عنوان

The geographies of global humanitarianism :

Number

TLets396272

Title Proper

The geographies of global humanitarianism :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Mitcham, Roderick Ellis.

Title Proper by Another Author

the Anti-Slavery Society and Aborigines Protection Society, 1884-1933

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Royal Holloway, University of London

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2002

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

Royal Holloway, University of London

Text preceding or following the note

2002

Text of Note

This thesis considers the cultural and political geographies of Britishhumanitarianism during the fifty years following the Berlin Conference of1884-5, focussing on two societies which merged in 1909: the Anti-SlaverySociety and the Aborigines Protection Society. This period in the history ofthe Societies has received relatively little scholarly attention. On the onehand, historians of anti-slavery have focussed overwhelmingly on the lateeighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. On the other, scholars of modernhuman rights have concentrated their attention on the period following theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. This thesis aims not only tobridge this gap, but to bring thesis literatures - on anti-slavery and humanrights - into productive dialogue.The thesis has three major themes. Firstly, it situates the two Societieswithin a wider 'humanitarian complex' that includes pan-Africanists,missionaries, feminists, social reformers and others, exploring theconnections and the tensions between these groups. Secondly, it considersthe imaginative geography of British humanitarian concern during theperiod under study, which involves both a global mapping of thehumanitarian gaze and the discussion of the politics of representation.Thirdly, it examines the repertoire of practices which humanitarians developed in their campaigns to bring slavery and other humanitarianabuses to the attention of various different publics.The thesis is organised into seven chapters. Chapter 1 establishes thetheoretical framework for the study, drawing especially on the work ofCatherine Hall. Chapter 2 provides an historical context for Britishhumanitarianism between 1884 and 1933. Chapter 3 considers thehumanitarian complex. Chapter 4 examines the role of the journalspublished by the two Societies in bringing humanitarian issues to the fore.Chapter 5 investigates the models of empire imagined by Britishhumanitarians. Chapter 6 provides an account of the celebrations organisedby the humanitarian movement in 1933 to mark the centenary of theabolition of slavery in the British colonies. The thesis concludes byexploring the relationship between British humanitarianism in this periodand its modern equivalent.

Mitcham, Roderick Ellis.

Royal Holloway, University of London

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y