British Colonial Administration Research Articles

Alexander Hamilton and the Early Republic in Edwardian Imperial Thought

In the first decade of the twentieth century, a rising generation of British colonial administrators profoundly altered British usage of American history in imperial debates. In the process, they influenced both South African history and wider British imperial thought. Prior usage of the Revolution and Early Republic in such debates focused on the United States as a cautionary tale, warning against future ‘lost colonies’. Aided by the publication of F. S. Oliver's Alexander Hamilton (1906), administrators in South Africa used the figures of Hamilton and George Washington, the Federalist Papers, and the drafting of the Constitution as an Anglo-exceptionalist model of (modern) self-government. In doing so they applied the lessons of the Early Republic to South Africa, thereby contributing to the formation of the Union of 1910. They then brought their reconception of the United States, and their belief in the need for ‘imperial federation’, back to the metropole. There they fostered growing diplomatic ties with the US while recasting British political history in-light-of the example of American federation. This process of inter-imperial exchange culminated shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles when the Boer Generals Botha and Smuts were publicly presented as Washington and Hamilton reborn.

English

Post-colonial urban growth and expansion is spiralling in Nigerian cities, marked by a curious lack of planning in the newly developed areas despite an initial impetus during the colonial administration for some measure of formal regulation. This paper attempts to examine the character of the phenomenon and its contrasts with the foundation laid for modern formal town planning during the colonial era in Nigeria. It examines these trends using the city of Zaria in Northern Nigeria. This shows the transition in the development of the form and structure of the city from pre-colonial period to the present and how weak public institutional structures as well as policies have led to the creation of an uncontrolled environment, which leaves most new developments in the city unplanned. A review of this case study reveals that Zaria, a large and historic city with pre-colonial roots, was established as one of the medieval Hausa Cities. Its structure includes a tripartite form, representing elements from pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial town planning precepts. The ancient city reflects a traditional settlement setting based on traditional principles of organisation in walled cities. The colonial settlement areas are represented by the European Reservation Area, established to accommodate staff of the British colonial administration at the beginning of the last century and the native areas to accommodate native African settlers. Each of these colonial components had been formally planned using modern town planning principles though of a different genre in each case. What followed those colonial developments after independence in 1960 is an array of uncontrolled outgrowth in the periphery of each of these units that has become the albatross for planned development in the city. The paper reveals weak institutional controls in land administration and the resultant informal access to land and its development as the main factors leading to the observed trends and argues that it represents a paradoxical situation that betrays the foundations laid earlier for modern town planning. Key words: Town planning, Nigeria, colonial, Hausa cities.

Pornography and Indian miniature painting: the case of Avadh, India

ABSTRACTThis article investigates miniature paintings produced in Avadh, India, during the reign of the nawabs of Avadh (r. 1722–1856) that have been consequently labelled as pornography. My case studies include Avadhi miniature paintings that have been installed and categorized as pornography and/or as obscenity starting in the nineteenth century and into the present day. British colonial administrators first applied the label of obscenity to these paintings when they began to taxonomize and donate their collections to museums in the 1800s. In the British Library, for example, painting albums such as Richard Johnson’s Album J.42 were sequestered alongside other material that might provoke sexual arousal. Curators later marked this album for destruction in 1830. When the word pornography started gaining wider currency in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, these paintings moved from the parameters of obscenity into pornography. Rather than focusing entirely on the censorship practices undertaken in museums and archival libraries with regard to these paintings, this article builds on recent scholarship that interrogates the use of the languages of colonialism and race in the formation of the category of pornography.

Islamic Law, Colonialism, and Mecca's Shadow in the Horn of Africa

Abstract Drawing on the case of British Somaliland (circa 1884–1960), this article argues that Islam—and competing views of Islamic law in politics—occupied a critical role during the region's colonial period. In particular, British colonial administrators and Muslim clerics both turned eastward to the Arabian Peninsula for inspiration and justification for their critiques of one another.

The colonial origins of fiscal capacity: Evidence from patronage governors

We combine historical personnel data from the British colonial administration with modern public finance data to study the impact of colonial governors on fiscal capacity. Exploiting rule-based variation in the allocation of governors connected to their superior at the time of appointment, we find that modern-day countries exposed to more patronage governors exhibit lower fiscal capacity today. These negative effects are persistent over time and driven by indirect taxes that patronage governors disproportionately controlled in the colonial period. The results thus provide evidence for a public finance channel through which the effects of patronage appointments extend beyond decolonization.

