British penetration into and subjugation of Isokoland in South Central Nigeria, 1896–1911: A narrative

The Isoko, like other peoples of Nigeria, played significant roles in the historical process and evolution of Nigeria and should be acknowledged as such. The paper teases out much more clearly—and, more importantly, the multiple stages of the British expansion into Isoko. That is, how does that multi-stage, multi-phase process affect how we think more broadly about British colonial expansion in Africa in the 19th century? The paper deposes that the Isoko as a people did not accept British rule until the “punitive expedition” to the area in 1911 brought the whole of the Isoko country under British control. This is done within the context of the military conquest and subjugation of the people, colonial prejudices, and the resulting social economic, and political changes. The paper deploying both primary and secondary data highlights the role played by the Isoko in resisting British penetration into and subjugation of their country between 1896 and 1911. The year 1896 marked the beginning of British formal contact with the Isoko when the first treaty was signed with Owe (Owhe), while 1911 was when the Isoko were conquered by the British and brought under British control.

Social Movements that Led to Social Transformation in Jammu and Kashmir During the British Rule

The article tries to examine and study the role of some of the Hindu social reform movements that came up during the British rule to transform, modernize, and uplift society by imparting modern or western education. The article studies their role in eradicating social evils like child re-marriage, dowry and sati among the Hindu community in Jammu and Kashmir. In addition to these elements, it also tries to enlighten the role of various Hindu reform movements in imparting education among all sections of society without any discrimination.

The Past Contains a Promise of Regeneration: Narratives of Ireland’s Future in Early-Twentieth-Century Juvenile Periodicals

This article investigates the popular periodicals for juveniles Our Boys, Fianna, Young Ireland, and St. Enda’s, which were cherished by Irish nationalists as home-grown substitutes for the alienating British story papers in the Ireland of the early twentieth century. With Ireland still under British rule, these periodicals were concerned about the role of youths in the context of nation-building and my contention is that the people involved in such editorial enterprises viewed them as potentially transformative forces of society, which not only harnessed the power of the idea of political upheaval, but also forged the agents who were to build the envisioned free Irelands. Contributing to the definition of an appropriate ‘post-independence’ national identity, they thus offered to the young visions of the future nation that predicated its legitimacy upon an appeal to the past and the appreciation of traditions. At the same time, young readers were presented with exemplary models of Irish citizenship drawn from Irish heritage of myths and histories. Hence, through the close scrutiny of primary texts from the crucial 1914–23 years, my objective is to show how the future Irelands first imagined and narrated in the periodicals would find their roots in the past and draw energies and strength from the nation’s cultural heritage.

The (Un)governable City: Productive Failure in the Making of Colonial Delhi, 1858-1911 by Raghav Kishore

Delhi has always been a crucible of political disquiet, and the seat of manifold state and aesthetic desires to order, control and design the city. Even at this moment, we find ourselves before a ubiquitous impulse to change the appearance of the city through the Central Vista Project which proposes to cater to needs of increase in government office space. There are layers to the city and obvious enough, it is not monolithic. The vestiges and architectural remnants of subsequent ages narrate the relentless saga of power, domination and settlement. A historical analysis of the spatial structures reflects the reasons behind its physical organization. To talk about colonial designs within this very broad spectrum is but, only a brief moment in a longue duree of human settlement in this region. Yet, it is necessary to understand the spatial synchrony, for much of it is what we have inherited today and this is what shapes our experiences of this city even at present. Raghav Kishore’s The (Un)governable City (2020), makes an intervention in this corpus of historical analysis with his impeccable research and endless forays into the archives. This is a welcome addition to studies in the field of urban development of Delhi, with Pilar Maria Guerrieri’s Maps of Delhi (2017) being one precursor, which painstakingly curates maps of Delhi from the precolonial times, to the modern municipal Master Plans to contemporary digital mappings. Kishore unearths curious details from local sources and twines those with debates among colonial policy makers and personnel to highlight issues of political ideology, statecraft and governmentality. This volume juxtaposes notions of policing, control and accessibility with debates and discussions on sanitation, traffic, communication, railways and the building of military cantonments, which are significant if we think of the British rule in India as a garrison state, heavily dependent on the easy mobility of its military forces. The success of the control was conditional on the ability to gather up huge military forces to curb parallel sporadic outbursts at their very onset. The broadening of roads, regulation of quarters and delimiting encroachments and concerns over connectivity, were carefully thought out strategisations towards the goal of containment and territorialisation.

