Fleet-footed Performers at the Edges of Colonial Law
Jack Johnson, Maud Allan and the Struggles of Cinema Censorship in British India
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11943563 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alastair Mcclure (0000-0002-8961-8805, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR People’s Republic of China, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 264-297 |
| Publication date | 2022-01-16 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-6534 • E-ISSN: 1743-9329 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03086534.2021.2020412 |
| OpenAlex | W4205647208 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 45 |
This article explores the archival entanglements that brought together world-champion boxer Jack Johnson and world-famous dancer Maud Allan, with the legal and political history of cinema censorship in early twentieth century British India. Focusing on the battles waged to prevent these performers being viewed by Indian audiences, these episodes are situated within the wider context of developments in technology, economy and law in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Both famous stars in their own right, their expansive transnational reach presented a particular set of problems for colonial administrators tasked with managing the precarious relationship between race, gender and the imperial political order. Indicative of much more than exceptional moments, this article argues that these incidents were symptomatic of a series of changes within and beyond the British Empire which were pressuring the colonial state to reconsider the suitability of a legal architecture constructed for a nineteenth century world, and to imagine one that could meet the challenges of the twentieth century. As the article argues, the difficulties faced managing these two performances would expose the limits of the colonial state’s legal apparatus at this juncture, as well as the scope of its political imagination. When colonial lawmakers turned their hand to the radically novel challenge of the cinema, neither would be easily overcome
Archaeology · Art history · British Empire · Censorship · Champion · Colonialism · Context (archaeology · Empire · Media studies · Movie theater · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Cuban History and Society · History · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Philippine History and Culture
“The Day Will Come”
The Indian Press 1870–1880
Migrating to the Movies
On Unthinking Eurocentrism
Drawing the Global Colour Line
The Story of the Calcutta Theatres
Lowering Our Prestige”
Intertwined Itineraries
A transnational history of immigration restriction
European orphans and vagrants in India in the Nineteenth century
Censoring India
Maud Allan, part III
Maintaining the Bar
Cinemas and Censorship in Colonial Malaya
White women degrading themselves to the lowest depths
Sport, Cultural Imperialism, and Colonial Response in the British Empire
Purifying Empire
Literary Surveillance in the British Raj
Connected Worlds
Examinations, access, and inequity within the empire
Cinema, Censorship and Sexuality
Dancing the Orient for England
The Self-Image of Effeteness
Sinews of Panic and the Nerves of Empire
Debating Radical Cinema
Subaltern Bodies and Nationalist Physiques
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |