Colonial Internationalism and the Governmentality of Empire, 1893–1982

In 1893, a group of colonial officials from thirteen countries abandoned their imperial rivalry and established the International Colonial Institute (ICI), which became the world's most important colonial think tank of the twentieth century. Through the lens of the ICI, Florian Wagner argues that this international cooperation reshaped colonialism as a transimperial and governmental policy. The book demonstrates that the ICI's strategy of using indigenous institutions and customary laws to encourage colonial development served to maintain colonial rule even beyond the official end of empires. By selectively choosing loyalists among the colonized to participate in the ICI, it increased their autonomy while equally delegitimizing more radical claims for independence. The book presents a detailed study of the ICI's creation, the transcolonial activities of its prominent members, its interactions with the League of Nations and fascist governments, and its role in laying the groundwork for the structural and discursive dependence of the Global South after 1945.

A History of Symbolic Violence: A Spatial Temporal Exploration of the Cultural Capital Legacy of Bengali Pedagogy

This study explores historic class-based obstacles in the dispensation of secular pedagogy in the Bengal region with the objective of presenting a better understating of the present pedagogical positioning of the British Bangladeshi diaspora of Tower Hamlets. This study charts the visitation of symbolic violence in the historical development of pedagogy under colonial rule and continues into the East Pakistan period. Through the application of Pierre Bourdieu’s primary thinking tools the discussion asserts Muslim Bengalis were educationally marginalised by both colonialists and local elites in the realisation of human capital consumption.

land access and conflict issues of tribal peoples in Bodoland territorial region of Assam, India

Inequitable land access and land disputes are commonly mentioned as major causes of instability in the Bodoland region. Land problems are frequently invoked as a more potent debating tactic in conflict. For tribals in the region, land reform, ownership, registry, legal pluralism, boundary difficulties, landlessness, insecure land usage, and other associated issues are all major concerns. Major land legislation has failed to significantly reduce the number of major land disputes in the region. The British Colonial rule in India created substantial disruptions to land practises and possessions, which are still felt today in various regions of the country and in Northeast India, notably Assam. It's clear that the land issue is still relevant and active.

Before the political cartoonist, there was the Vidusaka

Political cartooning was one among the many cultural products that colonial rule introduced in India. This British legacy has been used to produce narratives about the nature and history of Indian cartooning. However, these narratives have, invariably, overlooked the distinctly Indian cultural ethos as well as the Indian satirical tradition. The paper proposes an alternative model by positing that in the Indian satirical tradition, the Vidusaka – the comic figure in Sanskrit drama - has been an antecedent to the political cartoonist in terms of the social and political role as well as the nature and purpose of the humour. The paper also locates the principles of caricaturing in precolonial Indian visual arts, and presents the early vernacular cartoons as the point of convergence between the local satirical tradition and the western format of the political cartoon which laid the foundation for a modern yet specifically Indian sensibility

Edward Azar’s Protracted Social Conflict Theory and Drivers of Self-Determination: the Case of Nigeria

Soon after attaining independence on October 1, 1960, the newly created nation-state – Nigeria had to wrestle with post-independent political realities. These combined with the legacies of colonial rule, and the prevalence of ethno-religious politics, led the country into civil war in 1967. Since 1960, Nigeria has experimented with different forms of government and achieved some degree of economic growth but is still plagued by the agitation of self-determination in the form of secessionist campaigns, be it the Biafra or the Oduduwa and Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). To place the discussion in perspective, the paper reviews the existing literature on the subject and also discusses Edward Azar’s protracted social conflict (PSC) theory as the theoretical base. Upon laying the theoretical foundation, the paper situates and evaluates the agitation for self-determination in Nigeria in the light of PSC. Lastly, the paper concludes that instead of seeking self-determination or territorial disintegration, the polity of Nigeria should historically revert to the practice of congenial and connected regionalism.

