The Expansion Of England

The Expansion of England is a collection of essays that explore the history of the British Empire and the practice of historical enquiry itself. The essays explore the sexual, racial, and ethnic identities shaping the experiences of English men and women in the 19th century, and argue that habits of thought forged in the Empire still give meaning to English identities today.

The organized study of history began in Britain when the Empire was at its height. Belief in the destiny of imperial England profoundly shaped the imagination of the first generation of professional historians. But with the Empire gone, do these mental habits still haunt historical explanation? Drawing on postcolonial theory in a mix of historical and theoretical chapters, this text explores the history of the British Empire and the practice of historical enquiry itself. There are essays on Asia, Australasia, the West Indies, South Africa and Wales. Examining the sexual, racial and ethnic identities shaping the experiences of English men and women in the 19th century, the authors argue that habits of thought forged in the Empire still give meaning to English identities today. Review: This collection of powerful essays is a landmark text in cultural history. Boldly interpretive, global in scope, and richly informative, this volume makes a stimulating and original addition to a key public debate. -Moira Ferguson, University of Nebraska, Lincoln The Expansion of England is a remarkably fertile exploration of the English national character --moral, political, psychological--as it emerges from Britain's imperial entanglements. The hubris of high Victorian ideas (suddenly so fashionable) are severely put on trial by these colonial texts from Wales, from West Indies, China and the Xhosa nation. Arguing for a revisionary historiography, this book turns the archives into a place of critical adventure. -Homi Bhabha, University of Chicago This volume contributes to key debates in social and cultural history, approaches which have too often been isolated to the impoverishment of both. The essays combine a serious engagement with critical theory and a sharp sense of historical specificity and change, the shifting and conflicting perspectives that were at the heart of the colonising project itself. British social history has often been written in isolation from the shaping experiences of empire and racial difference. There is now less excuse for that omission. -Robert Gray, University of Portsmouth It was created by enthusiastic scholars, and for enthusiasts of the subject. - The International History Review, Mar ch 1998