Critical Perspectives on Colonialism: Writing the Empire from Below (Routledge Studies in Cultural History) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 041553738X ISBN 13: 9780415537384

Publisher: Routledge, 2013

Synopsis

This collection brings much-needed focus to the vibrancy and vitality of minority and marginal writing about empire, and to their implications as expressions of embodied contact between imperial power and those negotiating its consequences from "below." The chapters explore how less powerful and less privileged actors in metropolitan and colonial societies within the British Empire have made use of the written word and of the power of speech, public performance, and street politics. This book breaks new ground by combining work about marginalized figures from within Britain as well as counterparts in the colonies, ranging from published sources such as indigenous newspapers to ordinary and everyday writings including diaries, letters, petitions, ballads, suicide notes, and more. Each chapter engages with the methodological implications of working with everyday scribblings and asks what these alternate modernities and histories mean for the larger critique of the "imperial archive" that has shaped much of the most interesting writing on empire in the past decade.

About this title

About the Author:

Fiona Paisley is a cultural historian at Griffith University, Brisbane, and a member of the Australian Historical Association.

Kirsty Reid is a senior researcher in the Centre for History at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Review:

‘A collection remarkable for blending local particularity with transnational reach, Critical Perspectives on Colonialism brings to light the powerful protests of the British Empire’s marginalised and dispossessed.’ – Zoe Laidlow, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 041553738X
• ISBN 13: 9780415537384
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 258
• Editor: Paisley Fiona, Reid Kirsty