Othering - In Search of Britain Flashcards
When does the British Empire reach its peak?
After the Treaty of Versailles, gained a lot of land from Germany
What happens to the nature of empire and the way it is imagined in the 20s 30s?
It shifts
What form of entertainment was really popular in the 20s 30s?
Cinema
What types of films were the most popular in 1920s 1930s cinema?
Colonial films
Films are not just for escapism, what do they carry?
Messages about political events
Why were 1920s 1930s colonial film viewers easily convinced by the depictions they saw?
Do not know a lot about other cultures, have little preconcieved notions
Where did most people in the 20s 30s get their impressions of the colonies from?
Film
Why did documentaries about colonies receive censorship in the period?
There was recognition that films can challenge/form opinions of the Empire, had the capacity to disrupt Britain’s control
Pre war Britain had a selfish relationship with the colonies, taking what they could and giving little back. What changed about this post war?
The modern Empire was refashioned and there was a move towards development and trying to civilise the cultures under Britain’s control and into modernity
If Britain previously had an exploitative relationship with its colonies, what did it try to suggest it had with them in the 20s 30s?
A supportive relationship
What did Britain begin to call the Empire?
The imperial family
Why was the move to a supportive relationship with colonies so important in 20s 30s?
Post war there was a desire for peacekeeping, fear of one country getting too much power (germany), also the colonies were loyal in the war
Why were ideas of the British Empire as paternal partnerships so comforting?
Britain still seemed strong after the war
What did the Great Depression put great strain on?
Britain trying to maintain its imperial status, Britain’s economy was already damaged by the war
What did Britain try to do to overcome its economic struggles after the Great Depression and war damages?
Embraced imperial trade links
What was Britain specifically trying to differentiate its empire from?
The expansionist ideas of Germany and Italy, especially in 1935
What is ironic about the portrayal of Britain as a domestic, paternal father to its colonies?
The Empire was maintained by huge amounts of violence to surpress colonial self-determination
What is the wife in The Drums a model of?
The ideal of Empire, she is caring and nurturing
Why did colonial films often feature actors blacked up and not real colonial people?
They did not trust colonials with acting roles
Why is Zabu so important in the Drums?
He is a famous actor and was undoubtedly the selling point of the film
What is the plot of Sanders of the River?
White officer Colonel Sanders in Nigeria, has all the tribes under his control, Sanders leaves to try to get married and the whole area descends into chaos. He then comes back and restores calm and order again.
What stereotypical role does Colonel Sanders play? A figure that has been reconceptualised during the war?
A hero or father figure to the Africans
Why did actor Paul Robeson divorce Sanders of the River after he saw the final version?
He was upset about the portrayal of the Africans, it was supposed to be a more realistic portrayal but instead makes the Africans seem stupid and easy to control
Why did Sanders of the River include lots of singing scenes?
To make the most of Robeson’s voice as he is a famous singer and actor
What was used to authenticate Sanders of the River?
Stock footage filmed in Africa
What kind of limits could Robeson’s conflict with the director of Sanders of the River show?
The limits of white sympathies
What was The Drum the first of for London films?
It was the first technicolour film
What was The Drum more popular than?
All Quiet on the Western Front
When did the Empire Exhibition open?
St George’s Day 1924 and reopens 1925
Who set up the Empire Exhibition?
The government
What economic purpose was there for having the Empire Exhibition?
Cultivating Empire trade links
What is there a sense of through the size of the pavillions at the Empire Exhibition?
Heirarchy
Who paid for the the pavillions of each individual country at the Empire Exhibition?
The countries themselves, therefore Australia could afford a bigger pavillion than Sierra Leone
Which countries were of more economic value to Britain?
Australia and Canada
What part of the Empire Exhibition was highly emphasised in the guide book that links to modernity?
Big emphasis on ability to travel to the exhibition by train or by car - emphasising the new technologies
Was the Exhibition a forward facing embracement of modernity or a reiteration of past values?
