Woman Pioneer of Empire
The Making of a Female Colonial Celebrity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4465319 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tal Zalmanovich (0000-0002-6663-9945, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 193-210 |
| Publication date | 2009-06-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Postcolonial Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1368-8790 • E-ISSN: 1466-1888 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13688790902887171 |
| OpenAlex | W1976435580 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
In September 1924 a motor-car expedition, led by a former Royal Air Force Captain and his South African-born wife, left Cape Town in an attempt to cross Africa and recapitulate Cecil Rhodes's vision of a unified continent under British rule. The sixteen-month journey received close newspaper coverage both in South Africa and in Britain. This coverage and the spin-off products of the expedition, among them a travelogue film, a written memoir, and numerous media appearances, made the participants-particularly Stella Court Treatt—celebrities. The Court Treatt expedition demonstrates the way in which the British state ruled its colonies in Africa not only by military and bureaucratic means, but also through the symbolic power of modern technology. The tabloid press, the availability of the car and the camera, and the emerging culture of celebrity facilitated the construction and distribution of an image of British colonial ownership to readers in the metropole. A picture of Africa, emptied of menacing groups contesting British rule, emerges from the expedition's reports and from the expedition's narrative. Stella Court Treatt was active in the creation of her persona as a glamorous, plucky and modern colonial celebrity. Using previously unexamined primary sources, this article interrogates questions arising at the intersection of celebrity, colonialism, patriotism and gender in 1920s Britain
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · British Empire · Colonialism · Empire · Literature · Media studies · Memoir · Narrative · Newspaper · Political science · Politics · Referendum · Sociology · Wife · African history and culture studies · Australian History and Society · Gender Studies · History · Law · Travel Writing and Literature
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2012 - 2026 (15) |
| Highly cited | No |