducted among 305 adult individuals including males and females. Anthropometric measurements of height (cm) and weight (kg) were taken using standard technique and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated. To access socio-demographic condition of Bhantu community, a well-structured questionnaire was used for all participants to collect information on their income, literacy, marital status, types of family and so on. Results revealed that maximum number of males and females were overweight and socio-demographic variables have shown effect on their health. In conclusion, this study highlighted the importance of considering socio-demographic factors in the context of health study and incorporation of socio-demographic determinants in further research work is crucial for maintenance of health, functional independence and quality of life.

OSMANLI’DAN İNGİLİZ DÖNEMİNE KIBRIS TÜRK EĞİTİMİ VE TÜRK İŞLERİ KOMİSYONU RAPORU (1878-1960)

Osmanlı Devleti, Kıbrıs’taki yönetimi boyunca kendi eğitim sistemini burada da tesis etmiştir. Kıbrıs, Osmanlı Devleti’nin içinde bulunduğu koşulların da etkisiyle 1878’de İngiltere’ye kiralanmıştır. İngiltere, Kıbrıs’da yürürlükte olan eğitim sistemine zaman zaman müdahalelerde bulunmuştur. Kıbrıs Türkleri, İngiliz yönetimi boyunca milli eğitim sisteminin kendi kontrollerinde olması için çabalamışsa da çok başarılı olamamıştır. İngiliz Sömürge Yönetimi, İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrasında oluşan şartların da etkisiyle Kıbrıs Türklerinin milli kimliklerinin gelişimini de içeren bir girişimde bulunmuş ve 1948’te Türk İşleri Komisyonu’nu kurmuştur. Komisyon, bir yıla yakın yaptığı çalışmalarından sonra Kıbrıs Türk toplum sorunlarını içeren kapsamlı bir Ara Rapor hazırlamıştır. Bu çalışmada, tarama metoduyla Kıbrıs Türk eğitim tarihinin gelişimi tartışılmış, İngiliz yönetiminin Türk Eğitimine müdahaleleri incelenmiş, Türk İşleri Komisyonu Ara Raporu’ndaki eğitimle ilgili hususlar değerlendirilmiştir.

Exploration and mortification: Fragile infrastructures, imperial narratives, and the self-sufficiency of British naval "discovery" vessels, 1760-1815.

Eighteenth-century naval ships were impressive infrastructures, but subjected to extraordinary strain. To assist with their "voyage repairs," the Royal Navy gradually established numerous overseas bases, displaying the power, reach, and ruthless logistical efficiency of the British state. This article, however, is concerned with what happened where no such bases (yet) existed, in parts of the world falling in between areas of direct British administration, control, or influence. The specific restrictions imposed by technology and infrastructures have been studied by historians interested in naval strategy, but they can also help to reframe national narratives of power or observe the transnational interactions surrounding access to knowledge and resources. This paper discusses the material, cultural, and diplomatic constraints that could appear when vessels, and especially "discovery ships," sailed in strange waters or sought technical assistance in allied ports. I argue that the "mortification" of some commanders at their vessels' unfitness for service was an important - and often neglected - element on the palette of emotions undergone by voyagers, capturing their strong sense of ultimate material powerlessness. Such frustration even became embedded in imperial cartography, as shown by the case study of Matthew Flinders. This perspective highlights the limits of naval technology, complicating imperialistic "success stories" and better reintegrating the navy into the history of maritime travel and transportation, from which it is often singled out.

The Archaeological Activities of the Scott-Stevensons in Cyprus, 1878–1883

The early years of the British administration in Cyprus, which began in 1878, were characterised by an approach of casual acquisition towards the island’s ancient material culture. Civilian administrators and military personnel stationed in Cyprus, prompted by the island’s reputation as a rich source of antiquities, took the opportunity to explore ancient tombs and acquire objects to keep as personal souvenirs or to sell, despite official restrictions on excavation. The nascent Cyprus Museum, responsible for the island’s cultural heritage, lacked resources to restrict or closely monitor this activity. Many objects were removed from their context of excavation without proper recording, resulting in the formation of numerous disparate collections across the UK which lack provenance and documentation. This paper seeks to restore contextual information to some objects dispersed in this way through a re-examination of archives and published sources. While this cannot reconstruct a full archaeological provenance, it can add to the knowledge of individual objects and their collection history, and more broadly the ways in which private and public collections of ancient Cypriot objects were formed through social and intellectual networks. It focuses on the archaeological activities of two British residents, Andrew and Esmé Scott-Stevenson, in Cyprus between 1878 and 1883, demonstrating how such research can contribute both to the archaeological record, and to the social history of archaeology in Cyprus, in particular the recovery of seldom-heard women’s voices.

