Heroic Imperialists in Africa: The Promotion of British and French Colonial Heroes, 1870-1939: 106 (Studies in Imperialism) - Softcover

Berny Sèbe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0719097517 ISBN 13: 9780719097515

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2015

Synopsis

From David Livingstone to Charles de Foucauld, from Pierre Savorgan de Brazza to General Gordon, from the 'Sirdar' Kitchener to Jean-Baptiste Marchand, imperial heroes came to captivate the imagination of their contemporaries. These standard-bearers of the 'civilising mission', armed with Bible or rifle, often both, became widely celebrated in their metropoles, with their exploits splashed across the front pages of the penny press, inspiring generations of biographers, painters and, later, film-makers. Coinciding with the advent of 'New Journalism', they embodied the symbolic implementation of the colonial project and performed a highly mythologised meeting between conquerors and conquered, nurturing imperial pride. Berny Sèbe explores in comparative perspective the ways in which heroes of the British and French empires in Africa were selected, manufactured and packaged from the height of 'New Imperialism' until the Second World War. He uncovers the media processes and publishing stories behind the legends of a dozen imperial heroes on both sides of the Channel, offering a comprehensive analysis of a phenomenon which was at the heart of popular imperialism. For all their now-transparent biases and shortcomings, these icons of a bygone age provide us with a fascinating insight into the mechanisms of hero-making in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain and France. They also throw light upon the imperial mind-set, and the story of the interests they served help explain why their epic legends permeate - perhaps even to this day - national identities.

About this title

Review:

In this superbly researched and elegantly written book, Sebe has opened a vital new chapter in the cultural history of empire, and also helped to explain why it was often so difficult to control headstrong 'men on the spot'....by comparing the practices of this 'hero-making' industry in Britain and France, he has made an important contribution to the wider scholarship on Europe's imperialisms. -- John Darwin, University of Oxford

Essential reading for all students and scholars of colonial history. Sebe is sensitive to the very different French and British contexts of the individuals he presents, but the overall impact of his study lies in its insightful delineation of the phenomenon of 'celebrity colonialism'. This book constitutes a timely intervention in debates about the complex interactions between European and African histories. -- Charles Forsdick, University of Liverpool

Berny Sebe has written an original and imaginative work. This stimulating and resourceful book penetrates the reality of myth-building in the colonial era. -- Wm. Roger Louis, University of Texas at Austin

"
In this superbly researched and elegantly written book, Sebe has opened a vital new chapter in the cultural history of empire, and also helped to explain why it was often so difficult to control headstrong 'men on the spot'....by comparing the practices of this 'hero-making' industry in Britain and France, he has made an important contribution to the wider scholarship on Europe's imperialisms. -- John Darwin, University of Oxford

Essential reading for all students and scholars of colonial history. Sebe is sensitive to the very different French and British contexts of the individuals he presents, but the overall impact of his study lies in its insightful delineation of the phenomenon of 'celebrity colonialism'. This book constitutes a timely intervention in debates about the complex interactions between European and African histories. -- Charles Forsdick, University of Liverpool

Berny Sebe has written an original and imaginative work. This stimulating and resourceful book penetrates the reality of myth-building in the colonial era. -- Wm. Roger Louis, University of Texas at Austin

"It is a fascinating volumeEL the work is a first-class contribution to understanding, and will hopefully open the way for more such comparative analyses." - John Mullen is Professor of British Studies at the University of Rouen, Quaderna

"Berny Sebe has written an excellent comparative account of the rise to prominence
in Britain and France of male colonial figures in the late nineteenth century and their
continued relevance into the interwar years." - STEPHEN HEATHORN, McMaster University, French History, (2016)

"Its archival richness and its refreshing reliance on literary history make it not only a balanced, but also a finely textured, interdisciplinary piece of scholarship." - PRIYASHA MUKHOPADHYAY, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, UK, Interventions International Journal of Postcolonial Studies

