Statues of empire: questions of race and power

Soundings - ISSN 1362-6620
Volume 2024 Number 88

Statues of empire: questions of race and power
Milly Williamson pages 83‑98
DOI: 10.3898/SOUN:88.06.2024

Abstract

There was a mass production of statues of imperial monarchs, military and naval figures and politicians in a very short historical period between the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, the height of European imperial expansion. This article examines this frenzy of statue erection in the dual context of nation and empire, and as part of what Eric Hobsbawm referred to as the ‘invention of tradition’. Modern states consolidated the power of their new elites by appropriating and transforming older modes of belonging. This new ‘imaginary’ was imperial: new national traditions ‘at home’ in Europe were directly tied to empire-building. The article takes as a case study the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol, erected in 1895 by local elites, and subsequently the subject of long-term fallist campaigns and forms of direct action. As this specific analysis demonstrates, the power represented by statues of empire is not merely an historical relic to be tolerated as an anachronism: it is part of an ongoing structure of power invested in inequality.

SORRY - you are not registered as being permitted online access to the full text of this article

You have the following options:

  1. If you are viewing this via an institution or academic library you can ask that your institution takes out a Subscription to this journal.
  2. If you already have a Personal Subscription please login below


    Forgotten your username / password? Click here to locate

  3. Purchase an annual Personal Subscription
    PRINT + DIGITAL personal subscription (£40 / year)
    DIGITAL personal subscription (£30 / year)
    A Personal Subscription provides immediate access not only to the single article you are seeking, but also to all past and future articles in this journal up to the expiry of your annual (calendar year) subscription.
  4. Purchase immediate access to this single article (UK£7.00) - Buy article Coming Soon

To cite this article
Milly Williamson (2024) Statues of empire: questions of race and power, Soundings, 2024(88), 83-98 . https://doi.org/10.3898/SOUN:88.06.2024

Share this