The Interface between Tradition and Modernity in Naga Society: A Critique from Gender Perspective

ABSTRACT This paper questions to what extent do modern beliefs have an impact on the traditional values concerning the status of Naga women. Nagaland entered the modern era owing to the contact with the British administrators, Christian missionaries and the attainment of statehood. It was believed that the ushering of the modern era would uplift Naga women, however the traditional values were kept much intact, which hinders the opportunities promised by modernity. The interface of tradition and modernity is examined to highlight the incorporation of traditional practices, which hinders Naga women to exploit their potentials. A detailed enquiry through the prevailing customary laws and case studies conducted on the experiences of women provides an interesting account as to why Naga women are yet to achieve a status as par with Naga man. Such constraints can be traced to the ideologies, which glorified the Naga man and thereby occupy a secondary position to males till today.

THE ROLE OF ESTATE GARDEN ALLOTMENTS IN THE SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF TAMIL LABOURERS IN THE FEDERATED MALAY STATES, 1900-1941

The article evaluates the extent to which estate garden allotments in the Federated Malay States (FMS) contributed to the socioeconomic development of Tamil labourers from the opening of the 20th century until 1941. By the late nineteenth century, the British government had initiated an immigrant agriculture policy in response to the need of preserving sufficient labour force to service the industrial economy. The extensive development of rubber industry from the early twentieth century, however, led to the permanent revocation of the policy, considering extensive immigration of large numbers of Tamil labourers was guaranteed through the Tamil (later, Indian) Immigration Fund Ordinance. Nevertheless, the policy did resurface from time to time during periods of economic recession following the First World War from 1917 and the Great Depression in the 1930s. It was when industrial slowdown compelled the British administration and rubber capitalists to preserve as many labourers as possible. The strategy was to induce them in undertaking allotment farming, which was embodied in the 1928 Labour Code. This article serves a twofold purpose. First, to analyze the extent to which the allotments on selected estates were able to alleviate the socioeconomic problems of the Tamils and; secondly, to evaluate the possibility of their transforming into agriculturalists and small-scale food vendors. The final part highlights allotment units, foodstuff cultivation and livestock farming as essential ingredients required for the socioeconomic functioning of estate agricultural allotments.

«In Memory of the Innocent Victims…»? Bleiburg – controversial “place of memory” in Croatia

The article is devoted to the Bleiburg myth in the politics of memory in modern Croatia. In mid-May 1945 the contingents which were trying to move to the West and avoid the possible reprisals against them by the victorious communists were transferred to the Yugoslav partisans by the British military administration. Among them prevailed the members of Croatian Ustasha and Slovene Home Guard, but there were also representatives of other nationalities of Yugoslavia. Soon after the war all the victims of the massacres that took place in 1945 and those who died from hunger and illness during the transfer were Croatized through the efforts of the Croatian emigration. After the collapse of Yugoslavia and during the war (1991–1995), the Bleiburg myth began to acquire official status. The return of Ustasha soldiers as heroes to the public sphere under F. Tudjman was due to the concept of «national reconciliation», which was carried out not through awareness of guilt and acceptance of responsibility for the crimes committed, but through their full or partial justification.The first part of the article reviews the research literature on the Bleiburg myth, the stages of its formation and functional significance. The second part examines the public debate around the Sarajevo mass for the murdered and other commemorative events in the anniversary in May 2020. They are compared with the evaluations of the Bleiburg narrative-ritual complex expressed in the literature.The 75th anniversary of Bleiburg commemorated in an atmosphere of fatigue from the restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic and on the eve of the Croatian parliamentary elections, demonstrated deep social division, the contested character of history and the political interest in discussing this tragedy. Comparison of the research literature with publications in the mass press indicates the obviousness of the functional model of the Bleiburg myth for a significant segment of Croatian society. Although the demand for renewal of the memorial repertoire seems to have increased, it is still not enough for the transition to the new politics of memory.

Traditional Knowledge System of the Maidams of Charaideo

Maidam is a tomb associated with traditional knowledge of the Tai-Ahom community to bury their ancestors with a belief system of life-after-death. Maidams of Charaideo are sacred mausoleums associated with Ahom royals and nobles bearing significance to the cultural heritage of Assam. The process of Maidam intricately involves several processes of preservation of the deceased, rituals, building of the tomb and conservation. However, a significant portion of this traditional knowledge is lost due to influence of Vedic heritage, conversion to Vaishnavism sect, desecration by invaders, and disappearance of Tai literature among the Ahom community. Maidam were a sacrosanct 600 year-old living heritage of Ahom hegemony. But, its statute was dissolved during the British administration and its significance eroded to mere hemispherical mound structure in the last century. This paper brings the traditional knowledge of burial practice of Ahom reign with the touristic-consumerism approach. Using systematic review, textual analysis and site visit, the paper presents a baseline research for proposing a conservation policy of Maidam heritage. Taking cues of tourism attractions of Great Royal Cemetery of Charaideo, this research frames a hypothesis on developing a self-sustainable business model.