Reforming Everywhere and All at Once Transitioning to Free Labor Across the British Empire 1837-1838.pdf (434.1 kB)
Reforming everywhere and all at once: transitioning to free labor across the British empire, 1837-1838
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 06:34 authored by Kate Boehme, Peter Mitchell, Alan LesterAlan LesterIn late 1837 and early 1838 the British imperial government was preparing for an empire-wide transition from bonded to nominally free labor. This article builds upon recent scholarship that promotes a holistic, global approach to this transition, by narrowing the temporal frame and expanding the spatial. We emphasize interconnectivity and simultaneity rather than chronological succession, and we analyze the governance, rather than the experience, of this transition. Our approach is founded upon analysis of correspondence passing from every British colonial site through the Colonial Office in 1837–1838. We suggest that this hub of imperial government sought to reconcile the persistence of different conditions in each colony with the pursuit of three overarching policy objectives: redistributing labor globally; distinguishing between the moral debts owed to different kinds of bonded labor, and managing tradeoffs between security, economy, and morality. We conclude that the governance of the transition to free labor is best conceived as an assemblage of material and expressive elements of different spatial scales, whose interactions were complex and indeterminate. Through these specific governmental priorities and a particular communications infrastructure, these elements were brought into critical alignment at this moment to shape a significant transition in relations between people across the world.
Funding
Snapshots of Empire: managing a diverse empire all at once; G1680; LEVERHULME TRUST; RPG-2015-155
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Comparative Studies in Society and HistoryISSN
0010-4175Publisher
Cambridge University PressExternal DOI
Issue
3Volume
60Page range
688-718Department affiliated with
- Geography Publications
Research groups affiliated with
- Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2017-06-07First Open Access (FOA) Date
2017-06-07First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2017-06-07Usage metrics
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