"Undoubtedly a highly significant and elegantly written work." - War in History 24 (1) Thomas Sharp, Oxford Brookes University

"In this superbly researched and elegantly written book, Sebe has opened a vital new chapter in the cultural history of empire, and also helped to explain why it was often so difficult to control headstrong 'men on the spot'....by comparing the practices of this 'hero-making' industry in Britain and France, he has made an important contribution to the wider scholarship on Europe's imperialisms." -- John Darwin, University of Oxford

"Essential reading for all students and scholars of colonial history. Sebe is sensitive to the very different French and British contexts of the individuals he presents, but the overall impact of his study lies in its insightful delineation of the phenomenon of 'celebrity colonialism'. This book constitutes a timely intervention in debates about the complex interactions between European and African histories." -- Charles Forsdick, University of Liverpool

Berny Sebe has written an original and imaginative work. This stimulating and resourceful book penetrates the reality of myth-building in the colonial era. -- Wm. Roger Louis, University of Texas at Austin

"It is a fascinating volume...the work is a first-class contribution to understanding, and will hopefully open the way for more such comparative analyses." - John Mullen is Professor of British Studies at the University of Rouen, Quaderna

"Berny Sebe has written an excellent comparative account of the rise to prominence
in Britain and France of male colonial figures in the late nineteenth century and their
continued relevance into the interwar years." - STEPHEN HEATHORN, McMaster University, French History, (2016)

"Its archival richness and its refreshing reliance on literary history make it not only a balanced, but also a finely textured, interdisciplinary piece of scholarship." - PRIYASHA MUKHOPADHYAY, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, UK, Interventions International Journal of Postcolonial Studies

"Undoubtedly a highly significant and elegantly written work." - War in History 24 (1) Thomas Sharp, Oxford Brookes University

"This book is one of the (too) few attempts at comparing French and British late 19thand early 20th-century imperialisms. The relative scarcity of relevant comparative studies of modern imperialisms is understandable. Such an approach requires both proficiency in two separate national historiographies and knowledge of two very different sets of archival records." - Daniel Foliard, Universite Paris Ouest Nanterre la Defense, Cahiers victoriens et Edouardiens 82, Autumn 2015

"Berny Sebe has written an excellent comparative account of the rise to prominence
in Britain and France of male colonial figures in the late nineteenth century and their
continued relevance into the interwar years...Sebe's book is very good at explaining how the reputations of key imperial figures were established, and on providing the deep context to the creation of national reputations at this time." - Stephen Heathorn, McMaster University, French History, January 2016

"The broad temporal perspective and the multiplicity of different imperial heroes analysed make this study both richly detailed and highly pertinent to an array of different scholarly questions and fields. Thus, it should be recommended to students and scholars not only of imperial history, but also of Franco-British relations, French studies, cultural history and the history of popular culture." - Joanna Warson, University of Portsmouth, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, May 2014

"This well-researched book is an essential contribution to the history of empire and will be of great use to students and scholars of colonial history." - Kelsey Suggitt, University of Portsmouth, Modern and Contemporary France March 2016

"This book is a major addition to reputation studies and to imperial history. The author has clear command over the political contexts in Britain and France from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century: there is much here that will provoke established scholars to think about popular imperialism and imperialist icons in new ways. But Sebe's work is also accessible to those new to the field, offering, for instance, a helpful appendix of short biographies of the key figures he discusses. Sebe paves the way for future research on imperial myth-making, having successfully established the importance of the heroic legend to both British and French imperial culture."
Justin D. Livingstone, Queen's University Belfast, HER, 556, October 2017

"Heroic Imperialists in Africa stands at the crossroads between imperial, cultural, publishing and even literary history. It opens new perspectives and undoubtedly deserves to be widely read."
Daniel Follard, Cahiers victoriens et edouardiens, Vol 82, Autumn 2015

About the Author:

Berny Sebe is Lecturer in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies at the University of Birmingham -- .

About this edition

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0719097517
• ISBN 13: 9780719097515
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352