Bonds of Empire

Bonds of Empire is part of a burgeoning literature that looks at the mutually reinforcing links between metropole and colonies. It examines the British identity of middle-class West Indians both at home and in the metropole from 1900 to the 1960s through a set of case studies: education, voluntary organization, wartime effort, radio broadcasting, and British royalty. The first part, which deals with the period up to the First World War, examines the educational system, focusing in particular on secondary education as this was a marker of middle-class status, and also looks at key royal celebrations and commemorations. Spry Rush shows that secondary schools instilled Britishness through a curriculum, calendar, and set of examinations that mirrored those in the mother country and that school children had no choice but to participate in royal celebrations, which also did much to encourage a strong identification with the Empire. The second part covers the inter-war years and develops the themes of education and royalty further. It looks at the abdication crisis of 1936–7 and shows that it was not just genuine admiration why many middle-class West Indians strongly identified with the British royal family but also aspirations for greater autonomy. Spry Rush convincingly shows that it was only by holding the monarch up as the symbol of honour and justice that middle-class West Indians were able to remain devoted to royalty on the one hand while pushing a nationalist agenda on the other. But while many West Indians in the 1930s advocated greater autonomy, they did not wish to see a greater focus on the Caribbean in schools and also firmly opposed the teaching of practical subjects, in particular in secondary schools. Spry Rush attributes their opposition to a concern about their status. The second part also examines the role played by the BBC broadcasts for the Caribbean, which started in 1942 and conveyed an ‘egalitarian imperialism’ (p. 148), in the refashioning of middle-class West Indian notions of Britishness. And it further pays considerable attention to ideas of Britishness articulated by West Indians in the mother country, through a discussion of the war effort and the League of Coloured Peoples

Ancient history · Britishness · Empire · Media studies · Middle class · Nationalism · Patriotism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Australian History and Society · Gender Studies · History · Law