New Zealand in Great Famine Era Irish politics: The strange case of A Narrative of the Sufferings of Maria Bennett

A Narrative of the Sufferings of Maria Bennett, a crudely printed, eight-page pamphlet, was published in Dublin in spring 1846. It has been interpreted as an early fiction concerning New Zealand, or alternatively as a New Zealand ‘captivity narrative’, possibly based on the author’s own experiences. Against these readings, it is argued here that Maria Bennett, more concerned with Ireland than New Zealand, is a piece of pro-British propaganda hurried out in connection with the British Government’s ‘Protection of Life (Ireland) Bill’ – generally referred to simply as the ‘Coercion Bill’ – first debated on 23 February 1846. The Great Famine had begun with the substantial failure of Ireland’s staple potato crop in autumn 1845. This led to an increase in lawlessness, and the Government planned to combine its relief measures with draconian new security regulations. The story of Maria Bennett, a fictional young Irishwoman transported to Australia but shipwrecked in New Zealand, was designed to advertise the humanity of British law. Having escaped from the Māori, she manages to get to London, where she is pardoned by Sir James Graham, the Home Secretary, the man responsible for the Coercion Bill. New Zealand, imagined at the very beginning of the British colonial era, functions in the text as a dark analogy to Ireland, a sort of pristine example of the ‘savage’ conditions making British rule necessary and desirable in the first place. A hungry, lawless Ireland could descend to that level of uncivilization, unless, the propagandist urges, it accepts more British law.

Book review: Pandit Sunder Lal, British Rule in India

Pandit Sunder Lal, British Rule in India, New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 2018, ix + 536 pp., ₹395, ISBN: 9789352808021.

The impact of regional development towards the well-being of rural community

Since before the British rule, the issues and problems of urban transformation growth have continued until today, especially in rural areas and small towns. Rural communities also have undergone significant transformations in recent decades. There are positive and negative impacts on adaptation the growth of regional development that impact significantly on the rural community, which needs to be addressed to overcome the adverse effects on those that involved. This also included the changes in a case study of rural areas that have been chosen, which is located in sub-district that categorize under rural areas at Johor Bahru due to Iskandar Malaysia region expansions. Furthermore, the developmental transformation has mainly affected the changes in the socio-economic well-being of rural communities. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of studies on a factor of socio-economic well-being development in rural areas for creating a framework to measure the impact of regional development on the socio-economic well-being of the rural.

CUTTING THE CANE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE STRUGGLE TO BANISH CORPORAL PUNISHMENT FROM SCHOOLS IN BRITAIN AND SOUTH AFRICA (PART 2)

For centuries corporal punishment was used as a method for disciplining school children in Britain. Britain was one of the last countries in the European Union to abolish this form of punishment in its schools, and did so only after a long and bitter struggle waged in parliament, on the streets, and in various courts of law. This article traces the manner in which this practice became deeply entrenched in the British way of life, as well as the long battle to dislodge it. The focus then shifts to the evolution and eventual demise of this form of punishment in South African schools. During the long years of British rule in South Africa, British attitudes towards the corporal punishment of school children profoundly influenced those responsible for education in this African country. However, the attachment of South African educational authorities, educators, and parents to corporal punishment cannot be explained simply by reference to the influence of British educational values, and the article seeks to take account of the general history of corporal punishment in the African context. This history is entwined with the history of colonialism on the continent, and the article explores the unique social meanings attached to this form of punishment in the African context, as well as its historical importance as a means of social control. The article is divided into two parts. In part one of the article, the evolution and eventual demise of corporal punishment in British schools is traced, followed by a brief general overview of corporal punishment in the African context, as well as ashort discussion of the use and eventual abolition of this form of punishment in South African schools. In part two of the article, the continued use of corporal punishment in South African schools, even after this form of punishment was legally abolished following the end of “apartheid”, is examined in detail.