The Global Dialogics of the New Age

The London-based weekly the New Age, edited by A. R. Orage from 1907 to 1922, was known for promoting spirited debates on politics, literature, and the arts. Scholars have been attentive to what Ann Ardis terms the magazine’s ‘unusual commitment to […] Bakhtinian dialogics in the public sphere’, but less so to the role that the letters column played in facilitating these often contentious, often transnational debates. This essay argues that the letters column functioned as a forum for linking not only individual readers and contributors from around the world, but also wider discursive and periodical communities. A case study of global dialogics, the essay focuses on an eleven-month debate that unfolded in New Age correspondence concerning the so-called black peril — the purported epidemic of black men attempting to rape white women in South Africa, which historians today regard as a moral panic fuelled by a desire to reinforce white supremacy. The flames of the panic were stoked by the Umtali case of 1910, in which Lord Gladstone commuted the death sentence of an Umtali native convicted of attempted rape to life imprisonment. This decision sparked mass protests and petitions among the white community in South Africa and a heated discussion about race and racism that reverberated throughout the empire, including in the columns of the New Age. The letters column served as an international forum, drawing in white settlers from Johannesburg, Crisis editor and NAACP founder W. E. B. Du Bois, Sudanese-Egyptian writer Dusé Mohamed Ali, and British suffragette Emily Wilding Davison, among others. This essay examines the gendered and racial politics of this debate and how it was shaped by its specific periodical context and by the national and ideological contexts of its interlocutors.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Public Land, and the Spaces of Whiteness

In this essay, I examine the 2016 takeover of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The principal instigators of this occupation, the Bundy family of Nevada, pointed to federally owned public lands as the primary reason for their takeover, citing the allegedly unconstitutional government ownership of these lands. I contend that the Bundys’ arguments about public lands exemplify rhetorical strategies that further one of the primary ends of settler colonialism; the remaking of land into property to better support white settlers’ claims to that land. I hold that the Bundys remake land by defining the land’s meanings following the logics of settler colonialism in three specific ways: privatization, racialization, and erasure. First, I examine the family’s arguments about the constitutionality of federal land ownership to show how the Bundys define public lands as rightfully private property. Second, I examine the ways that the Bundys racialize land ownership and how, in conjunction with arguments about property rights, the family articulates land as the domain of white settlers. Third, I discuss how the Bundys further colonial logics of Native erasure. That is, the family defines land in ways that portray Native Americans as having never been on the land, and as not currently using the land. I argue that these three processes render meanings of land––as private property, colonized, and terra nullius––that rhetorically further the operation of settler colonialism.

Replacing Rights with Indigenous Relationality to Reclaim Homelands

Indigenous peoples have had and continue to have contested relations with protected spaces of nature, many of which nation states have carved from Indigenous homelands and waters. Usually in the name of the common good, governments and their officials prohibit or limit Native peoples from exercising their rights in these spaces. This gives rise to conflicts and tensions that emerge from a Western rights framework that white settlers and elites have used to prioritize the rights of nature over Indigenous peoples. This chapter seeks to provide some historical context for the way that three problematic and closely related “white-settler social constructs”—wilderness, preservation, and the ecological Indian—came to shape the emergence and management of protected spaces of nature, particularly under a Western rights framework. Overall, the chapter argues that a relationality framework offers an Indigenous-based counterpoint to the rights framework, in which white settlers and elites privilege the rights of nature over those of Native peoples.

Quinine, Whisky, and Sun Helmets: Amateur Medicine in British East and South-Central Africa, 1890-1939

<p>Historians have extensively studied colonial doctors in Africa, and the connection between colonial medical services and imperial power. The focus has, however, fallen almost exclusively on medical practice by trained, qualified, and professional doctors and nurses, and neglected amateur treatments carried out by white settlers. This project explores amateur medical treatment in rural parts of British East and South-Central Africa, primarily Kenya and Rhodesia, between 1890 and 1939. It draws upon a range of memoirs, novels, letters, and advice books, most notably the memoirs of white settler women including Karen Blixen, Elspeth Huxley, Hylda Richards, and Alyse Simpson. The time period is characterised by a marked contrast between the emergence of tropical medicine and hygiene on the one hand, and, on the other, a continuation of nineteenth-century medical ideas, techniques, and widespread fears of the tropical climate. During the 1890s, tropical medicine and hygiene developed as specialised professional fields of expertise. Yet despite substantial tropical medical advances during and after the 1890s, the disease environment of East and South-Central Africa remained associated with high mortality and morbidity for white settlers. White bodies continued to be viewed, in the popular mind, as profoundly vulnerable to the African environment. Pre-germ theory etiologies of disease and treatment techniques persisted within white settler communities. This thesis studies the medical skills, ideas, and practices of white settlers in the region. It demonstrates that much of settlers’ medical care was performed by other settlers, positioning amateur treatment as crucial to colonial health. The discussion considers advice produced and disseminated through the flourishing print culture of African guidebooks and tropical medical handbooks; tropical outfitting; the translation of popular medical and hygiene advice into white settler practice; and the amateur treatment techniques (most importantly, quinine, alcohol, and disinfectant) and body protection methods that feature in memoirs and letters. Malaria forms a major theme in amateur treatment and prevention. The thesis also examines white settler women’s amateur medical practice in African communities, and the shifting patterns of agency and colonial hegemony within these intimate medical encounters. It argues that settlers’ medical practice displayed a distinctive set of techniques and ideas that adapted, re-worked, and re-interpreted professional medical advice. It concludes that settlers’ amateur medical practice formed an essential element of colonial medicine and bolstered British authority in the region.</p>

