Imperial Context Research Articles

A Unique Assemblage of Roman Handmade/Slow Wheel-Made Pottery at Tamuda (Tetouan, Morocco): Provenance, Production Technology, and Archaeological Implications

Abstract A study of a 2nd century AD assemblage of handmade/slow wheel-made cooking wares, found at the Roman settlement of Tamuda (Tetouan, Morocco) is presented. Such ceramics are rare in Early-Middle Roman Imperial contexts of the western Mediterranean. A combined typological and archaeometric approach – including petrographic, mineralogical, and chemical analyses – was carried out to study this assemblage, aiming to examine the hypothesis of a local or regional provenance and to shed light on its production technology. The results indicate the existence of a diversity of products, including a fabric that was likely locally manufactured, as well as other imported fabrics that point to micro-regional distribution or trade of some of these wares. This research is a significant contribution towards a better understanding of the handmade/slow wheel-made pottery that was produced and consumed in the northern Moroccan Rif in the Roman period.

Language and power: linguistic imperialism

Linguistic imperialism refers to the dominance of one language over others, often resulting in the marginalization of local languages and cultures. This phenomenon has significant implications for power dynamics in global communication, education, and identity formation. The paper explores the historical context of linguistic imperialism, examining how colonialism and globalization have contributed to the prevalence of languages such as English in international discourse. The object of research is the impact of linguistic hegemony on non-dominant languages and their speakers. The subject of this study focuses on the social, political, and cultural ramifications of linguistic imperialism, particularly in post-colonial societies. Through a comprehensive literature analysis, the article identifies key theories and frameworks that explain the mechanisms of language dominance. The research employs qualitative methods, including discourse analysis and case studies, to illustrate the lived experiences of individuals affected by linguistic oppression. The findings reveal a correlation between language use and power relations, underscoring the need for inclusive language policies that promote linguistic diversity. The prospects for further research development include investigating strategies for revitalizing endangered languages and fostering multilingualism in educational contexts. In conclusion, addressing linguistic imperialism is crucial in promoting social justice and preserving cultural heritage in an increasingly interconnected world.

Sweet Archipelagos: Sugar, Empires, and the Making of a Transpacific Insect Trail

Abstract: In 1854, a whaling vessel brought two bundles of sugarcane from Tahiti to Maui, marking the beginning of the Lahaina cane's history and the socioecological transformation of the Hawaiian Islands and the Asia-Pacific. This essay tells a history of sugar through the transpacific crossings of three nonhuman species: sugarcane, the sugarcane beetle borer, and the tachinid fly. It situates nonhuman actors within the historical context of plantation agriculture, capitalist imperialism, and biological globalization of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Pacific to reconceptualize entomological categories like "pest" and "parasite." Engaging with actor-network theory, animal studies, and island studies, the essay attempts to offer insights into historical agency, human–nonhuman relations, and large-scale ecological change.

Stefan Ouma's Farming As Financial Asset in the Broader Context of Imperialism and Ecological Crises

ABSTRACT: Stefan Ouma's Farming as Financial Asset: Global Finance and the Making of Institutional Landscapes is a valuable contribution to the study of the concrete workings of global finance in agriculture. Through case studies from Tanzania and Aotearoa New Zealand, Ouma's book sheds insight into topics as varied as the colonial history of finance in agriculture, the role of the state, the specific financial actors involved, the difficulties of investigating the specifics of financial investments, and much more. While not addressing the issue of contemporary imperialism, the book touches upon many related topics such as finance's role in furthering inequality, ecological sustainability, and land-driven conflicts. While the author's grasp of the nuances and details of finance-in-farming is commendable, none of the issues brought up by Ouma occur in a political black box but are also arguably parts of the global and complex phenomenon of ecological imperialism with bigger-picture connections that need deeper exploration and theorizing.

Decolonizing the New Testament Texts: A Postcolonial Task

This essay traces some of the major directions of New Testament interpretation, both in terms of a turn to empire and also specifically in India. Attention to the impact of empire in shaping the world and texts of the New Testament is argued to be a crucial development which provides an important foundation for postcolonial hermeneutics. Postcolonial hermeneutics is shown to be especially influential for interpreters in the Indian context, and various streams and trends within Indian biblical interpretation are presented. Decolonizing the New Testament texts will require such an empire-critical and postcolonial hermeneutic, as well as the incorporation of such concerns within the Western academy. Finally, a reading of Jude 23 is offered as an illustration of this postcolonial hermeneutic in practice. This text illustrates both the imperial context of the early Christian communities and also their efforts to develop a spirituality of resistance.

