Humanitarianism and Empire: New Research Agendas

This article provides an introductory overview of themes raised in this special edition of the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. We suggest that, while recent work such as Michael Barnett's Empire of Humanity has begun to explore the history of western humanitarianism, academic researchers can do more to address the intricate framework of relations between humanitarianism and empire, and that the history of humanitarianism can usefully be viewed as a fundamental component of imperial relations, a way of bridging trans-imperial, international and transnational approaches. We set the papers in this collection within the wider historiography of nineteenth and twentieth century humanitarianism, and outline how the humanitarian ‘impulse’ intersected with debates around anti-slavery, colonial administration and the protection of indigenous peoples. We also outline the ways in which twentieth-century international ‘networks of concern’ engaged with, and built upon, the discourses of imperial humanitarianism. Finally, we briefly consider the benefits of a ‘transnational’ approach in sketching the history of empire and humanitarianism.     

Humanitarianism,genocide and liberalism

The international response to genocide and human rights violations has received increasing attention by scholars in the humanities and social sciences. This article explores the history of the response to mass atrocity by assessing recent work on humanitarianism as an idea and in practice in the West. It argues that the impulse to defend the rights of others historically has been tied up with geopolitical and imperial concerns that shaped European politics. The current embrace of the responsibility to protect, or ‘R2P’, and debates over whether or not to recognize and prosecute perpetrators of past atrocities from the Armenian genocide to Rwanda remain embedded in this longer history of humanitarianism and geopolitics. As recent work on humanitarian intervention, the anti-slavery movement and humanitarianism and foreign policy demonstrates, the pressing need to understand the response to atrocity has called scholars to more fully participate in the contemporary conversation over human rights by exploring its roots in humanitarian practices of the recent and not so recent past. Understanding the history of humanitarianism as it connects both with the history of human rights and liberal ideals offers an important way of reassessing the role of the nation-state and international institutions in responding to human rights crisis. The article concludes by suggesting that scholars move away from the question of the origin of human rights as an idea to focus on historicizing the response to humanitarian crisis in order to problematize the story of the rise of western-led human rights regimes.     

Colonial Networks,Australian Humanitarianism and the History Wars

The ‘History Wars’ have brought contests among Britons over the colonisation of Aboriginal land and people to the forefront of public consciousness in Australia. These contests, however, were the result of trajectories that criss‐crossed British imperial spaces, connecting Australia with other settler colonies and the British metropole. A number of historians and historical geographers have recently employed the notion of the network to highlight the interconnected geographies of the British Empire. This paper begins by examining the utility of such a re‐conceptualisation. It then fleshes out empirically the networked nature of early nineteenth century humanitarianism in colonial New South Wales. Both the relatively progressive potential of this humanitarian network, and its complicity in an ethnocentric politics of assimilationism are analysed. Settler networks, developed as a counter to humanitarian influence in the colony, are also examined more briefly. This account of contested networks demonstrates that they were never simply about communication, but always, fundamentally, about the organisation and contestation of dispossessive trajectories that linked diverse colonial and metropolitan sites. The paper concludes by noting some of the implications of such a networked analysis of dispossession and assimilation for Australia's ‘History Wars’.     

旅游摄影 引领时尚

<正>德国艺术评论家沃尔特.本雅明在20世纪30年代,曾经在他的《迎向灵光消逝的年代》一书中,有过这样的预见:"将来的文盲,不是不会书写的人,而是不懂摄影的人。"预言成为现实,世界进入读图时代。尤其是在21世纪迅速崛起的中     

风光摄影 凝固稍纵即逝的自然之美

<正>由于工作的关系,我去过很多国家,加之我本人偏爱艺术的唯美意境,因此对风光摄影情有独钟。风光摄影是广受人们喜爱的摄影门类,它从摄影艺术诞生之初一直延续至今。它不像纪实摄影,可以拍出故事,但它可以给人们带来感官与心灵上全方位的愉悦和享受,并且能够在一定的主题思想表现上,以相应的内涵使人在观赏过程中获得极致的审美体验。无论运用何种拍摄方法,无论选取何种拍摄角度,风光摄影的拍摄可以概     

摄影旅行 一剂六味地黄丸

<正>旅行,现在已经成为人们生活中的一项不可或缺的休闲方式。旅行可以陶冶情操、锻炼身心,观大千世界让人心旷神怡、拓展视野、忘却生活里的烦忧。旅行是良药,如同一剂六味地黄丸:一可强身健体,二可广交朋友,三可丰富阅历,四可心情愉悦,五可延年益寿,六可感悟人生。而今摄影也逐渐普及,全民摄影的时代已经到来,人们的旅行方式也随之发生了根本性意义转变:从走马观花、到此一游的跟团旅游的单一方式,转变为深度多形式的自由行旅游。摄影创作体验给旅程注入了新的活力,更使旅行发生了质的飞越。可以这样说,摄影也是一剂六味地黄丸:一可记录影像,二可表达心境,     

Delocalization,Humanitarianism, and Human Rights: The Mediterranean Border Between Exclusion and Inclusion

By reflecting on both the exclusionary and the inclusionary role of humanitarian migration and border management in the Central Mediterranean, this paper explores the relationship of humanitarianism with the delocalization of the EU border and with human rights. First, the paper analyses the role of human rights in the institutional humanitarian discourse about migration and border management at the Mediterranean EU border. The paper then analyses the Italian operation Mare Nostrum and, more generally, Italian humanitarianized border management in the Central Mediterranean. In doing this, it shows that humanitarianism contributes to the discursive legitimation and spatial delocalization of exclusionary policies and practices. Moreover, humanitarianism contributes to a symbolically and legally subordinate inclusion of migrants in the European space. While such humanitarian inclusion can be more inclusive than what human rights would require, it is posited as an act of grace rather than an enhancement of human rights. In both its exclusionary and inclusionary dimension, humanitarianism transcends and expands territorial boundaries by outsourcing responsibilities and enhancing delocalized border management.     

Historical Masculinities: Regulation,Fantasy and Empire

Dawson, Graham Soldier Heroes: British Adventure, Empire, and the Imagining of Masculinity Sussman, Herbert Victorian Masculinities: Manhood and Masculine Poetics in Early Victorian Literature and Art Hall, Donald E. (ed.) Muscular Christianity: Embodying the Victorian Age Kestner, John Masculinities in Victorian Painting