Embracement of modernity, focus on growing the economy but also using past ideas - tradition of these kinds of exhibitions from the Victorians
What did the Empire Exhibition have a palace of which showed off new modern technologies?
Palace of Industry and Palace of Engineering
How were the palaces of industry and engineering built at the Empire Exhibition to show off modern technologies?
With concrete casts
What role of Britain was emphasised in links with the colonies? What new technologies had they brought to people?
Paternal/maternal - and they had brought progress in medicine, agriculture and sanitation
What ironic thing happened when British labourers/designers were building the pavillions?
They went on strike which was ironic because its supposed to be celebrating the unity of the Empire
If Britain wanted to show itself as modern, how did the pavillions of West African countries fit into this?
They were there to be quaint and less modern than Britain showing them as backwards and Britain as forwards in comparison
What did the Empire Exhibition give ordinary Britons the power to do?
Walk around the Empire in a day, get a true sense of the size and power of it - Also give them the oppportunity to learn about cultural differences
Did everybody who came to visit the Empire probably visit it in the same way?
No, depends probably on class. For rich it would have been part of the london season and to investigate trade links, for the middle classes it would have been educational for the working classes, it would have been entertainment, funfair and films
What did many commentators state about the working classes at the Empire Exhibition?
They were more interested in the fun fair than the Empire
What happened to the Nigerian pavillion at the exhibition?
It was shut down due to so much protest, people said it was putting people up for ridicule
What did Daniel Stephen in ‘White Man’s Grave’ say West Africans become in the Empire Exhibition?
“objects in a culture of public spectacle”
What does the official guidebook for the Empire Exhibition state the exhibition was? Hint: Family
“A family party, to which every part of the Empire is invited, and at which every part of the Empire is represented.”
What did Rudyard Kipling say about the West African building that Daniel Stephen argues captured the patronizing fiction behind liberal pretensions of racial politeness?
He said “The West African building is full of the Spirit. One almost smells the nigger passing by.”
What does Daniel Stephen in ‘White Man’s Grave’ argue Britain’s ideas about Empire turned from and into?
From masculine ideas of conquest and domination to notions of duty and feminity
What does Daniel Stephen in ‘White Man’s Grave’ argue visitors to Wembley could see many examples of?
West Africa’s progress at the hands of Britain
What kind of products did the Empire Exhibition hope to fuel desire for and interest in?
“Empire products”
In the changing imagery of Britain as paternal, what does Daniel Stephen in ‘White Man’s Grave’ argue that West Africans image was left like?
They had gone from being frightening, to chidlike, amenable to control
Although some criticised the exhibition, how did most West Africans feel about funding their pavillions in the Exhibition?
Most were in support of it, felt the exhibition would help trade and promote modernisation.
What did colonial officials promise West Africa that they would produce for the exhibition?
African displays that would educate and inform a stay at home british public about progress and the economic potential of west africa
What problems did West Africans face when they came over to man their pavillions?
They had nowhere to stay, many hotels and hostels had a colour bar and wouldn’t let black people stay there
What did people call the West African pavillions and why were they afraid to go there?
The White Man’s Grave - they were afraid to go there because they thought it had lots of diseases and was unhygienic
What happened on Sundays when the Exhibiton was closed that West African journals often used to promote good relations between Britons and Africans?
West African workers left Wembley for weekly escorted tours around London, visiting the famous sites.
What line in Sanders of the River suggests African people can only live in harmony with British peoples help?
The chief says to Sanders as he leaves “We all love each other now for if we did not you would punish us”
What was created near the war’s end which attracted lots of west African and Carribean students and professionals to join it?
African Progress Union and Union of Students of African Descent
What does Marc Matera in Black London argue London became an important locus for in the 1920s and 1930s?
Black resistance to racism and empire
Why did black intellectuals establish new organisations?
To pressure the imperial state and government
What did the institutions created by black intellectuals become?