Quinine, Whisky, and Sun Helmets: Amateur Medicine in British East and South-Central Africa, 1890-1939

<p>Historians have extensively studied colonial doctors in Africa, and the connection between colonial medical services and imperial power. The focus has, however, fallen almost exclusively on medical practice by trained, qualified, and professional doctors and nurses, and neglected amateur treatments carried out by white settlers. This project explores amateur medical treatment in rural parts of British East and South-Central Africa, primarily Kenya and Rhodesia, between 1890 and 1939. It draws upon a range of memoirs, novels, letters, and advice books, most notably the memoirs of white settler women including Karen Blixen, Elspeth Huxley, Hylda Richards, and Alyse Simpson. The time period is characterised by a marked contrast between the emergence of tropical medicine and hygiene on the one hand, and, on the other, a continuation of nineteenth-century medical ideas, techniques, and widespread fears of the tropical climate. During the 1890s, tropical medicine and hygiene developed as specialised professional fields of expertise. Yet despite substantial tropical medical advances during and after the 1890s, the disease environment of East and South-Central Africa remained associated with high mortality and morbidity for white settlers. White bodies continued to be viewed, in the popular mind, as profoundly vulnerable to the African environment. Pre-germ theory etiologies of disease and treatment techniques persisted within white settler communities. This thesis studies the medical skills, ideas, and practices of white settlers in the region. It demonstrates that much of settlers’ medical care was performed by other settlers, positioning amateur treatment as crucial to colonial health. The discussion considers advice produced and disseminated through the flourishing print culture of African guidebooks and tropical medical handbooks; tropical outfitting; the translation of popular medical and hygiene advice into white settler practice; and the amateur treatment techniques (most importantly, quinine, alcohol, and disinfectant) and body protection methods that feature in memoirs and letters. Malaria forms a major theme in amateur treatment and prevention. The thesis also examines white settler women’s amateur medical practice in African communities, and the shifting patterns of agency and colonial hegemony within these intimate medical encounters. It argues that settlers’ medical practice displayed a distinctive set of techniques and ideas that adapted, re-worked, and re-interpreted professional medical advice. It concludes that settlers’ amateur medical practice formed an essential element of colonial medicine and bolstered British authority in the region.</p>

The True North Strong and Free? Casting Shadows on Whose History Students Learn in Canadian Universities

Race-based discrimination in Canada exists at the institutional and structural level. While acknowledging its existence is a crucial first step in eradicating this particular form of discrimination, an essential second step includes implementing structural changes at the institutional level in Canadian universities. In an effort to disrupt the Eurocentricity of knowledge production this commentary argues that the Canadian government’s official historical narrative that depicts Canada as being born of the pioneering spirit of British and French white settlers fails to capture the actual history of the country. Rather, it fosters the continuation of the supremacy of whiteness thereby causing significant harm through the perpetuation of racial bias. We argue that the history and contributions of Indigenous, Black, and Chinese Canadians, all of whom were in this country prior to confederation, should be told in a mandatory university course. Our findings indicate that while a number of universities have individual courses, usually electives and some graduate degrees on Indigenous, Black, and Chinese history, there is little offered from the Canadian context and certainly nothing that is a mandatory course requirement. In addition, we suggest compulsory university staff-wide anti-racism training; the ongoing hiring of professors and sessional instructors who are racially representative of the population of Canada; and community outreach, mentorship, and counselling programs that are designed to help students who are underrepresented in Canadian universities. In our opinion, we believe that these changes have the potential to provide a lens to disrupt settler colonial spaces, mobilize race in academic curricula, and encourage social justice actions that can offer a more inclusive learning environment.

