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7 Anti-slavery and the roots of ‘imperial feminism’
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Clare Midgley
Clare MidgleySearch for this author in:
Abstract
This chapter sketches the relationship between female anti-slavery campaigning, colonial reform and the emergence of organised feminist campaigning. It compares the perspectives of female anti-slavery campaigners of the 1820s and 1830s with the 'imperial feminists' of the 1865-1915 period discussed by Antoinette Burton. The chapter argues that female anti-slavery was a form of Western protofeminism, which provides one of the main roots out of which fullblown 'imperial feminism' emerged. It investigates the comparisons which feminists made between their own social position and that of enslaved Africans and women in Oriental' and 'savage' societies. The chapter highlights the centrality of the comparisons to the structuring of British feminist tracts. Since the mid-1980s historical scholarship has started to engage with such critiques of Western feminism, and to excavate 'colonial skeletons in the family cupboard' of British feminists. Female anti-slavery needs to be placed within the history of the development of feminism.
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Abstract
This chapter sketches the relationship between female anti-slavery campaigning, colonial reform and the emergence of organised feminist campaigning. It compares the perspectives of female anti-slavery campaigners of the 1820s and 1830s with the 'imperial feminists' of the 1865-1915 period discussed by Antoinette Burton. The chapter argues that female anti-slavery was a form of Western protofeminism, which provides one of the main roots out of which fullblown 'imperial feminism' emerged. It investigates the comparisons which feminists made between their own social position and that of enslaved Africans and women in Oriental' and 'savage' societies. The chapter highlights the centrality of the comparisons to the structuring of British feminist tracts. Since the mid-1980s historical scholarship has started to engage with such critiques of Western feminism, and to excavate 'colonial skeletons in the family cupboard' of British feminists. Female anti-slavery needs to be placed within the history of the development of feminism.
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Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Notes on contributors x
- List of abbreviations xii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Impositions and impacts
- 1 Age of consent and hegemonic social reform 21
- 2 White women and colonialism 45
- 3 Indian Christian women and indigenous feminism, c.1850–c.1920 79
- 4 National liberation movements and the question of women’s liberation 104
- 5 Australian frontier feminism and the marauding white man 123
- 6 Taking liberties 137
- 7 Anti-slavery and the roots of ‘imperial feminism’ 161
- 8 Going a-Trolloping 180
- 9 ‘Britain’s conscience on Africa’ 200
- Index 224
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Notes on contributors x
- List of abbreviations xii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Impositions and impacts
- 1 Age of consent and hegemonic social reform 21
- 2 White women and colonialism 45
- 3 Indian Christian women and indigenous feminism, c.1850–c.1920 79
- 4 National liberation movements and the question of women’s liberation 104
- 5 Australian frontier feminism and the marauding white man 123
- 6 Taking liberties 137
- 7 Anti-slavery and the roots of ‘imperial feminism’ 161
- 8 Going a-Trolloping 180
- 9 ‘Britain’s conscience on Africa’ 200
- Index 224
