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Sport, Cultural Imperialism, and Colonial Response in the British Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

Brian Stoddart
Brian Stoddart
Affiliation:
Canberra College of Advanced Education
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Extract

Throughout the vast literature on British and general imperialism, the emphasis is largely upon the winning, then subsequent loss, of political control by the imperial power in colonial settings. Consequently, debate about the accession to that power has revolved largely about the great triad of considerations: economic necessity, strategic calculation, and civilising zeal. Similarly, discussion of emergent nationalist movements has hinged upon remarkably similar lines: Was the leadership of those movements motivated solely by ideologically inspired desires for independence, by the ambition to command the new sources of economic wealth developed under imperial rule, or by a simple thrust for political power to protect other interests? These are generalisations certainly, but, to take India as a case in point, much of the modern historiography has been concerned to demonstrate either how Britain “lost” or how the Indian National Congress “won” that power. But among such generalisations upon the British imperial experience, one interesting question has gone begging.

Type
Cultural Power
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , October 1988 , pp. 649 - 673
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1988

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References

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