Imperial Networks Creating Identities in Nineteenth-Century South Africa and Britain

Focusing on the colonization of the Xhosa in 19th-century South Africa, this work reveals the way in which British colonialism in the region was informed by imperial ideas and activities. The book introduces students to key debates in the historiography of this period, as well as the materialist and postcolonial constructions of the past.

Imperial Networks investigates the discourses and practices of British colonialism. It reveals how British colonialism in the Eastern Cape region was informed by, and itself informed, imperial ideas and activities elsewhere, both in Britain and in other colonies. It examines: * the origins and development of the three interacting discourses of colonialism - official, humanitarian and settler* the contests, compromises and interplay between these discourses and their proponents* the analysis of these discourses in the light of a global humanitarian movement in the aftermath of the antislavery campaign* the eventual colonisation of the Eastern cape and the construction of colonial settler identities. For any student or resarcher of this major aspect of history, this will be a staple part of theirreading diet.