British Colonial Research Articles

Elite schools and slavery in the UK – capital, violence and extractivism

ABSTRACT Elite schools in the UK are bound to the history of British colonialism. This paper examines the material ties between these schools and the transatlantic slave trade. We combine multiple sources to examine which schools and their alumni accrued substantial economic capital derived from the enslavement of Black people. We find two principal connections: first, in donations and foundations of schools from those who made their fortune in the slave trade; and second, through income of boys attending these schools. Drawing on the Legacies of British Slavery dataset, we show that schools with alumni benefitting from the slave trade include the most prestigious British private schools. Moreover, this paper traces the histories of several secondary schools founded by, or in receipt of, substantial donations from slave-owning families. We argue that extractive, violent forms of colonial capital accumulation have been central to, the formation and maintenance of these elite educational institutions.

The rise of Hong Kong’s textile industry, 1945–1974: The role of the Hong Kong Spinners Association (HKSA)

After the Second World War, Hong Kong attracted industrial capital from China, especially in the cotton spinning. As the bamboo curtain unfolded, this sector sought trade opportunities in foreign markets and experienced high growth rates until Hong Kong became a global exporter in the 1970s. This article aims to explore the role of the Hong Kong Spinners Association (HKSA) which managed to control the cotton spinning of Hong Kong and a share of weaving and finishing. This article uses data on industrial growth and foreign trade as well as qualitative sources on HKSA to describe the development of Hong Kong’s textile industry between 1945 until 1974. It discusses the constitution and characteristics of HKSA, its impact in the existing network of local business associations and its role in the British colony. This article argues that Chinese firms and institutions played a leading role in the export-oriented industrialisation of Hong Kong.

The Verandah between Climate Determinism and Climate Consciousness

This article explores the architectural typology of the verandah by following its use in residential buildings during the post-Ottoman British colonization and Independence periods in Sudan and differentiating between the concepts of climate determinism and climate consciousness. It brings new archival family photographs and fieldwork to discuss a modern Sudan that is curiously absent from the scholarship of both African and Islamic architecture in order to write the global history of modernism in higher resolution. It shows that the verandah was a British colonial architectural device in the context of a distinct town planning strategy, conceived after the racist segregation of “white men” from “natives” and used for cooling purposes for the sake of colonizers’ comfort in perceived tropical climates. Comparing Abdel Moneim Mustafa’s designs to those of colonial architects such as Gordon Brock Bridgman and independence-era architects such as Peter Muller, the article defines climate consciousness as a position that resists colonial inequalities of climate determinism but does not reject international connections and the modern know-how of climatization. It shows that the colonial connotations of the verandah were transformed after Sudanese independence, thanks to its creative use by architects who critically employed the technical know-how progressed under the field of tropical architecture. The article identifies this approach as the search for a more equitable internationalism that struggled for self-determination in order to undo the domination of global empires but not foreclose cosmopolitanism.

Involvement of the Anglican Church in Nation Building and Political Development in Nigeria

The Anglican Church in Nigeria has a rich history spanning over 180 years. Here is a brief overview of its journey during this time: In 1842, the first Anglican missionaries arrived in Badagry, Nigeria, which was then a British colony. The study depended on secondary sources of data information and its findings influenced the study conclusion and study recommendation.

Girmityas' Portrayal in Ashwin Desai’s Inside Indian Indenture: An Apprehensive Study

Indentured system was highly tormented form of slavery began when the Britishiers faced the lack of labourers at the sugar, cotton and tea plantation due to the end of African slavery . In this system millions of Indians were contracted to work in the 19 British colonies included Fiji, Trinidad, Guyana, South Africa on low wages.Girmityas refers to those bonded indian slaves who agreed to migrate to british colonies in order to escape from the poverty and famine of british india with dream of getting a life of roses without having any idea of difficulties that they were going to face .Some were also defrauded into Migration without any complete knowledge. They were recruited on different plantations by signing a contract of four to five years with the condition of providing the return amenities at the end of their contract however only seldom time it happened. Many died during the journey that took 10 to 20 weeks and many tried to return to their homeland however , failed. In Literature the representation of these turmoiled indentured labourers were first began in Caribbean literature by ARF. Webber, V.S Naipaul, Ashwin Desai etc. In Ashwin Desai’s Inside Indian Indenture we get the realistic and authentic portrayal of the biography of indentured labourers who were ignored by the history. This book seeks to give voice to those unvoiced people whose stories still remained unknown to the masses . This book is a journey through all those silenced, ignored indentured labourers who were tormented by the hardships showered on them by the proprietors.