Beachheads for a growing black presence, first stops for newcomers to London
What did Africans and Afro-Caribbeans in England increasingly view themselves as?
Representatives of Africa and global black community
What did the African groups come into contact with that expanded their visions?
Other black individuals and anti colonial sentiments
How many per cent of visitors were drawn to visit the Exhibition because of the West Africa Pavillion according to Marc Matera?
60 per cent
In the months leading up to and during the exhibition who gained notoriety for a series of letters published criticizing racist and salatious depictions of Africans?
Feli Oladipo Solanke
What did Solanke think was the real danger about the depictions of Africa at the exhibition?
That people would actually believe that Africa was like that!
What did Solanke call for in his ‘Open Letter to the Negroes of the World’?
Greater coordination of black struggles around the globe
What does Marc Matera argue in Black London that WASU’s popularity did not show?
Ethnic separatism, it showed a new internationalism
What does Prem Chowdhry observe Empire cinemas had emerged as in the 1930s?
As an arena for debate and discussion on matters of imperialist concern
What des Marc Matera in Black London argue Empire films were susceptible too from some people who watched them, despite being a useful propaganda tool?
Anticolonial critiques that could undermine its pro-british effects, making them counter productive
Were the responses of commentators of African descent to the films always identical nor unequivocal?
No
Where did lots of often-heated exchanges about Empire films take place and work to assume a sense of common cause for the Black public?
Black periodicals such as The Keys
What is the name of the secretary of the Empire Marketing Board who was the best known advocate for expanding PR efforts to advance British diplomatic interests?
Stephen Tallents
What term was Tallents relunctant to associate the expanding PR efforts for the Empire with?
Propaganda
What did Ross McKibbin, social historian, argue the cinema was in the period?
The most important medium of popular culture and says the English went to the cinema more than any other people
How many films does Matera argue were made in Britain by 1925? What was the only genre of British films that seemed to excel?
Only 5 per cent, Empire films (colonial epics)
What did director Korda use to try convince Paul Robeson to take the part in Sanders of the River?
Real ethnographic footage from the Congo, Sudan and Uganda
What did Paul Robeson’s biographers argue he was certain would happen?
He was certain that the film would offer black people a picture of the “Dark continent” they could be proud of, thought if he could portray it accurately he was helping his heritage
What did Robeson do after Sanders of the River was released?
Rejected the film and eventually left Britain, he felt he had betrayed his culture
When did Sanders of the River become a commercial success? What did it do to existing records for advance ticket sales?
Was a commercial success even before its theatrical release and smashed records for advance ticket sales
What was Sanders of the Rivers USP?
Promised high adventure and a rare glimpse into exotic Africa
What completely novel types of clips in Sanders of the River lend a certain truth value to the Empire film?
The aerial and panoramic footage of African landscapes and cultural practices
What did filmmakers of Sanders of the River spend a great deal of time on to make sure it was really realistic in Britain?
The African setting which was actually filmed in a studio in Britain
What did one reviewer suggest Sanders of the River combined genres of?
A dramatic film with a documentary authority
Which director and filmmaker ranted about Sanders of the River and Korda and expressed sympathy for Paul Robeson?
Paul Rotha
What did Sanders of the River spark after its release?
Public outcry and recriminations from people of African descent in Britain, the colonies and the United States
What did people of African descent repeatedly question about Sanders of the River?
Why Robeson would take part in it
During an interview in 1936 what did a journalist for the Sunday Worker say to Robeson? What did Robeson reply?
“You yourself played the role of selling the natives out to imperialists…you became the tool of British imperialism”
Robeson replied the imperial twist was added after picture was shot, but also conceded he felt attacks against him were justified
What does Marc Matera argue the response trigged from African Commentators to Sanders of the River reflects?
A growing struggle over the future of the British Empire and the bonds that held its diverse parts together
The colonial films were not just shown in Britain, where else were they shown?
In the colonies
What does Marc Matera in Black London argue that audiences in the colonies watching imported empire films had?
