Imperial emotions : the politics of empathy across the British empire / Jane Lydon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lydon, Jane, 1965- author.

Series:

Critical perspectives on empire.

Critical perspectives on empire

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Empathy--Political aspects--Great Britain.

Empathy.

Indigenous peoples--Oceania--Social conditions.

Indigenous peoples.

Empathy in literature.

Imperialism.

Great Britain--Colonies--Oceania.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Colonies--Social policy.

Great Britain--Colonies--Race relations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 221 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Summary:

Emotions are not universal, but are experienced and expressed in diverse ways within different cultures and times. This overview of the history of emotions within nineteenth-century British imperialism focuses on the role of the compassionate emotions, or what today we refer to as empathy, and how they created relations across empire. Jane Lydon examines how empathy was produced, qualified and contested, including via the fear and anger aroused by frontier violence. She reveals the overlooked emotional dimensions of relationships constructed between Britain, her Australasian colonies, and Indigenous people, showing that ideas about who to care about were frequently drawn from the intimate domestic sphere, but were also developed through colonial experience. This history reveals the contingent and highly politicised nature of emotions in imperial deployment. Moving beyond arguments that emotions such as empathy are either 'good' or 'bad', this study evaluates their concrete political uses and effects.

Contents:

Introduction: Emotions and empire

Children of empire : British nationalism and colonial utopias

Colonial 'blind spots' : images of frontier conflict

Australian Uncle Tom's cabins

The homeless of empire? Imperial outcasts in Bleak house

Christian heroes on the new frontier

Charity begins at home? Philanthropy, magic lantern slides and missionary performances

The republican debate and popular royalism : 'a strange reluctance to actually shout at the Queen'.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 04 Oct 2019).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-108-75376-0

1-108-63864-3

1-108-65358-8