The historical background and imperial context of the Finnish language decree of 1850

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A GLOBAL NORTH: TRANSFERS, EXCHANGES and TRANSNATIONAL LINKS BETWEEN VICTORIA AND SOUTH YORKSHIRE, 1880–1914

This article seeks to establish transnational links between South Yorkshire and the colony of Victoria in Australia during the late nineteenth-century. Examining definitions of ‘northernness’ and challenging arguments that depict northern identity and culture as inward-looking, it explores the relative absence of ‘northernness’ in narratives of migration and makes the case for the interconnection of ideas, events and individuals across cultural, political and national boundaries. Exploring Sheffield’s links and relationship with Victoria this article places recent research about population transfers, civic identity, protest and business practice in a global perspective that highlights overlaps and connections over disjunctures, difference and the particular. Throughout, the emphasis of the article is on the diverse and wide-ranging nature of these links in an imperial context. Against this background, neither steel workers in Sheffield, nor the shearers in outback Australia appear as insular and inward-looking, as has often been asserted. In short, the article poses questions about the nature and scale of a transplanted northern identity, and the relevance of the environment of the Australian colonies to a developing sense of what it was to be from Sheffield.

Federalism and Settler Imperialism: Racial Regimes, Whiteness, and Conquest in Canadian Constitutionalism

AbstractIn political science, federalism is often treated as an “antithesis” to empire. While Canadian Politics has recently become more attentive to the importance of ongoing settler colonialism as conditioning Canadian political life writ large, this has yet to induce a paradigm shift in understanding how the institutional logics of the state were established by, and in order to advance, colonial and imperial ends. This article contributes to this broader understanding by exploring how, in Canada, the federal arrangement congeals a constitutionalized whiteness that facilitates both the internal coherence of a settler class and its subsequent continental expansion. Attentive to the importance of this constitutional development within a world-spanning imperial context, this article also suggests that the simultaneous innovation of Dominion status contoured the early twentieth-century's global colour line, as self-determination was increasingly devolved to other white settler polities. The contradictory realities of these processes are also noted.

Medical schools in empires: connecting the dots.

This article provides an overview of the historiography of medical education and calls for greater attention to the connections between medical schools. It begins by reviewing research on medical education in imperial metropoles. Researchers have compared medical schools in different national contexts, traced travellers between them or examined the hierarchies that medical education created within the medical profession. The article then shows how historians have emphasised the ways in which medicine in colonial empires was shaped by negotiation, exchange, hybridisation and competition. The final part of the article introduces the special issue 'Medical Education in Empires'. Drawing on a variety of sources in English, French, Dutch and Chinese, the special issue builds on these historiographies by juxtaposing cases of medical schools in imperial contexts since the eighteenth century. It considers who funded these medical schools and why, what models of medicine underpinned their creation, what social changes they contributed to, what life was like in these schools, who the students and teachers were and what graduates did with their medical careers. This special issue thus contributes to clarifying the role of medical education in empires and the long-term impact of empires on the medical world.

Rebuilding life after slavery. Manumission, emancipation, and family networks in European empires, 1750–1900

Wherever and whenever systems of slavery existed, enslaved people struggled to attain freedom. Spanning various imperial contexts from 1750 to 1920, this special issue convenes a team of scholars to investigate the aftermath of emancipation. What did freedom from slavery entail in deeply unequal colonial societies? This issue explores diverse experiences, from maroon communities in the Caribbean wilderness to the forced resettlement of freed slaves in European colonies in Africa, and the legal emancipation of slaves in segregated colonial port cities in Asia. Enslaved people encountered ‘freedom’ with its attendant threats and opportunities in myriad ways. Building on the rich historiographical tradition of slavery studies, this special issue aims to broaden the scope of historical research from the slave trade and the lives of enslaved individuals to their post-emancipation existence. However, even recent literature often treats freedom after abolition and manumission as distinct phenomena, representing different legal paths to freedom—one associated with the early modern period and the other with the nineteenth century. This special issue re-evaluates this presupposition by foregrounding the post-emancipation life events of formerly enslaved individuals. It questions whether and how these different transitions from slave status to freedom can and should be structurally compared in slavery studies. By tapping into previously unexplored sources, re-examining older datasets with fresh perspectives, and employing record linkage to uncover forgotten slave histories, the authors seek to assess the living conditions of formerly enslaved people and their direct descendants after emancipation. In doing so, we aim to explore how past experiences of enslavement influenced future life choices and opportunities, thereby questioning the so-called afterlives of slavery.

