Strolling Players Of Empire

Explores the politics of theatrical and social performance in the establishment of eighteenth-century British imperial rule.

This international analysis of theatrical case studies illustrates the ways that theater was an arena both of protest and, simultaneously, racist and imperialist exploitations of the colonized and enslaved body. By bringing together performances and discussions of theater culture from various colonial powers and orbits—ranging from Denmark and France to Great Britain and Brazil—this book explores the ways that slavery and hierarchical notions of "race" and "civilization" manifested around the world. At the same time, against the backdrop of colonial violence, the theater was a space that also facilitated reformist protest and served as evidence of the agency of Black people in revolt. Staging Slavery considers the implications of both white-penned productions of race and slavery performed by white actors in blackface makeup and Black counter-theater performances and productions that resisted racist structures, on and off the stage. With unique geographical perspectives, this volume is a useful resource for undergraduates, graduates, and researchers in the history of theater, nationalism and imperialism, race and slavery, and literature.

Nelson, Navy & Nation explores the Royal Navy's relationship with Britain from the Glorious Revolution to the Napoleonic Wars. The book encompasses the realities of naval life in this period; the navy's connection to society; culture and national identity; and the story of Nelson's life and career. It brings together a distinguished panel of leading historians including Roger Knight, Andrew Lambert, Brian Lavery, N.A.M. Rodger and Dan Snow. Together, they give a fascinating contextual overview, from the terrifying realities of battle in the age of sail to the lives of ordinary people ashore who celebrated the navy's achievements. It places the extraordinary achievements of Horatio Nelson within a wider context that makes sense of his dazzling celebrity. In so doing, it reveals that the story of the Royal Navy and Nelson is also the story of the fears and ambitions of the British people. Beautifully illustrated throughout from the world-leading collections of the National Maritime Museum, the book combines accessible narrative history for the general reader with superb visual appeal. It is an ideal companion to the Museum's new permanent 'Nelson, Navy, Nation' gallery, which opened in October 2013.

Between 1750 and 1857, westward-bound Central and South Asian travelers connected imperial Britain to Persian Indo-Eurasia by performing queer masculinities.

Introduction: Translocal Anglo-India -- A Cultural Company-State and the Colonial Public Sphere -- Newspapers and Reading Publics in Eighteenth-Century India -- The Vagrant Muse: Fashioning Reputation across Eurasia -- Undoing Britain in Bengal -- Tristram Shandy in Bombay -- Agonies of Empire: Captivity Narratives and the Mysore Wars, 1767-1799 -- Literary Culture of Colonial Outposts: Penang, Sumatra, Java, 1771-1816.

Engaging account of theatregoing in the later eighteenth century that explores how audiences responded emotionally to the performances.

This book foregrounds the role of the Royal Navy in creating the British Atlantic in the eighteenth century. It outlines the closely entwined connections between the nurturing of naval supremacy, the politics of commercial protection, and the development of national and imperial identities – crucial factors in the consolidation and transformation of the British Atlantic empire. The collection brings together scholars working on aspects of the Royal Navy and the British Atlantic in order to gain a better understanding of the ways that the Navy protected, facilitated, and shaped the British-Atlantic empire in the era of war, revolution, counter-revolution, and upheaval between the beginning of the Seven Years War and the end of the conflict with Napoleonic France. Contributions question the limits – conceptually and geographically – of that Atlantic world, suggesting that, by considering the Royal Navy and the British Atlantic together, we can gain greater insights into Britain’s maritime history.