Diaspora as a Repercussion of Colonization in the Kim Scott’s ‘Benang’

Colonization created upheavals around the world. The worlds of Native Americans, Australian Aboriginals which were unaware of the other world that existed were shattered and scattered by the colonial rule. The indigenous people were subjected to cruel treatment at the hands of colonizers. In the Americas the mass killings of the natives took place by intentional spreading of the epidemics. Same incidents took place in Australia. The colonial rule always invented novel ways to destroy the native people, culture and their society. For instance, the policy of Doctrine of lapse which was introduced in India destroyed the local rulers and the princely states. Due to this many princely states in India came under the rule of British. In Australia to eliminate aboriginals the white government came up with the idea of assimilation policy. Assimilation policy was a policy of absorbing aboriginal people onto white society through the process of removing children from their aboriginal families forcefully. The ultimate intent of the policy was the destruction of Aboriginal society. The protagonist of the novel Benang is the victim of this process. He also goes through the diasporic experiences of alienation, isolation and loss of identity. This paper analyses the diaspora as a repercussion of colonization in the novel Benang.

The Punjab Exhibition of 1881 and Politics of the British Raj

In 1849, Punjab was annexed by the English East India Company. This paper deals with the Punjab Exhibition of 1881, where along with textiles, arts and other local handicrafts of India were put on display. Claiming to revive the indigenous Indian arts, crafts and textiles, the exhibition represents the politics of selected exhibits that catered to the taste1 and choice of the British. The exhibition helps in understanding the objective and importance of conducting imperial exhibitions, as exhibitions were also redefining the European homes. A detailed analysis of the exhibition foregrounds how colonial rule redefined the idea and representation of indigenous handicrafts and art. The indigenous handicraft was also immensely being guided by the European market. Thus, the paper focuses on the aspects and strategy adopted by the British at promoting and preserving Indian art and textile. Moreover, efforts at preservation of the arts got institutionalised in the form of art schools. These were set up for the purpose of promoting and building taste for Indian traditional art in the British markets. The paper attempts to understand how the British shaped the notion of heritage and cultural difference between the coloniser and colonised and the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ through the exhibition. By analyzing the Punjab Exhibition 1881, the paper aims to deal with some pertinent issues such as strategic organisation and representation of the exhibits, as well as the legacy of the exhibition during colonial rule. The paper argues that though the British took to organising exhibitions to promote and preserve Indian art and textile, but in reality, it was a disguise aimed at establishing imperial supremacy over the colonised and maintain a hierarchical relationship of aesthetic and traditional culture between the ruler and the ruled.

Colonial Petitions, Colonial Petitioners, and the Imperial Parliament, ca. 1780–1918

Petitioning was a common form of protest, request, or expression across the British Empire, and historians of colonial rule and resistance have often drawn on petitions as sources to investigate particular controversies. This article assesses the significance, variety, and context of petitioning to the Imperial Parliament from both the British Isles and the colonies. To do so, we present new data drawn from more than one million petitions sent to the House of Commons in the period from 1780 to 1918, alongside qualitative research into a wider range of petitions to other metropolitan sources of authority. This range permits us to assess how colonial subjects across the empire demanded attention from Westminster and what the practice of petitioning reveals about the British self-image of parliamentary scrutiny and equality before the law.

Politics and Media Hegemony Policy in Indonesia

This research aims to help those trying to master the media and political power in Indonesia and use the media as a tool to build community system from the Dutch colonial rule to the independence era, particularly from 1999 to 2019. This study is about how the system formed the media under the political policy until it developed into a base media in Indonesia between the era of the Dutch conquest and the year 2019. To achieve the objective of the study, investigation has been made upon media as a factor that affects the formation of the base to control the freedom of the media by using the investigation approach on history through document analysis and deep interview. The finding shows that forming a base that controls the freedom of the media is based on a proses which is designed soberly to fit with the philosophy and the value which is practiced by the ruling leader, and became the base of the national media activist in Indonesia.