Manchester University Press
Conclusion
Abstract
In India, advocates of martial race policy were able to shift profoundly and dramatically the recruiting base of the army to the populations of the north and north-west in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. And despite the political and strategic motivations of this shift, through the use of the language of scientific racism such people also played an important role in shaping the structure of racial discourse on the subcontinent. In Britain, the successes of martial race discourse and military intervention in popular culture were even more ambiguous. In the context of the late Victorian British Empire, Highlanders, Sikhs and Gurkhas were identified so strongly with the attributes and values of martialness that alternative constructions of their identities and realities all but disappeared from public discourse. They became the alter ego of British men - the colonised, simple, violence-prone imperial subjects who would fight Britain's battles without question.
Abstract
In India, advocates of martial race policy were able to shift profoundly and dramatically the recruiting base of the army to the populations of the north and north-west in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. And despite the political and strategic motivations of this shift, through the use of the language of scientific racism such people also played an important role in shaping the structure of racial discourse on the subcontinent. In Britain, the successes of martial race discourse and military intervention in popular culture were even more ambiguous. In the context of the late Victorian British Empire, Highlanders, Sikhs and Gurkhas were identified so strongly with the attributes and values of martialness that alternative constructions of their identities and realities all but disappeared from public discourse. They became the alter ego of British men - the colonised, simple, violence-prone imperial subjects who would fight Britain's battles without question.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- General editor’s introduction viii
- Acknowledgements x
- Introduction 1
- 1 The transformation of the British and Indian armies in the Rebellion of 1857 18
- 2 Highlanders, Sikhs and Gurkhas in the Rebellion 52
- 3 The European threat, recruiting, and the development of martial race ideology after 1870 87
- 4 Military influence and martial race discourse in British popular culture 116
- 5 Martial races 156
- 6 Representation versus experience 190
- Conclusion 225
- Select bibliography 229
- Index 236
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- General editor’s introduction viii
- Acknowledgements x
- Introduction 1
- 1 The transformation of the British and Indian armies in the Rebellion of 1857 18
- 2 Highlanders, Sikhs and Gurkhas in the Rebellion 52
- 3 The European threat, recruiting, and the development of martial race ideology after 1870 87
- 4 Military influence and martial race discourse in British popular culture 116
- 5 Martial races 156
- 6 Representation versus experience 190
- Conclusion 225
- Select bibliography 229
- Index 236