Embarking on Friendship: Exploring Early Soviet-Indian Relations

By the onset of the Second World War, the USSR had virtually no experience or established traditions of interaction with South Asian countries. Initially, Soviet-Indian relations could be characterized as tepid, largely due to a lack of accurate information about each other. During the wartime, the USSR underestimated the advantages of forging close ties with Indian left-wing centrists, favoring instead communists who provided the Kremlin with falsified data on the national liberation movement in the country.The article examines how bilateral relations evolved and strengthened as mutual knowledge grew. The second stage of Soviet-Indian relations (1955-1971) can be termed as a period of "birth of friendship," as the image of partnership is consolidated in the eyes of Soviet and Indian politicians and the public. Soviet diplomacy played a pivotal role in shaping policy changes: diplomats sought to gather crucial information about events in the country, transmit it to the USSR, and promote bilateral rapprochement, sometimes even acting in violation of instructions.The article pays particular attention to the activities of Subhas Chandra Bose, the leader of the left wing of the Indian National Congress, who according to Indian sociological surveys on the most prominent politicians of the 20th century, ranks second only to Mahatma Gandhi. During the Second World War, he was an uncompromising fighter against British colonialists. The Soviet Union did not pay sufficient attention to S.C. Bose, although he potentially could have been a valuable partner for Moscow.At present, the problem of mutual lack of awareness has resurfaced, hindering the development of closer political, economic, and cultural-humanitarian ties between Russia and India.

Reimagining urban design of stormwater infrastructure in settler‐colonial Sydney

AbstractAlthough many might consider the Australian city of Sydney as defined by golden beaches and a glittering harbour, the city actually has an abundance of wetlands—swamps and marshes laid out across the eastern Sydney region. Dramatic transformations of these waterscapes have taken place since 1788, when British colonists landed to form the settlement there. Environmental exploitation has been a key part of settler‐colonial projects across the world. Sydney is no different. To contextualise this exploitation, I explore the ways in which a specific water infrastructure system in Sydney—the Tank Stream—has been entangled with, and is emblematic of, settler‐colonial politics. I argue that to reimagine futures where such ecologically and culturally damaging infrastructures no longer have a presence in the city requires a nuanced interpretation of both water and history. I suggest that “conventional” stormwater design features emerged from colonial viewings of Sydney’s waterscapes. The transformation of these geographies was imposed on existing water management systems, set within local, First Nations knowledges. Thus, I also consider the Tank Stream as a site with potential to present an anti‐colonial hydraulic urban co‐design framing. I draw on colonial archival material and field site visits to question the importance that settler‐colonial urban design has had in shaping contemporary ways of thinking about watery spaces. I conclude by arguing that the hydro‐imperial knowledges must make way for a culturally inclusive urban water design that centres and elevates First Nations design.

The Globalization of Guinness: Marketing Taste, Transferring Technology

Abstract Brewed in 50 countries and consumed in 150, Guinness Stout has become a global commodity. Although associated with Irish pubs and diasporic populations, it has also become popular in former British colonies of Africa and Southeast Asia. This article adopts a mobility studies perspective to show how Guinness built its global appeal, first through trade and settlement in the British empire during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and subsequently by navigating the upheavals of decolonization and economic integration in the second half of the twentieth and early twenty first centuries. Transfers of brewing technology and marketing techniques were essential for the company’s success in postcolonial markets. In particular, this article shows that metropolitan exporters could work with colonial subjects to subvert imperial policies. Such alliances were not entirely unexpected, for with its headquarters in a former British colony, Guinness was ideally situated to blend the global and the local, just as the company had successfully bridged the bloody divide of Irish independence, remaining as beloved in Belfast, loyalist heartland of Northern Ireland, as in Dublin, capital of the Irish Republic.

