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Exploring British India: South African prisoners of war as imperial travel writers, 1899–1902
- Author(s):
- Nienke Boer (see profile)
- Date:
- 2017
- Group(s):
- CLCS Global Anglophone, CLCS Global South, LLC African to 1990, Prospective Forum: CLCS Indian Ocean, TC Postcolonial Studies
- Subject(s):
- Indian Ocean Region, Area studies, War and literature, Travel writing, South African literature, Great Britain, Nineteenth century, British territories and possessions
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- south african war, ceylon, tourism, war prisoners, Indian ocean studies, War writing, Travel literature, Victorian studies, British empire
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6M61BP7N
- Abstract:
- During the second South African War (1899–1902), also known as the Anglo-Boer War, the British War Office supervised the transportation of approximately 24,000 South African prisoners of war to Bermuda, St. Helena, and British India. Examining previously unstudied memoirs published immediately following the war by war prisoners held in camps in India and Ceylon, I argue that these texts read not, as one would expect, as prison or war writing, but as travel literature. These authors do not see a conflict between enjoying the benefits of empire abroad while fighting an anti-imperial war at home. The descriptions of landscapes and events in these memoirs suggest a cultural imaginary built on travelling and cultural exchange, as opposed to the insular and nativist Afrikaner nationalism that would follow empire. This article thus contributes to a larger project of examining the precursors of postcolonial nationalism, as well as historical and imaginative links between imperial peripheries.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 5 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
article-jcl-boer.pdf