Biographical research can illuminate imperial and colonial history. This is particularly true of Africa, where empires competed with one another and colonial society was characterised by rigid divisions. In this book, five biographical studies explore how, in the course of their lives, interpreters, landowners, students and traders navigated the boundaries between the various spaces of the colonial world. With a focus on African life worlds, the authors show the disruptions and constraints as well as the new options and forms of mobility that resulted from colonial rule. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth Studies.

Looks At Educational Reform In 2 Leading Progressive Princely States In 20Th Century India-Baroda And Mysore. Argues For A Fundamental Remodelling Of Colonial India.

This work assesses Blaine's role as an architect of the US empire and revisits the imperialistic goals of this two-time Secretary of State. It examines his pivotal role in shaping American foreign relations and looks at the reasons why America acquired an overseas empire at the turn of the century.

The story of a Venetian-Albanian family in the late sixteenth century forms the basis of a sweeping account of the interaction between East and West Europe and the Ottoman Empire at a pivotal moment in history.

This vividly detailed revisionist history opens a new vista on the great Ottoman Empire in the early nineteenth century, a key period often seen as the eve of Tanzimat westernizing reforms and the beginning of three distinct histories—ethnic nationalism in the Balkans, imperial modernization from Istanbul, and European colonialism in the Middle East. Christine Philliou brilliantly shines a new light on imperial crisis and change in the 1820s and 1830s by unearthing the life of one man. Stephanos Vogorides (1780–1859) was part of a network of Christian elites known phanariots, institutionally excluded from power yet intimately bound up with Ottoman governance. By tracing the contours of the wide-ranging networks—crossing ethnic, religious, and institutional boundaries—in which the phanariots moved, Philliou provides a unique view of Ottoman power and, ultimately, of the Ottoman legacies in the Middle East and Balkans today. What emerges is a wide-angled analysis of governance as a lived experience at a moment in which there was no clear blueprint for power.

A path-breaking study of national, imperial and indigenous interests at stake in a controversial German expedition to British India.

Looking at the complex relationship between the discipline of history and the writing of lives, this key textbook provides an original and insightful introduction to a growing and increasingly important area of historical scholarship and research. Examining key works that have changed the nature of biography, Barbara Caine also explores the way biographical narrative and life stories have become a central preoccupation for history. Outlining the main features of contemporary historical biography, this is an ideal companion for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses on historiography, theory and history, theory and methods, historical methodology, history and life/biographical/autobiographical writing, and life-writing courses on English or creative writing degrees. New to this Edition: - Thoroughly updated throughout - New concluding chapter on history and the individual life, and the place of biography in history