Imperialism and Postcolonialism History: Concepts,Theories and Practice Series

This account of imperialism explores recent intellectual, theoretical and conceptual developments in imperial history, including interdisciplinary and post-colonial perspectives. Exploring the links between empire and domestic history, it looks at the interconnections and comparisons between empire and imperial power within wider developments in world history, covering the period from the Roman to the present American empire.

The book begins by examining the nature of empire, then looks at continuity and change in the historiography of imperialism and theoretical and conceptual developments. It covers themes such as the relationship between imperialism and modernity, culture and national identity in Britain.

Suitable for undergraduates taking courses in imperial and colonial history.

Introduction, Chapter 1 Untangling imperialism: comparisons over time and space. Chapter 2 Untangling imperialism: theories, concepts and historiography Defining colonialism and imperialism. Case study 1 Conceptualizing imperialism: the case of Ireland. Chapter 3 Imperialism and modernity. Case study 2 China and Japan: modernity, imperialism and anti-Westernism. Chapter 4 Culture and imperialism. Case study 3 Culture and imperialism in British Africa. Chapter 5 Representing empire. Case study 4 Representing empire in British culture. Chapter 6 Postcolonial perspectives: imperialism or globalization?

Barbara Bush is a Professor of Imperial History at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Her key publications include Slave Women in Caribbean Society, 1650-1838 (1990), which was selected as a Choice Book of the Year in 1991; Imperialism, Race and Resistance:Africa and Britain, 1919-1945,(1999) and ‘Gender and Empire: The Twentieth Century’ in Gender and Empire, Oxford History of the British Empire, Companion Series (2004) edited by Philippa Levine.