Economy and Health in the Gold Coast, 1902–1957

The economy and health of populations have had inextricable relationships over time. Prior to colonisation, the environment of the Gold Coast like other places within the tropics of Africa was tagged as the “graveyard of the White man” due to its environmental vulnerability to diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dysentery and sleeping sickness among others. In this regard, scholars have argued that colonisation did not only lead to the exploitation of the resources of Africa and the Gold Coast in particular, but it also led to the enhancement of public health. Essentially, the British Colonial Administration put measures in place to check common diseases that disturbed the people of the Gold Coast. The study therefore pays attention to the extent of disease burden on the adult working population in Gold Coast. The paper also examines how same colonial occurrences influenced the post-independence government of Ghana and Nkrumah’s administration in particular. Secondly, tying economic status to health and well-being, the study concludes with an analysis of how such public health interventions had the propensity to impact on the social and economic well-being of the people of Gold Coast, with specific emphasis on Accra and Kumase during the 1950s.

L’éruption patriote: The Revolt against Dalhousie and the Petitioning Explosion in Nineteenth-Century French Canada

As much as any other site in the nineteenth century, Francophone Lower Canada saw immense waves of popular petitioning, with petitions against British colonial administration attracting tens of thousands of signatures in the 1820s. The petition against Governor Dalhousie of 1827–28 attracted more than 87,000 names, making it one of the largest mass petitions of the Atlantic world on a per-capita scale for its time. We draw upon new archival evidence that shows the force of local organization in the petition mobilization, and combine this with statistical analyses of a new sample of 1,864 names from the anti-Dalhousie signatory list. We conclude that the Lower Canadian petitioning surge stemmed from emergent linguistic nationalism, expectations of parliamentary democracy, and the mobilization and alliance-building efforts of Patriote leaders in the French-Canadian republican movement. As elsewhere in the nineteenth-century Atlantic, the anti-Dalhousie effort shows social movements harnessing petitions to recruit, mobilize, and build cross-cultural alliances.

Dorothy Stopford Price and the control of tuberculosis in Ireland

During the 1930s, tuberculosis was a leading cause of death in Irish children. By then, Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin had demonstrated their Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine in France and it was beginning to be used elsewhere, but the British and Irish medical establishments were not convinced. Against this background, a young Anglo-Irish paediatrician, Dorothy Price, decided to do her own studies in Dublin. Her persistence was instrumental in the introduction of a national tuberculosis vaccination schedule for Ireland in 1949, ahead of the UK's in 1954. She combined a spirited determination to make up her own mind on personal, political, and medical matters with an engaging personality that won her allies of almost all persuasions. Agnes Yewande Savage, Susan Ofori-Atta, and Matilda Clerk: three pioneering doctorsThe British colonial administration in West Africa in the first half of the 20th century operated an explicitly racist employment policy, including in its medical service: no African medical professional could reach a position of authority over white colleagues. At the same time, medical training had only recently become accessible to women in the UK, and was non-existent within Ghana, or the Gold Coast as it was known until independence. So it is remarkable that under these circumstances three West African women qualified as doctors and showed by their example the crucial role of women in advancing maternal and child health. Full-Text PDF Women making medical history: introducing A Woman's PlaceIn December, 2017, The Lancet issued a call for papers for its special theme issue on women in science, medicine, and global health .1 The Comment outlined the gender inequalities in medicine that still persist, long after many overt barriers to women's participation have fallen. While that theme issue will be forward-looking, I believe we can also gain insights from looking to the past for examples of women who have made their mark against the odds, and by asking what it was about their particular circumstances that enabled them to do so. Full-Text PDF Susan La Flesche Picotte: a doctor who spanned two culturesAs a child, she accompanied her father and the Omaha people on buffalo hunts. As an adult, she saw their traditional way of life disappearing, provided medical care to her community, and acted as an advocate for the Omaha people's rights over land. Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first Native American woman to qualify as a doctor in the USA, learned the ways of the dominant white population while never rejecting her Omaha identity. Full-Text PDF