Indentured Servitude: Unfree Labour and Citizenship in the British Colonies, by Anna Suranyi

Indentured Servitude: Unfree Labour and Citizenship in the British Colonies, by Anna Suranyi

Digging The ‘Dirt’: Roots and Routes of Stigma

Historically, Dalit identity is associated with different stereotypical notions. In this article, we have attempted to explore the underlying factors behind the stigma associated with them from the micro perspective in a small Muslim-dominated context of Bangladesh based on a series of intensive fieldwork. It reveals that Dalit cleaners are widely considered impure, dirty, strange, chaotic, alcoholic, and inferior. We combined two theoretical perspectives to interpret the matter systematically: Douglas’s notion of purity and pollution and Foucauldian discourse. The apparent reasons for the stigma associated with Dalit cleaners at Bhairab are association with ‘Dirty jobs, pig rearing, pork consumption, liquor consumption, and business. However, the empirical pieces of evidence show that different historical, religious, and socio-political factors (such as ideological domination of Hindu scriptures, the intervention of British colonialism, and the negative role of media and local influential businessmen) contribute significantly to the stigma.

Conflicts in the Negotiations Between China and Britain on the Return of Hong Kong

Hong Kong became a British colony in 1840. In the 1980s, the PRC government took the opportunity that Britain sent officials to sound out China’s attitude towards the Hong Kong issue to introduce “one country, two systems” policy. Because the British government, led by Margaret Thatcher, repeatedly made difficulties against China on treaty and sovereignty issues, the negotiation process was challenging. After three changes of attitude in negotiation, the British government gradually realized the tough position of the Chinese government and agreed to return Hong Kong’s sovereignty. However, Hong Kong has encountered the dramatically changing of world pattern over these 40 years. Anti-China movements in Hong Kong have colluded with overseas organizations, repeatedly set off riots and conflicts. Under such conflicts, the restoration of social order and economic development in Hong Kong need to re-examine the government organizations and policies within it, as well as the “one country, two systems”. This paper takes the Sino-British negotiations as the starting point, makes a detailed analysis of the game between the two sides in the negotiations. By relating them with the actual situation of Hong Kong society, especially the 2019 riots, the paper analyzes the Hong Kong problem and examines the roots of the ongoing conflicts in Hong Kong.

The Plantation Carbon Complex: Slavery and the Origins of Climate Change in the Early Modern British Atlantic

Abstract: In recent years, scholars working across the humanities and social sciences have suggested that agricultural land use emissions from early modern enslaved labor plantations may have played an important role in the origins of anthropogenic, or human-induced, climate change. Yet historians of slavery and the early modern Atlantic world have been slow to engage with this argument. Focusing on the major enslaved-grown export commodities of the colonial British Atlantic world, this paper employs a carbon accounting method to test whether enslaved labor plantations and enslaved-grown exports substantially increased agricultural land use emissions in the early modern British Atlantic and how they compared to British fossil fuel emissions—namely, coal burning—in the colonial period. For each of the major types of plantations modeled—tobacco, rice, and sugar—enslaved labor, regardless of crop, decisively increased the amount of carbon any single household could emit. But the wide divergence in emissions between different plantation types and export crops suggests that enslaved labor was only one essential, though not singular, factor shaping the carbon footprint of enslaved-based plantations and enslaved-grown commodities. It was instead the interaction of the multiple factors comprising what we call the plantation carbon complex —racial and gender ideologies, crop ecologies, capital requirements, African agricultural knowledge, and enslaved resistance, among other factors—that determined an individual plantation or commodity's emissions. Nonetheless, the results reveal that the combined emissions of enslaved-grown tobacco, rice, and sugar exports far surpassed not only the emissions of the major non-enslaved-grown agricultural exports of the British Atlantic colonies but also British coal emissions throughout the eighteenth century. The form of enslaved-based racial capitalism represented by colonial British plantations thus marked an important transition in the shift toward a more carbon-intensive global economy.

The Ghadar Movement in Thailand, 1914–1917: Overseas Indian ‘Rebels’ and Their Multinational Asian Assistants

Abstract The Ghadar Movement was an effort by a group of overseas Indians from diverse diasporas around the Indo-Pacific region to set up an armed revolution to free India from the grip of British colonialism. This work mainly argues that Thailand was not merely functioning as a passage of the Ghadarites from abroad to return to India through its borders, but instead that different parts of the country were harboring their various clandestine and seditious missions. These activities were not only carried out by the overseas Indians travelling from abroad, but also by many “local Indians” in Thailand who turned themselves into active underground revolutionaries. By analyzing several cases of multinational Asian “allies” of the Ghadarites in Thailand, this study furthers the discussion initiated by previous scholars on the possible links between the Ghadar Movement and the tide of “Pan-Asianism” flourishing in different parts of Asia during the early twentieth century.

