Intimate Empires

Body, Race, and Gender in the Modern World

Tracey Rizzo and Steven Gerontakis

Intimate Empires: Body, Race, and Gender in the Modern World offers an interpretive synthesis of recent scholarship on intersections of gender, race, and empire from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. It untangles the embodied experiences and representations of people all over the world in the era of Europe's global dominance. Studies of intimate experiences complicate narratives of imperialism that have traditionally revolved around political and economic developments and thus obscured the ways in which ordinary people ignored, survived, co-opted, or even subverted imperialists and their institutions. The book discusses the development and coproduction of metropolitan and colonial identities alike, incorporating art, children's literature, cookbooks, and sport in addition to migration, missionary work, and legal trials. Organized thematically, each of the six chapters moves from the mid-eighteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries to unfold an aspect of identity.

Intimate Empires

Body, Race, and Gender in the Modern World

Tracey Rizzo and Steven Gerontakis

Description

Intimate Empires: Body, Race, and Gender in the Modern World offers an interpretive synthesis of recent scholarship on intersections of gender, race, and empire from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. It untangles the embodied experiences and representations of people all over the world in the era of Europe's global dominance. Studies of intimate experiences complicate narratives of imperialism that have traditionally revolved around political and economic developments and thus obscured the ways in which ordinary people ignored, survived, co-opted, or even subverted imperialists and their institutions. The book discusses the development and coproduction of metropolitan and colonial identities alike, incorporating art, children's literature, cookbooks, and sport in addition to migration, missionary work, and legal trials. Organized thematically, each of the six chapters moves from the mid-eighteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries to unfold an aspect of identity.

Intimate Empires

Body, Race, and Gender in the Modern World

Tracey Rizzo and Steven Gerontakis

List of Maps
Acknowledgments
Maps

Introduction
Imperialism: An Overview
Coverage
Historiography
Legacy of Empire

Chapter One: The Gender of Empire: Masculinities
Vignette: James Cook of Britain and the Pacific
Interracial Sex
Empire as Playground
Taming the Frontiers
Transgressing Boundaries
Imperial Men
Social Darwinism
Making Boys into Men
Turning Men into Colonists
Warriors
Western Militaries
Martial Races
Colonial Militaries
Colonized Masses
Slaves
Laborers
Colonized Elites
Horizontal Alliances
Subalterns
Bridging the Divide
International Sports
Anti-Imperialism
Conclusion

Chapter Two: The Gender of Empire: Femininities
Vignette: Ahyssa of Senegal and Saint-Dominigue
Virtue in Cross-Cultural Contexts
East versus West
Melodramas
Interracial Romance
Colonized Women
Slaves
Prostitutes
Indentured Servants
The Colonial Household
Settling
Managing
Children
Independent Women
Nurses and Teachers
Travelers and Collectors
Pleasure Seekers
Feminism
Trans-Pacific
All-India
Pan-Islamic
Conclusion

Chapter Three: The Institutions of Empire
Vignette: Emily Ruete of Zanzibar and Germany
Global Christianity
Missions
Converts
Organizations
Schools
Early Childhood Education
Curriculum
Teachers
Boarding Schools
Achieving Status
Political Culture
Citizenship
Combatting Hybridity
Voluntary Segregation
Legal Segregation
Separatist Movements
Conclusion

Chapter Four: The Artifacts of Empire
Vignette: Mata Hari of Indonesia and Paris
Collectibles
Furnishings in the Metropole
Furnishings in the Colonies
Pets
Wearables
Clothing in the Metropole
Clothing in the Colonies
Cosmetics
Edibles
Foods
Drink
Spectacle
People as Objects of Study
Circuses, Fairs, and Expositions
Western Art
Painting
Performing Arts
Exotic Erotica
Postcards
Ancient Texts
Scientific Texts
Conclusion

Chapter Five: The Race of Empire
Vignette: Olaudah Equiano of Nigeria and London
Perfectibility
Theories of Progress
Race, Climate, and Evolution
Altered Bodies
Body Marking
Foot Binding
Witchcraft
Yoga
Managing Reproduction
Infanticide
Abortion
Contraception
Sterilization
Immigration
Managing Illness and Health
Treating the Body
Treating the Baby
Treating the Mind
Managing Sexuality
Gender Variance
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Antimasturbation Campaigns
Female Circumcision
Conclusion

Chapter Six: The End of Empire
Vignette: Toussaint Louverture of Haiti and France
Contained Conflicts
Early Revolutions
Failed Insurrections
Millenarianism
Mass Movements
Liberal Nationalism
Marxism
Civil Disobedience
Transfers of Power
European Militaries
Japanese-Sponsored Forces
Independence Armies
Ending Settler Colonies
British Kenya
French Algeria
Postcolonialism?
Non-Alignment
United Nations
Westoxification
Conclusion

Conclusion

Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Credits
Index

Intimate Empires

Body, Race, and Gender in the Modern World

Tracey Rizzo and Steven Gerontakis

Author Information

Tracey Rizzo is Professor of History and Chair of the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Steven Gerontakis is an instructor of History at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Intimate Empires

Body, Race, and Gender in the Modern World

Tracey Rizzo and Steven Gerontakis

Reviews and Awards

"In an engagingly written narrative, Intimate Empires presents a complex and absorbing analysis of the intersections of gender, race, class, and empire from the mid-eighteenth through mid-twentieth centuries. Combining fascinating vignettes with cutting-edge scholarship, the book focuses on the embodied experiences of the men, women, and children-both colonizer and colonized-living lives profoundly shaped by empire. This clearly organized text demonstrates the socially constructed nature of social categories and identities, examining them within multiple shifting colonial contexts."--Carolyn J. Eichner, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

"At last instructors in modern empire studies have a textbook that fully incorporates the insights of gender studies, paying full attention to both masculinities and femininities. By focusing on the body, Rizzo and Gerontakis make essential connections between race, gender, and colonialism, while their vignettes powerfully demonstrate the many ways that bodies challenged and even subverted unequal power relations."--Jane Samson, University of Alberta

"Intimate Empires offers a fascinating interpretive overview of recent thinking on gender, race, and empire through deep analysis of images as evidence. Its visual thematic approach, emphasizing identity formation in six critical domains, makes the volume student friendly but also engages scholars in multiple disciplines. It is unique in a crowded field."--Julia Clancy-Smith, University of Arizona