THE CYPRUS UPRISING OF 1931 IN THE GREAT BRITAIN’S IMPERIAL POLICY

The paper is devoted to the Cyprus uprising of 1931. The comprehensive study of the rebellion was conducted in the article. The disintegrating processes of the British Empire, economical and religious factors, domestic and external policy were analyzed as the main reasons of the uprising. The paper focuses on the similar features of the Greece and Turkish policy towards the Cyprus problem at that period. An attention was paid to the external influence on the home policy in Cyprus. The British colonial administration and its policy were in the focus of view in the paper. The main idea of the article is the system connection between the Cyprus uprising of 1931 and imperial and regional processes before and after the mentioned events.The October rebellion, the Greek Cypriots raised in 1931, was an integrate problem of the British Empire from the one hand and the local problem of Greek and Turkish nationalism from another. The matter requires to take into account both cases. The Cyprus uprising of 1931 took place against a background of the anti-colonial trends in Ireland, India and Canada at that period. This fact allows us to conclude that the Cyprus events have general imperial features.Objective economic reasons also underlay the rebellion in Cyprus. Great Depression of 1929-1933 decreased deeply living standard on the island by reducing consumption of Cyprus export goods and travel service all over Europe. The Greek and Turkish home policy caused Cyprus negative processes as well. That’s why the beginnings of the Cyprus uprising of 1931 was accompanied by Orthodox religious and Greek nationalistic slogans.The political conflict in Cyprus turned into the riot’s preconditions. During the first stage of the riot British colonial authorities showed their inability to settle the problem in time. Incoherence of the army and police activity led the Governor’s residence to be burned down. That accident was called the most shameful humiliation British Empire ever obtained at the interwar period. Riot’s scales demonstrated the general Greek-community orientation. The Turkish-Cypriot’s reaction and their role in the uprising’s suppression provided a basis to the future inter-communal conflict.The events of the Cyprus uprising of 1931 were an integral part of the imperial and regional processes. The main causes of the rebellion demonstrated its general empire character. Political processes in Greece and Turkey influenced the Cyprus problem. That was reflected at slogans and ideas of the rebels. This accident, in addition, worsened Greek-Turkish relations. Mentioned facts argued that the Cyprus uprising of 1931 intensified anti-colonial attitudes and interethnic tensions between Greeks and Turks on the island for decades ahead.

Gud Gii AanaaGung: Look at One Another

Abstract On the Northwest Coast of North America, artwork has always documented identity; relationships with each other, the earth, and the supernatural; and histories held by individuals, clans, or Nations—spanning back to time immemorial. Artists use local and introduced materials and embrace new mediums to represent how to make some sense out of the world. These artworks reflect complicated relationships that artists navigated with European and British explorers, settlers, colonial administrators, and visitors during a period when communities were grappling with fundamental changes in social practices and cultural expressions. Published histories of art from these regions represent historically selective collecting practices and inform what appears to be—but what was not—the full range of artistic production. Scholarship and exhibitions must represent the full range of aesthetic creations unstifled by biased conceptions of what constitutes Northwest Coast “art” in order to fully explore the cosmopolitan expressions of First Nations' imagery.

The Costs of Patronage: Evidence from the British Empire

I combine newly digitized personnel and public finance data from the British colonial administration for the period 1854–1966 to study how patronage affects the promotion and incentives of governors. Governors are more likely to be promoted to higher salaried colonies when connected to their superior during the period of patronage. Once allocated, they provide more tax exemptions, raise less revenue, and invest less. The promotion and performance gaps disappear after the abolition of patronage appointments. Patronage therefore distorts the allocation of public sector positions and reduces the incentives of favored bureaucrats to perform. (JEL D73, F54, H83, J45, M51, N43, N44)

Forced Labour, Roads, and Chiefs: The Implementation of the ILO Forced Labour Convention in the Gold Coast

AbstractThis article analyses the implications of the Forced Labour Convention of 1930 on colonial labour policies for road labour carried out under chiefs in the Gold Coast. The British colonial administration implemented a legal application of the convention that allowed the continuation of the existing system of public works. In the Gold Coast, the issue of road labour was most prominent in the North, where chiefs maintained the majority of roads. Indirect rule became crucial in retaining forced labour in compliance with the convention. This article focuses on “hidden strategies” of British colonialism after 1930, contrasting studies of blatant cases of forced labour. The analysis is based on a close scrutiny of the internal discourse among colonial officials on the question of road labour and the Forced Labour Convention.

