This book looks back to the period 1860 to 1950 in order to grasp how alternative visions of amity and co-existence were forged between people of faith, both within and resistant to imperial contact zones. It argues that networks of faith and friendship played a vital role in forging new vocabularies of cosmopolitanism that presaged the post-imperial world of the 1950s. In focussing on the diverse cosmopolitanisms articulated within liberal transnational networks of faith it is not intended to reduce or ignore the centrality of racisms, and especially hegemonic whiteness, in underpinning the spaces and subjectivities that these networks formed within and through. Rather, the book explores how new forms of cosmopolitanism could be articulated despite the awkward complicities and liminalities inhabited by individuals and characteristic of cosmopolitan thought zones.

This book breaks new ground by combining work about marginalized figures from within Britain as well as counterparts in the colonies, ranging from published sources such as indigenous newspapers to ordinary and everyday writings including diaries, letters, petitions, ballads, suicide notes, and more. Showcasing remarkable historical research by leading historians working with an impressive array of original material from around the globe, the chapters in this collection bring to light largely hitherto unknown histories of subalternity. Critical Perspectives on Colonialism explores the extent to which writing can serve as a weapon of the powerless, focuses on the entangled, interactive and dynamic character of the relationships between the spoken and the written word, and illustrates the significance of fragments on our understandings and definitions of 'the archive' and how we write history from and about the margins. Each chapter engages with the methodological implications of working with everyday scribblings and asks what these alternate modernities and histories mean for the larger critique of the 'imperial archive' that has shaped much of the most interesting writing on empire in the past decade.

Over the past two decades, transnational history has become an established term describing approaches to the writing of world or global history that emphasise movement, dynamism and diversity. This book investigates the emergence of the 'transnational' as an approach, its limits, and parameters. It focuses particular attention on the contributions of postcolonial and feminist studies in reformulating transnational historiography as a move beyond the national to one focusing on oceans, the movement of people, and the contributions of the margins. It ends with a consideration of developing approaches such as translocalism. The book considers the new kinds of history that need to be written now that the transnational perspective has become widespread. Providing an accessible and engaging chronology of the field, it will be key reading for students of historiography and world history.

Sources and Methods in Histories of Colonialism encourages readers to think more critically and analytically about the archives in which they work as well as about their research methods, their sources and their conceptual approaches. This volume provides an in-depth and critical survey of the now substantial and influential scholarly literatures on the functions and scope of the imperial archive and on the relationships between the archive, knowledge and power. It allows readers to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges of working with a range of specific source genres within imperial and colonial archives. It explores the ways in which newer approaches to, and ways of thinking about, the past have challenged more traditional views of the archive, provoking new questions about what archives are and where their conceptual, geographical and chronological boundaries might lie. And, it assesses the implications of these shifts for those interested in researching and writing about colonial and postcolonial societies.

Focusing on the period from the late eighteenth century to the present, the authors examine issues, themes and case studies pertaining to a broad range of modern empires including those established by Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States. The source genres discussed illustrate and exemplify a range of core themes and debates regarding the writing of colonial and postcolonial histories, covering a range of subjects including government papers, censuses, petitions, case-files, and orality. Many of the chapters combine an overview of the current state of research and writing about a particular source genre or conceptual theme with a case study. This combination of overview and case study will enable readers to explore and examine the issues in a grounded, hands-on and applied fashion.

Sources and Methods in Histories of Colonialism encourages readers to think more critically and analytically about the archives in which they work as well as about their research methods, their sources and their conceptual approaches. This volume provides an in-depth and critical survey of the now substantial and influential scholarly literatures on the functions and scope of the imperial archive and on the relationships between the archive, knowledge and power. It allows readers to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges of working with a range of specific source genres within imperial and colonial archives. It explores the ways in which newer approaches to, and ways of thinking about, the past have challenged more traditional views of the archive, provoking new questions about what archives are and where their conceptual, geographical and chronological boundaries might lie. And, it assesses the implications of these shifts for those interested in researching and writing about colonial and postcolonial societies.

Focusing on the period from the late eighteenth century to the present, the authors examine issues, themes and case studies pertaining to a broad range of modern empires including those established by Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States. The source genres discussed illustrate and exemplify a range of core themes and debates regarding the writing of colonial and postcolonial histories, covering a range of subjects including government papers, censuses, petitions, case-files, and orality. Many of the chapters combine an overview of the current state of research and writing about a particular source genre or conceptual theme with a case study. This combination of overview and case study will enable readers to explore and examine the issues in a grounded, hands-on and applied fashion.

This book looks back to the period 1860 to 1950 in order to grasp how alternative visions of amity and co-existence were forged between people of faith, both within and resistant to imperial contact zones. It argues that networks of faith and friendship played a vital role in forging new vocabularies of cosmopolitanism that presaged the post-imperial world of the 1950s. In focussing on the diverse cosmopolitanisms articulated within liberal transnational networks of faith it is not intended to reduce or ignore the centrality of racisms, and especially hegemonic whiteness, in underpinning the spaces and subjectivities that these networks formed within and through. Rather, the book explores how new forms of cosmopolitanism could be articulated despite the awkward complicities and liminalities inhabited by individuals and characteristic of cosmopolitan thought zones.

The late 1920s saw an extraordinary protest by an Australian Aboriginal man on the streets of London. Standing outside Australia House, cloaked in tiny skeletons, Anthony Martin Fernando condemned the failure of British rule in his country. Fernando is believed to be the first Aboriginal person to protest conditions in Australia from the streets of Europe. His various forms of action, from pamphlets on the streets of Rome to the famous Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, distinguish this lone protestor as a unique Aboriginal activist of his time. Drawn from an extensive search in archives from Australia and Europe, this is the first full-length study of Fernando's life and the self-professed mission that lasted half his adult life.

Over the past two decades, transnational history has become an established term describing approaches to the writing of world or global history that emphasise movement, dynamism and diversity. This book investigates the emergence of the 'transnational' as an approach, its limits, and parameters. It focuses particular attention on the contributions of postcolonial and feminist studies in reformulating transnational historiography as a move beyond the national to one focusing on oceans, the movement of people, and the contributions of the margins. It ends with a consideration of developing approaches such as translocalism. The book considers the new kinds of history that need to be written now that the transnational perspective has become widespread. Providing an accessible and engaging chronology of the field, it will be key reading for students of historiography and world history.