The Tamma of Azerbaijan in Regional and Imperial Contexts (1228–1261)

Abstract Research on the Mongol conquest of Iran and the Transcaucasus has focused most heavily on the campaigns of Chinggis Khan and his nephew Hülegü, in 1219–1224 and 1256–1260 respectively. Significantly less attention has been given to the nearly four decades that separate these two invasions, during which Mongol control was consolidated by a tamma (garrison) army numbering roughly 30,000 soldiers. This garrison occupied a liminal position on the frontier of the Mongol empire, linking the great khan to regional vassals in Iran, Greater Armenia, Georgia, and eastern Anatolia. This paper will use the history of the tamma to illuminate the web of personal relationships that allowed the Mongol empire to project its authority into the Middle East. It will demonstrate that this network was extremely brittle during the first three decades after Chinggis Khan’s death, during which time the Mongol empire was still taking shape. Founded by Chinggis Khan, the tamma owed its loyalty to the great khan in Mongolia, yet long interregnums and political instability at the heart of empire forced the Mongol garrison to identify regional princes and princesses as suitable substitutes for political authority. This collaborative approach embroiled the tamma in the factional politics at the heart of the Mongol empire and ultimately brought about its destruction in 1261.

Centring Indigenous peoples in knowledge exchange research-practice by resetting assumptions, relationships and institutions

AbstractKnowledge exchange is a broad and consequential undertaking, analysed by diverse scholars, and rapidly growing as a field of academic practice. Its remit is to strengthen ties between research generators and users to support better material outcomes for society. This review paper considers how this increasingly codified academic field might engage with the research-practice concerns identified in the Indigenous and decolonial literature. We do so by bringing the two literature sets together for analysis, noting they are not mutually exclusive. We reveal how addressing discrimination towards Indigenous peoples from within the knowledge exchange field requires a fundamental reconsideration of the biases that run through the field’s structures and processes. We prioritise two connected framing assumptions for shifting—jurisdictional and epistemological. The first shift requires a repositioning of Indigenous peoples as political–legal entities with societies, territories, laws and customs. The second shift requires engagement with Indigenous expert knowledge seriously on its own terms, including through greater understanding about expert knowledge creation with nature. These shifts require taking reflexivity much further than grasped possible or appropriate by most of the knowledge exchange literature. To assist, we offer heuristic devices, including illustrative examples, summary figures, and different questions from which to start the practice of knowledge exchange. Our focus is environmental research practice in western Anglophone settler-colonial and imperial contexts, with which we are most familiar, and where there is substantial knowledge exchange literature.

Fascist transnationalism during the occupation of Albania (1939–43)

Abstract This article links the study of transnational and imperial fascism in the context of the Italian occupation of Albania by examining how Italian authorities sought to turn Albanians abroad into assets rather than liabilities. Organising and monitoring Albanians occurred through conferences, youth institutions and consular activities. Studying such concrete contacts and negotiations allows us to explore the practical issues latent in expanding fascist political subjectivity in transnational and imperial contexts. On the one hand, Italians hoped to verse Albanians in a fascist identity by using existing organisational strategies while silencing or converting potential anti-Italian critics. On the other, many Albanians expressed and offered support for these Italian efforts, though with reservations and conditions, raising questions as to what it meant to be an Albanian nationalist and/or fascist in the years of occupation. The Albanian case therefore contributes to our understanding of the tensions inherent in ‘universalising’ fascism for colonial subjects.

Russian and Turkic Worlds in Eurasia

This article delves into the dynamics of ethno-confessional factors influencing Russian-Turkish relations, exploring the Russian and Turkic worlds as geopolitical constructs within the Eurasian sphere. Employing a synthesis of critical and classical geopolitics methodologies, the study emphasizes the civilizational aspect as a pivotal element in the intricate interplay of competition and cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the Eurasian context. The research methodology integrates a civilizational perspective with critical geopolitics. The authors examine various strategies utilized by Turkey and Russia to implement ethnoconfessional policies in their quest for geopolitical influence. These strategies encompass the creation of narratives around 'fraternal nations', the promotion of shared historical, cultural, religious, linguistic, and heroic narratives; the cultivation of pro-Russian and pro-Turkish national elites; and the exploitation of ethno-national factors during domestic political crises. This analysis traces these phenomena from historical imperial contexts to contemporary interstate relations.Furthermore, the article underscores the significant impact of individual leadership in shaping the concept of the Turkic world, with a particular focus on the current President of the Turkish Republic, R.T. Erdogan. Erdogan is portrayed as a key figure actively advocating for and reinforcing the unity and identity of the Turkic world.

