1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture
-
John M. MacKenzie
Abstract
The scholarly literature on the end of the British Empire is brimming with all kinds of evocative metaphors. Paul Kennedy saw the Soviet Empire as being much longer-lasting and more intractable than the other declining great powers. Imperial markets were no longer protected by culture and sentiment. Import substitution was rampant everywhere and the Treaty of Rome and new economic alliances in Europe soon indicated further writing on the wall for Britain. By the 1940s, it was Indians who were largely running the British Empire in India. Decolonisation has been described as the 'Implosion of Empire', in order to convey a sense of the political upheavals on the colonial periphery reverberating inwards on metropolitan society. It is certainly significant that the major post-war exhibition, the Festival of Britain on London's South Bank in 1951, appeared to concentrate on metropolitan Britain.
Abstract
The scholarly literature on the end of the British Empire is brimming with all kinds of evocative metaphors. Paul Kennedy saw the Soviet Empire as being much longer-lasting and more intractable than the other declining great powers. Imperial markets were no longer protected by culture and sentiment. Import substitution was rampant everywhere and the Treaty of Rome and new economic alliances in Europe soon indicated further writing on the wall for Britain. By the 1940s, it was Indians who were largely running the British Empire in India. Decolonisation has been described as the 'Implosion of Empire', in order to convey a sense of the political upheavals on the colonial periphery reverberating inwards on metropolitan society. It is certainly significant that the major post-war exhibition, the Festival of Britain on London's South Bank in 1951, appeared to concentrate on metropolitan Britain.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