백석의 작품을 통해 본 정주 지역어의 음운현상에 대한 고찰

The purpose of this study is to examine the phonological phenomena shown in Baek Seok's literary works. Baek Seok(1912~1996) who was born in Ikseong-dong, Galsan-myeon, Jeongju-gun of Pyeonganbuk-do in 1912, graduated from Osan Primary School and Osan High School. After going through the writing practice period, he made his debut as a writer by winning the prize in the Chosun Ilbo New-Year Literary Contest in 1930. After graduating from the Dept. of English in Cheongsan School of Tokyo, he started working as a proofreading reporter of Chosun Ilbo from the following year(1935). For about three years from 1936, he worked as a teacher of Yeongsaeng High School of Hamheung. After the liberation, he moved from his hometown Jeongju to Yanggang-do near Amnok River. Before he passed away in 1996, he cultivated literary people there. Baek Seok published his poetical works Deer in 1936. By following Irish novelist James Augustine Aloysius Joyce who aimed to protect his mother tongue under the British colonization, he utilized proper nouns and sensory words using Pyeongan-do dialect. Except for several native words, the initial law and palatalization were not mostly applied. While the front-vowelization was rarely applied, the high-vowelization was realized into ‘ㅗ > ㅜ’ and ‘ㅓ> ㅡ’, and the umlaut was realized into ‘ㅏ>ㅐ’ and ‘ㅓ>ㅔ’. In most cases, the vowel harmony was not followed while there was the vowel addition for the formation of rules. Such phonological phenomena not only show the characteristics of Jeongju dialect of Pyeonganbuk-do, but also show the renovated form according to the progressive assimilation of each dialect area.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying!”: My (In)capability to Perform the Standardized English Language

ABSTRACT In this critical postcolonial autoethnography, I share my lived experiences growing up as a subordinate middle-class Indian who was (un)able to perform the language of English despite his exposure to English medium education and hence, was deemed (in)capable of any future aspirations. In this paper, I use my body as a site of struggle to analyze how the performance of the standardized English language which was initially encouraged by British colonizers to ensure systemic manipulation of the colonized has now been normalized as an absolute necessity that automatically ensures upward mobility. In this process, I also examine how the hegemony of the foreign language regulates and disciplines the societal aspirations of the Indian middle class. Ultimately, I use this paper to reflect on my journey – from my (in)capability to perform the English language to embracing my subordinate Bengali middle-class identity and how I negotiate my (in)capability as my critical intersectional identity.

Timeo danaos et dona ferentes, або як Кремль дружив з незалежною Литвою проти другої Речі Посполитої (1918–1940): історична та історико-правова розвідка

Soviet foreign policy in the interwar (1918–1939) period was carried out on the basis of the strategy and tactics of the "world revolution", which, in turn, provided for the rallying of all "anti-imperialist forces", including the so-called oppressed peoples. While supporting the struggle of the Hindus against the British colonialists or the Chinese Kuomintang against imperial Japan, the Kremlin manipulators did not let the European continent out of their sight. One of the powerful knots of contradictions at that time became the Polish-Lithuanian relations, caused by the forceful annexation of the Vilnius region by the Poles, even contrary to the decision of the Versailles Conference. From the very beginning of the conflict, the Union of the SSR sided with Kaunas under the Pharisaic slogan of the right of nations to self-determination. Explanations for this lay on the surface. First, the interwar Second Commonwealth in its then borders was a project of the Council of Ambassadors of the Versailles Conference (primarily of France), concerned about the Soviet threat. Secondly, Moscow did not have a territorial conflict with Lithuania, but it did with Poland. Thirdly, actual (non)intervention in the conflict, its intensification or, on the contrary, its weakening could be used as a bargaining chip in relations with third states (such as Germany). Kaunas also had its interest, which lay on the surface (Vilnius region). The Soviet invasion of Poland, carried out under the pretext of taking under the protection of the population, which the "unreasonable policy of the Polish authorities" allegedly put in an extremely dangerous situation, was accompanied by a "generous" act of restoration of historical justice for the Lithuanians offended by the Polish invaders. However, in less than a year, the Soviet Janus showed his true face to the until recently friendly Lithuania.

