British culture and the end of empire / edited by Stuart Ward.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Ward, Stuart.

Series:

Studies in imperialism (Manchester, England)

Studies in imperialism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain--Civilization--20th century.

Great Britain.

Civilization.

Great Britain--Colonies--History--20th century.

Colonies.

History.

Postcolonialism--Commonwealth countries.

Postcolonialism.

Commonwealth countries.

Commonwealth countries--History.

Decolonization--History.

Decolonization.

Imperialism--History.

Imperialism.

Physical Description:

xi, 241 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York : Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 2001.

Summary:

The demise of the British Empire in the three decades following the Second World War is a theme that has been well traversed in studies of post-war British politics, economics and foreign relations. Yet there has been strikingly little attention to the question of how these dramatic changes in Britain's relationships with the wider world were reflected in British culture. This volume addresses this central issue, arguing that the social and cultural impact of decolonisation had as significant an effect on the imperial centre as on the colonial periphery. Far from being a matter of indifference or resigned acceptance as is often suggested, the fall of the British Empire came as a profound shock to the British national imagination, and resonated widely in British popular culture.

For this important work, twelve contributors from Britain, Australia and the United States have taken up this theme, drawing on a wide range of British cultural institutions, forms and practices. The volume represents the first major attempt to examine the cultural manifestations of the demise of imperialism as a social and political ideology in post-war Britain. It therefore offers an extremely novel and provocative interpretation of post-war British cultural history, and opens up a whole new field of inquiry in the history of decolonisation.

Students and lecturers interested in contemporary British history, cultural history, imperial history and especially decolonisation in the post-war period will find this fascinating collection to be of great value.

Contents:

1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture / John M. MacKenzie 21

2 Empire loyalists and 'Commonwealth men': the Round Table and the end of empire / Alex May 37

3 Coronation Everest: the Empire and Commonwealth in the 'second Elizabethan age' / Peter H. Hansen 57

4 Look back at empire: British theatre and imperial decline / Dan Rebellato 73

5 'No nation could be broker': the satire boom and the demise of Britain's world role / Stuart Ward 91

6 The imperial game in crisis: English cricket and decolonisation / Mike Cronin, Richard Holt 111

7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age: films and the end of empire / Jeffrey Richards 128

8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers: children's popular literature and the demise of empire / Kathryn Castle 145

9 Wandering in the wake of empire: British travel and tourism in the post-imperial world / Hsu-Ming Teo 163

10 Communities of Britishness: migration in the last gasp of empire / Kathleen Paul 180

11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain: decolonisation and imperial legacy / Shompa Lahiri 200

12 India, Inc.? Nostalgia, memory and the empire of things / Antoinette Burton 217.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0719060478

0719060486

OCLC:

48140571