The Silent Framers of British North American Union: The Colonial Office and Canadian Confederation, 1851–67

One hundred and fifty years after the creation of the “Dominion” of Canada, it is notable that historians have often downplayed the role of the British Colonial Office in initiating and guiding the process that brought about the union of the colonies of British North America. In the traditional narrative, the British government and Colonial Office were forced to accept the Quebec Resolutions drafted by North American representatives as a fait accompli. This view tends to exaggerate the importance of Confederation as a singular constitutional event, and it does not take into account the active pursuit, by numerous colonial administrators over the course of the years prior to Confederation, to organize some form of union of the British North American colonies and the considerable influence they exercised over the nature of the union created in 1867. This article examines the intentions of the various British colonial administrators and their visions for a federal or legislative model for the governance of the new Dominion. It argues that while the Colonial Office heavily favoured a strong legislative union, the British North America Act of 1867 was ultimately a product of compromise resulting in the strong ambiguities that gave rise to the later notion of a “compact theory.” These ambiguities were further reflected in the innovative designation of “Dominion” to the newly united provinces; however, this article warns that it is crucial that scholars are wary of anachronistically imposing Canada's eventual quasi-independent Dominion status upon the circumstances of 1867.

Colonial Bureaucrats, Institutional Transplants, and Development in the 20th Century

Abstract The article presents a new research agenda which links the composition of the British colonial administrations in the mid-20th century with the economic development of former colonies. It presents the first findings taken from the biographical records of over 14,000 senior colonial officers which served in 46 colonies between 1939 and 1966. Legal transplanting, i.e. the process of copying foreign law into countries lacking them, is discussed as a common practice in international development efforts and as new approach in understanding long-term economic development. The approach puts emphasis on the senior bureaucrats who are in charge of institutional copying. Successful transplanting requires very specific training and personal experience in the receiving society. Colonial officers with such characteristics served in the British colonial administrations while decolonization provides a historic period of intensified legal and institutional transplanting.

Rising of the Phoenix: Mitigating Political Risk through Knowledge Management—Behn, Meyer & Co., 1840–1959

This article examines how a German firm in the Malay Peninsula—Behn, Meyer & Co.—capitalized on its knowledge management to overcome political risks during the period from 1840 until 1959. During the two world wars, all assets and properties of the Behn Meyer firm were systematically expropriated because of the introduction of the Alien Enemies (Winding Up) Act of 1914 and the subsequent imposition of a ten-year ban by the British colonial administration in the Malay Peninsula. However, Behn Meyer’s resilience and flexible outlook, as demonstrated by its management of political risks during these tumultuous periods, enabled it to rebuild its business interests and reestablish a foothold in postcolonial Malaysia and the region. This article argues that Behn Meyer displayed an exemplary business strategy, utilized its understanding of the geopolitics of the area, and leveraged its local and international networks to ensure its survival and longevity in the most tumultuous period in the history of the world.

Federally administered tribal areas: British colonial legacy in postcolonial age

The following paper analyzes the role of administrative experience of the British Empire on Northwest boundary of the British India in 19 the first half of the 20th centuries in Pakistan political policy choice concerning the federally administered tribal areas in the second half of 20 the beginning of the 21st centuries. At the same time special attention is paid to the British colonial practices which saved the value during a post-colonial era in the tribes zone. The author also pays attention to the role of colonial experience in asymmetrical conflict settlement with the USA involvement in Afghanistan territory as well as to features of interaction of Washington and Islamabad in the tribes zone. The author concludes about perspectives of colonial knowledge in federally administered tribal areas administration during a post-colonial era taking into account historical experience of the British colonial administration on Northwest boundary of British India during the age of empires. The paper also reveals the impact of postcolonial practices on the history of modern Pakistan and on the choice of its way to reform the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), as well as the role of other regional players in the reform of the FATA.