Rather different readings of the demonization of Anti-British sentiments
Why was the film Tell England recommended to be banned in Baghdad in 1931?
The inspector general of police recommended it be withdraw because in the scenes of fighting between British and Turkish troops, Iraqui members of the audience were loudly applauding the injuries of British troops
What did documentary films aim to do with empire films?
Set themselves as opposition, abandon the sensationalism of them
What did the documentary film The Glorious Sixth of June satirise?
The outdated and old fashioned conventions of the film villian
What in particular was the documentary movement really important for doing first?
Putting actual working class men and women on screen
What does Marc Matera argue was at the heart of these documentary films like Songs of Ceylon though?
Products and technology rather than indigenous people, don’t get close ups on camera, shown in relationship to machines they operate
What was the name of the quarterly journal founded by the League of Coloured Peoples in 1933?
The Keys
Where did the quarterly journal The Keys get its name?
James Aggrey’s parable - used black and white keys working together on a piano as an image of racial harmony
How many objectives did the League of Coloured Peoples have in 1933-1934?
Only 4 really simple ones - shows they weren’t asking for much
What did the League of Coloured Peoples want to protect in 1933-34?
Social economic and educational interests of Coloured peoples
What did the article in The Keys about the Manchester Hospital and Coloured Nurses show there is a discrepancy in in the 1920s/30s?
Discrepancy in how people treat coloured people, diff laws - how the top says it is and how it actually is
What does the article in The Keys about the Manchester Hospital and Coloured Nurses show the League of Coloured Peoples was active in?
Fighting on behalf of its members, representing them legally and defending their interests
What does the film Cosmopolitan London show there was a big mix of?
Cultures - asian, chinese, indian, jewish
What is the line at the end of the Cosmopolitan London film that suggests Britain has become cosmopolitan but that it is not pleased to be so?
“Something which reminds us that there is still something British in Wonderful London!”
In what line in Little Brown Girl does Una Marson suggest that other cultures don’t feel they belong in London?
“Should roam about their city, their white; white city?”
What kind of pride does Una Marson’s poem Little Brown Girl show?
Black pride, belief that Black is beautiful and white is boring
In what line does in Little Brown Girl does Una Marson satirise the lack of knowledge British people have about other cultures?
“But isn’t that India, all the same”
What argument does Una Marson put forward in ‘He called us Brethren’?
Religious argument that we are all God’s sons and daughters so why are we separating ourselves into others
What one truth does Una Marson fail to understand why Britain can’t comprehend?
That we are all equal in the eyes of God
What could be said in defence of white British people being racist in Cosmopolitan London?
They did not live in the global society we do today, they had a lack of understanding and their racism was a product of unfamiliarity
Why should we look at London to find out more about cosmopolitanism?
Although not everywhere is the same as London, London has the most people there and therefore plays out these tensions to the most visible degree
When were the Race riots?
1919
What did Britain do legally which excluded non-British people?
Redefined nationality and citizenship to exclude them
What does the film Cosmopolitan London show people of different cultures as in a similar way to the Empire Exhibition?
A spectacle
What contributed to whether cultures were seen as safe or dangerous, adding to our culture or degrading our culture, by the British public?
How white they were, French accepted as adding more to our culture than Black africans
What does the book Dope show British people as feeling towards other cultures that Cosmopolitan London doesn’t?
People being excited and getting a thrill from trying other cultures, wanting to be intoxicated by their opium places
How does the film Dope show women?
As sexualised, confident new women
What does Little Brown Girl give a sense of?
What its like to be subject of an internal gaze and confronted with a sense of difference
What did black women suffer from more than black men?
Intense loneliness
What did black women build the WASU union’s hostel into a centre of?
Black sociability and its modern attractions such as its African restaurant and dances
What words did white people commonly use to describe black adults in a derogatory manner?
Girl and boy
Why were women of African descent a spectacle even when simply walking the streets?