Visualising the Modern Housewife: US Occupier Women and the Home in the Allied Occupation of Germany, 1945–1949

Thousands of Allied women arrived in occupied Germany after the Second World War as the wives of military and civilian men working in the occupation apparatus. Yet rarely have these women been seen as active agents of occupier power and knowledge. One way of understanding their role, or how it was imagined, is through images and textual representations. With a focus on the early years of occupation (1945–1949) and visual representations of US wives, this article examines the occupation household that was serviced by occupied domestic workers, in turn drawing comparisons to imperial contexts. Visual cues in selected photographs and caricatures suggest a presumed superior occupier modernity that was both performative and educative, mediated by a class-like asymmetrical relationship. These representations have been divided into three key themes: economic modernity, as through consumerism; domestic modernity in the home; and modern gender and family relations. Here, occupier women’s bodies were contrasted against the occupied to signify the power, prestige and modernity of her nation as an occupying power, in turn revealing both the shape of everyday power relations in the home and the paradoxical aims of the occupation itself.

Shangri-La as a utopia, sacred place, and a prison in James Hilton’s "Lost Horizon"

The purpose of this paper is to explore James Hilton’s Lost Horizon in the context of its utopian character and historical and mythical parallels that make up its setting, Shangri-La, as a refuge, but also a paradoxical prison. This study delves into the historical and cultural context of the Western imagination's portrayal of Tibet as a sacred and mystical place and places it within the context of British imperialism, emphasising the misconceptions and romanticised notions associated with the country. The paper also explores the sources and inspirations behind Hilton's setting and characters, highlighting the connection between Hilton's Shangri-La and the mythical Tibetan kingdom of Shambhala.

Cultural Memory and Nationalism at Scotland’s International Exhibitions: 1886–1938

This paper explores the ways in which Scotland portrayed itself during the run of International Exhibitions in Edinburgh (1886, 1890, 1908) and Glasgow (1888, 1901, 1911, 1938). It will be shown that Scotland, as a fundamental component of the British Empire, served to increase visions of Britishness in these Exhibitions (or World’s Fairs) by hosting a number of colonial exhibits and focussing, for the most part, on modern technological advances in machinery and engineering. While all of these Scottish exhibits did self-reflect on history and Scottish nationhood (via literature, art, and architecture), this paper will show that the novelty of doing this, in sharp contrast with the pomp and exuberance of the imperial display, reduced Scottishness to yet another exotic ‘other’. Following the ‘Old London’ featured in 1884, Edinburgh and – later – Glasgow featured ‘old towns’ which offered visitors an impression of their lost cityscapes, dislocated from their original place and built among the many other temporary pavilions. In the twentieth century, both cities featured human displays: a nefarious turn in Exhibition culture across Europe which curated people from colonial lands on a level with their material culture. Scotland, as part of the British Empire, boasted Senegalese and West Africans as part of their popular attractions. Following this, Glasgow followed London in displaying the people of the Scottish Highlands as part of a pastiche village named ‘An Clahan’: a crystallising moment in Scotland’s disorienting self-portrayal in these British imperial contexts. In working through these case studies, this paper will consider scholarship from the fields of history and memory studies.

Transimperial Eyes: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Colonial Narratives about the Dutch Expedition to Southern Chile (1643)

The review of historical archives that allow us to know the observations and experiences of those who recorded scarcely explored territories in the past, especially in the context of European colonization of vast areas of the world in the seventeenth century is crucial for heritage studies. The following article analyzes how the Dutch expedition to southern Chile during the 17th century (1642–1643) was narrated, both in Dutch and in its translations into German, English, and Spanish, considering the interests of empires and the discursive differences that translational variations reveal. This transdisciplinary analysis, combining historiography, translation studies, and historical geography, consists of a critical reading of the original narration and a comparative reading of the aforementioned translations, and within them ethnographic representations made about the Mapuche-Huilliche people and the city of Valdivia and changes introduced by different translations are identified. These changes are then related to imperial contexts and discourses that shape these translations. In terms of our findings, we note that, in general, Chilean translations tend to exaggerate the representations of indigenous people as barbaric, inferior, and uncivilized. These representations are present in the European versions, but the shifts that we identified indicate an intensification of this discourse.

"The Total Subversion of All Rule": Countering Slavery in Colonial and Imperial Contexts

"The Total Subversion of All Rule": Countering Slavery in Colonial and Imperial Contexts

Encountering the Tsar

This article discusses Nenets epic songs, focusing on two texts collected at the beginning of the twentieth century in relation to the divergent historicities they represent. The process of gathering and publishing folklore is analysed as folklorisation, whereby the texts have come to represent a negation of the modern, but not giving voice to the singers or their communities. Nenets epic songs have served Finnish nationalism and Russian imperialism in creating hierarchies between Finns and their linguistic relatives and between different Russian ethnic groups, including Russians and the Nenets. The process of traditionalisation is discussed as a local strategy of recreating meaningful narration that relates both to tradition and other contextually relevant discourses. The songs discussed are shown to depict not specific past events, but rather Nenets historical experiences and understandings about their subaltern position and agency within the imperial context. Keywords: Nenets, epic poetry, historicity, folklorisation, traditionalisation, imperialism