Representations of British Emigration, Colonisation and Settlement

This volume explores the complex relationships between early Nineteenth-Century representations of emigration, colonization and settlement, and the social, economic and cultural conditions within which they were produced. It stresses the role of writers, illustrators and artists in 'making' colonial/settler landscapes within the metropolitan imaginary, paying particularly close attention to the complex interdependencies between metropolis and colony, which have too often been reduced to simplistic binaries of centre and periphery, metropolitan core and colonial outpost. Focusing on material dealing with Canada, the Cape, Australia and New Zealand, its interdisciplinarity and global reach consequently adds considerably to the field of colonial studies.

A rich analysis of the visual and textual representations of colonial spaces that were paraded before the British metropolitan public by travel writers and colonial emigration promoters during the early to mid-nineteenth century. It is based on an impressively extensive reading of primary published sources about Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and the USA.

This book serves as an example of how visual and textual analyses can be blended to reveal the grip on metropolitan imaginations that colonial landscapes and peoples could exert during the nineteenth century. As such, I would recommend it to anyone interested in the history of British colonisation.

H-Soz-u-Kult

Autorentext
ROBERT GRANT is Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Studies, UK.

Inhalt
Preface Curious Consistencies: The Shape of the Literature of Emigration, Colonisation and Settlement Exploring Contexts, Marking Boundaries, Charting Parallels England and America/Dystopian and Utopian Colonial Promoters: Tactics, Rubrics and Rhetorics Cash, Convicts and Christianity Darkest England/Brighter England The 'Fit and Unfit', 'Who Should Go' and 'Who Would be Better to Stay at Home' 'A Lady's Influence': The Gendering of Colonial/Settler Landscapes Performative Landscapes 'Race is Everything' Conclusion: Promotion/Nation/Colony/Empire Bibliography Index