Their bodies linked to popular images of jazz performers, African women in cinema and ethnographic photography
What did Titilola Folarin, a Nigerian speaker, say about black women’s fashion and systematic refinement?
She argued African women should revise their native costumes and modernise them
Where did the new fashions of African women end up being sold and displayed?
In Regents Street
What does Marc Matera in Black London argue Una Marson’s actvities on both sides of the ocean were integral to?
The development of black internationalism and a critical intervention in the gender politics enveloping it
What does Marc Matera say was Una Marson’s biggest struggle which made her very lonely?
She didn’t fit in either the male world of black activism or the white women’s movement
What preoccupied Una Marson before she came to London?
Feminism
Which kinds of women did Una Marson like to speak to and learn from and which women did she not like to hear from?
She liked to hear from Indian women from the colonies but not white women who she said had too much pride
What frustrated Una Marson about the way white women spoke about colonial women?
They claimed to speak with authority and experience of colonial conditions but ignored the perspectives of women of colour
Who aside from colonial authorities also opposed Afro Caribbean and African women finding their pursuit of feminist social economic and political objectives?
Black men - remained at best “sister outsiders” in relation to the main institutions of black activism
What does Marc Matera in Black London say attacks and attempts to neutralise the influence of feminist black activists suggests?
That the women represented something disruptive and threatening
What was music an ever present part of in the early to mid twentieth century London, nowhere more so than in Soho?
Black sociability
Who’s establishments became regular haunts of the African and Caribbean students and activists?
Ashwood Garvey
Which establishment attracted visiting black celebrities, agitators and cash strapped students?
The Florence Mills
What unusual group does Marc Matera argue the Florence Mills attracted?
Curiosity seekers eager to see what the new importation from the colonies had to offer
What was Florence Mills only one of?
A growing number of establishments in Soho
What did politics rub shoulders with in Florence Mills?
Leisure, artistic production and consumption
What did the imperial metropolis become for travelling black musicians?
An important stop on their journey
What did black musicians stopping in London and playing in London establishments provide the opportunity for?
Facilitated music exchange, creation of innovative hybrid forms and expansive visions of the African world
Why do newspapers present court cases verbatim?
Because they can’t look like they’re passing opinion on the case
Describe the John Bull vs James Kitten case?
Claim of libel made by James Kitten against John Bull for its article “A terrible Negro Haunt: The Kitten and his Mice”, case went to court and Kitten lost the case and had to shut down his restaurant and went bankrupt
Did James Kitten have previous offences in the law?
Yes
What kind of ideas does John Bull link itself to?
Nationalist, empirical ideas, white supremicist
Was it the first time John Bull magazine had attacked James Kitten’s cafe?
No two articles previously
How wide was the circulation of John Bull?
2 million towards end of 1920s
What does the magazine John Bull claim to do?
Act “without fear or favour” defend the everyman from politics, investigates and exposes stuff not just reporting
What does the article written by John Bull call the government to do?
“Check the overflowing stream”
What does the Home Office file discussing the John Bull case show John Bull was able to do?
Get its issue debated in court, shows the power of the press
What kind of panic is John Bull trying to start?
Moral panic
What were John Bull trying to do to James Kitten?
Trying to provoke him to sue them for libel
Why were John Bull trying to provoke James Kitten into suing them for libel?
They knew that they could win and would create a nice publicity stunt, create a moral panic and get the governments attention, a trick they have used previously
What does the defence of James Kitten try to present him as?
A ‘good’ British citizen, he worked at the Savoy, part of an English service economy. Interned by Germans in 1914 and shot in the arm when he escapes
Why does Solanke represent James Kitten?
He is protecting spaces of black activism, fights these cases.
What is the libel trial of James Kitten an opportunity for Solanke to do?
Show racism in British public
Why could the police not take action about James Kitten?
He was a british subject and not an alien, does not come within provisions of article 10 or Aliens Order 1920