The Indian Freedom Struggle and the Kenyan Diaspora

The connections between the Indian Freedom movement and the Kenyan Indian diaspora after the First World War led to the involvement of the Indian National Congress and Gandhi in the struggle of the Kenyan Indians for equality and equal treatment with the British white settlers in Kenya. The Congress considered that the success of the equality struggle in Kenya would also lead to equal treatment of Indians in India itself. This was consistent with the prevailing political goal of the freedom movement in India in 1919, which was self-rule through Dominion Status under the British Crown. But when the struggle of the Kenya Indians failed and equality was denied to them by the famous Devonshire Declaration in 1923, there the Indian freedom movement realized that this signalled unequal status and a denial of self-rule to India itself. Historic consequences followed. This was the turning point and over the years immediately after the Kenyan decision (1923–1929), the Indian National Congress changed its political aim from Dominion Status to Full Independence as a Republic, realized over the 17 years to 1947.

From Alba to Aotearoa: Profiling New Zealand's Scots Migrants, 1840-1920

<p><b>While New Zealand has been described as more Scottish than any other country beyond Scotland, and Scots consistently made up nearly 20 per cent of the immigrant population of New Zealand to 1920, as a group New Zealand's Scots migrants have remained relatively blurred. The distinctive national backgrounds of New Zealand's British migrants have seldom been recognised in general histories or in specialist studies of migration to the country, migrants having tended to be categorised as 'British' and 'Non-British', leading to what Akenson aptly described as the 'lumpingof all white settlers into a spurious unity.' This thesis, conceived as part of a larger research project investigating the experiences and contributions of Scots in New Zealand, seeks to establish key characteristics of the Scottish migrants arriving between 1840 and 1920. Five core questions are addressed: 'from where in Scotland did they come?', 'who came?', 'when?', 'in what numbers?', and 'where did they settle?'.</b></p> <p>While previous studies have suggested partial answers to some of these questions, the present research offers a more full and detailed profile of New Zealand's Scots migrants than has previously been available. Critically, it takes the earlier findings further. Though the investigation has been based primarily upon statistical analysis ofa genealogically-sourced database of 6,612 migrants, quantitative analysis has beensupplemented by qualitative case studies. Comparison with a second set of data derived from death certificates has enabled a testing of the validity of genealogical data as a source for migration studies. In addition to the five central questions around which the thesis is structured, the study also addresses issues of internal migration within Scotland, emigration to otherdestinations prior to arrival in New Zealand, individual and generational occupationalmobility, chain and cluster migration among Shetland migrants, and return migration.</p>

From Alba to Aotearoa: Profiling New Zealand's Scots Migrants, 1840-1920

<p><b>While New Zealand has been described as more Scottish than any other country beyond Scotland, and Scots consistently made up nearly 20 per cent of the immigrant population of New Zealand to 1920, as a group New Zealand's Scots migrants have remained relatively blurred. The distinctive national backgrounds of New Zealand's British migrants have seldom been recognised in general histories or in specialist studies of migration to the country, migrants having tended to be categorised as 'British' and 'Non-British', leading to what Akenson aptly described as the 'lumpingof all white settlers into a spurious unity.' This thesis, conceived as part of a larger research project investigating the experiences and contributions of Scots in New Zealand, seeks to establish key characteristics of the Scottish migrants arriving between 1840 and 1920. Five core questions are addressed: 'from where in Scotland did they come?', 'who came?', 'when?', 'in what numbers?', and 'where did they settle?'.</b></p> <p>While previous studies have suggested partial answers to some of these questions, the present research offers a more full and detailed profile of New Zealand's Scots migrants than has previously been available. Critically, it takes the earlier findings further. Though the investigation has been based primarily upon statistical analysis ofa genealogically-sourced database of 6,612 migrants, quantitative analysis has beensupplemented by qualitative case studies. Comparison with a second set of data derived from death certificates has enabled a testing of the validity of genealogical data as a source for migration studies. In addition to the five central questions around which the thesis is structured, the study also addresses issues of internal migration within Scotland, emigration to otherdestinations prior to arrival in New Zealand, individual and generational occupationalmobility, chain and cluster migration among Shetland migrants, and return migration.</p>

Pure Kashmir: Nature, Freedom and Counternationalism

Bringing political thought to bear upon one of the world's most pressing geopolitical problems, this article explores Kashmiri engagements with nature and how these served the attempt to concurrently champion two nations: ethno-linguistic and almost homogeneous Kashmir, and heterogeneous but organic India. Disconnected from human endeavor and, therefore, astonishingly unreliant on other ideas to define Kashmir's distinctiveness, the idea of natural purity had something in common with the earlier New World nationalisms of colonial white settlers who sought to remake conquered lands. But since Kashmiris had long resisted what they saw as the theft of their beautiful land by more powerful, envious outsiders, how far was it possible for their twentieth-century thinkers to integrate this disruptive idea of a nonhuman nature into an otherwise historicized sense of nationhood?