Британские миссии зенаны XIX века и их проекты освобождения индийских женщин

The article studies the goals, objectives, directions of work of the British zenana missions in the XIX th century based on the analysis of reports and articles in missionary magazines. It is shown that the creation of organizations was caused by the desire to help the disenfranchised women of India. Women missionaries sought to mitigate the social exclusion of Indian women, opposed cruel customs, slavery and humiliation of women, provided them with educational and medical services. Christianization was carried out without violence, through familiarization with Western culture. The author concludes that, the missionaries made a great contribution to the socio-cultural development of India, the improvement of social relations, the development of women’s education and the medical system of the British colony.

REPRESENTATION OF THE PAST: DICKENSIAN ORPHANHOOD AS A METAPHOR OF BRITISH COLONIALISM IN RICHARD FLANAGAN’S "WANTING"

During the process of colonial expansion and conquering new territories together with their people, the British Empire never took full responsibility for the citizens of its new overseas possessions. By forcing the colonised nations to accept European standards, British colonialism aimed at expunging their indigenous traditions in a process of acculturation. If colonial power dynamics can be metaphorically seen as parent-child relations, the dissemination of racist ideas eulogising the superior value of the white man over the colonised Other exposes British colonial parenthood as a fiasco. In this paper I will discuss Richard Flanagan’s novel Wanting (2008), presenting it as an illustration of the Empire’s lack of responsibility towards its overseas progeny. I will use the Dickensian motif of orphanhood which, when transferred into a colonial reality, can be construed as a metaphor of the colonial condition of the subaltern exploited by British hegemony. I will present the orphaned Aboriginal girl Mathinna who is separated from her community and coercively subjected to the social process of acculturation. In Homi Bhabha’s terms, by adapting the coloniser’s culture, Mathinna emerges as a hybrid, who, by mimicking the hegemonic culture, becomes a threat to the certitude of the colonial authority. In the end she is without any protective affiliation and abandoned by her adoptive parents, and thus falls into the pattern of the orphan as depicted in Dickens’s fiction.

A pioneer Turkish urologist-medical historian (Saim Erkun 1901-1949) and his one-century-old review about prostate.

Saim Erkun (1901-1949) was born in Manisa at Aegean region of Anatolia as an Ottoman citizen. While his early life was spent in late Ottoman times at military actions including military prison camp in British colony; India, his active professional productive period was in early Turkish republic period (Est. 1923, centenary). He had a good education period for medicine with the help of his good level of all main World scientific languages such as French, German, and English. Besides his main profession, he was also interested in Ottoman urological medicine around the conquer of Istanbul and allocated them a space in his books in 1930s. He was one of the earliest urology resident (1929-1933, Istanbul) of modern medicine in Turkey. He performed many urological procedures and published the outcomes following modern scientific algorithms, furthermore, there have been urological books including "history" partly referring to antique Ottoman literature among his publications. In this manuscript we focused on the magic word of Urology forever; "Prostate," among his essays. Turkish medicine, particularly urology, renewed itself by some intelligent hard working young clinicians such as Saim Erkun, immediately after the short struggling by means of establishment process of modern Turkiye after World War I by the collapsing of old Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, we think that the stunning special word of urology, "prostate," should especially be mentioned to emphasize the importance of this beginning.

Reading history through animal imagery from pre–WWII British editorial cartoons: Gandhi’s anticolonial struggle during India’s civil disobedience movement (1930–1931)

ABSTRACT This article studies animal imagery published in pre-WWII British editorial cartoons offering constant updates about India’s Civil Disobedience movement (1930s) against British colonialism to uncover the processes through which the event and the people participating in it, both Indian political leaders and British administrators, were designated a particular animal symbol that popularly became associated with their identities in the long run. In other words, the article looks into the question of how animal images affect the iconography of historical personalities. The article will be an insight into defamiliarizing/deconstructing the events and people from this movement and then analyse how animals were used as substitutes for defining, explaining, and debating a concept, a human, an event, or a nationality in the cartoons published in British newspapers in those times. Consequently, I will explore satirical representations of everyday politics during the Civil Disobedience movement, thus offering the cultural history of the Raj in those times. As these editorial cartoons are published almost at the same time as the actual occurrence of events in the 1930s, they also give an insight into the prevalent colonial stereotypes, traditions, beliefs, humour, tolerance level, as well as ‘domestic politics, social themes,’ of the existing society (Kemnitz).