Decolonizing interwar anticolonial solidarities: The case of Harry Thuku

This essay suggests that a focus on the transnational and transcultural dimensions of twentieth-century interwar anticolonial movements in Africa creates opportunities to decolonize a historiographical tendency to foreground certain elitist accounts of the period that continue to pervade contemporary anticolonial scholarship. The essay explores the case of Harry Thuku, an early Kenyan nationalist and pan-Africanist active in Kenya Colony in the early 1920s, and subsequently imprisoned and exiled by the British colonial administration. Contemporaneous accounts largely painted Thuku as an insignificant lone agitator, being manipulated by East African Asian organizations, whilst more contemporary scholarship continues to depict him and his movement in strictly methodologically nationalist terms. This essay presents evidence to suggest Thuku’s actions were constituted across domestic cultural and class boundaries, as well as transnational anticolonial and pan-African networks. As such, the essay constructs an account of transcultural, transnational anticolonial solidarities that have thus far largely been confined to analyses of more obviously globally networked interwar spaces (i.e. imperial metropoles, West Africa, South Africa, and Ethiopia) and which thus unwittingly risk perpetuating a colonial historiography of the period.

The Myth of Colonial ‘Protection’ of Indigenous Peoples: The Case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts under British Rule

Through a critical examination of British colonial policies in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh, this article challenges the conventional wisdom that colonial administration had a benevolent strategy of ‘protecting’ indigenous peoples. To this end, this article specifically dispels three examples of such protectionist rhetoric advanced in the CHT by the British colonial administration: protection of hill peoples from external invasions, from the exploitation of dominant Bangalee groups, and from their own oppressive chiefs. I conclude that these protectionist policies were in fact motivated by self-interest and, therefore, often proved to be counterproductive for hill peoples by further empowering dominant Bangalees and tribal chiefs. Therefore, in engaging with the question of ‘protection’ of ordinary hill peoples in the CHT from ongoing oppression and marginalisation, we must consider new paradigms, beyond the colonial isolationist and seclusionist model of protection.

Transcultural tension and the politics of sewage management in (post) colonial Lagos

ABSTRACTThe culture of sewage management in Lagos dates back to pit latrines (Shalanga) in precolonial Lagos; this culture gave way to bucket latrines in the wake of British colonial administration in Lagos and then to mobile toilets in postcolonial Lagos. The introduction of bucket latrines created a new job category known as Agbepo (night-soil men) and a new material practice in the management of faecal waste among ethnicities and races inhabiting the urban space of Lagos. This material practice, I argue, created ethnic tensions and reveals the extent to which varying perceptions of sewage management determine how people perceive and relate with one another in Lagos. To validate my argument, my paper proceeds from the vantage point of the phenomenology of disgust, drawing on Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease, archival materials, and selected live interviews to examine how varying perceptions of sewage management play out in the construction of relationships in Lagos.

Contextualising social enterprise in Fiji

PurposeThis study aims to examine the geographic, historical and institutional influences on social enterprise in a small Pacific island country.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on theoretical literature and factual materials published by reputable sources and based on local knowledge of the authors, the study considers how Fiji’s location; history; and social, economic, political and cultural institutions affect social enterprise.FindingsSocial enterprise is influenced by Fiji’s remote location and small economy, which reduces access to external information and suggests that the nation is slow to embrace new ideas. Fiji’s demographics, ethnic divisions and cultural arrangements create economic and political tensions that affect how support services and economic policies are delivered. Indians were brought to Fiji under the British colonial administration, and Fijians with Indian heritage now make up almost 40% of the population. Informal separation and growing tensions between these Fijian Indian citizens and indigenous Fijians have contributed to political instability. The resulting outmigration of skilled nonindigenous people has reduced levels of human capital and expertise. This limits Fiji’s capacity to innovate, including developing a robust social enterprise sector. Although social enterprise could be a very effective way to address social and economic problems in Fiji, it seems unlikely that the government will embrace the concept without support and encouragement from external sources, especially international aid and UN agencies.Research limitations/implicationsGeneralisability is not assumed with this study, as it examines only one Pacific island country; however, it is likely that the findings will apply in other small Pacific island countries having similar cultural arrangements.Practical implicationsThis paper offers information that will assist practitioners, researchers and policymakers in understanding and negotiating complexities of the institutional environment in remote locations, especially in small Pacific island countries.Originality/valueAs one of the first studies of a small Pacific island country, this paper extends scholarship in this region and adds to the current understandings of social enterprise. In particular, the paper adds valuable, new knowledge of the effects of geographic location, political instability and cultural and ethnic divisions. This study is likely to be relevant for other small countries in isolated locations, especially those in the Pacific region with similar cultural environments.