9 Wandering in the wake of empire
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Hsu-Ming Teo
Abstract
British travellers had confidently made their way from Angora to Afghanistan, from the Cape to Cairo, from Nepal to New Zealand; their journeys were written up in the books that Evelyn Waugh reviewed. The imperial legacy was an ambiguous one for many post-imperial British travellers. Travel and tourism throughout the colonies allowed Britons a glimpse of modernisation under British or European administration, and to make comparisons between British colonial rule and that of other imperial nations. The experience of travel and tourism in post-colonial nations was refracted through the prism of British imperialism. There were greater opportunities and enthusiasm for travel after the Second World War than there had ever been in British history. The landscape of the decolonised world is haunted by the ghosts of British adventurers past. The melancholy nostalgia for a bygone era is more characteristic of twentieth-century British travel texts than their nineteenth-century counterparts.
Abstract
British travellers had confidently made their way from Angora to Afghanistan, from the Cape to Cairo, from Nepal to New Zealand; their journeys were written up in the books that Evelyn Waugh reviewed. The imperial legacy was an ambiguous one for many post-imperial British travellers. Travel and tourism throughout the colonies allowed Britons a glimpse of modernisation under British or European administration, and to make comparisons between British colonial rule and that of other imperial nations. The experience of travel and tourism in post-colonial nations was refracted through the prism of British imperialism. There were greater opportunities and enthusiasm for travel after the Second World War than there had ever been in British history. The landscape of the decolonised world is haunted by the ghosts of British adventurers past. The melancholy nostalgia for a bygone era is more characteristic of twentieth-century British travel texts than their nineteenth-century counterparts.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture 21
- 2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’ 37
- 3 Coronation Everest 57
- 4 Look back at empire 73
- 5 ‘No nation could be broker’ 91
- 6 The imperial game in crisis 111
- 7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age 128
- 8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers 145
- 9 Wandering in the wake of empire 163
- 10 Communities of Britishness 180
- 11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain 200
- 12 India, Inc.? 217
- Index 233
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture 21
- 2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’ 37
- 3 Coronation Everest 57
- 4 Look back at empire 73
- 5 ‘No nation could be broker’ 91
- 6 The imperial game in crisis 111
- 7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age 128
- 8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers 145
- 9 Wandering in the wake of empire 163
- 10 Communities of Britishness 180
- 11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain 200
- 12 India, Inc.? 217
- Index 233
