This book discusses the way in which those born into the British empire were persuaded to accept it, often with enthusiasm. The study compares the perceptions of people at ‘home’, in the dominions and in the colonies. Across the diversity of imperial territories it explores themes such as the diverse nature of political socialisation, the various agents and agencies of persuasion, reaction to the ‘experience of dominance’ by dominant and dominated, the paradoxical impact of the missionary and the subversive role of some women. It also considers the significant issues of colonial adaptation, resistance and rejection, and the post-imperial consequences of imperialism.

This book discusses the way in which those born into the British empire were persuaded to accept it, often with enthusiasm. The study compares the perceptions of people at 'home', in the dominions and in the colonies. Across the diversity of imperial territories it explores themes such as the diverse nature of political socialisation, the various agents and agencies of persuasion, reaction to the 'experience of dominance' by dominant and dominated, the paradoxical impact of the missionary and the subversive role of some women. It also considers the significant issues of colonial adaptation,

It is generally forgotten that cricket rather than rugby union was the 'national game' in New Zealand until the early years of the twentieth century. This book shows why and how cricket developed in New Zealand and how its character changed across time. Greg Ryan examines the emergence and growth of cricket in relation to diverse patterns of European settlement in New Zealand - such as the systematic colonization schemes of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and the gold discoveries of the 1860s. He then considers issues such as cricket and social class in the emerging cities; cricket and the elite school system; the function of the game in shaping relations between the New Zealand provinces; cricket encounters with the Australian colonies in the context of an 'Australasian' world. A central theme is cricketing relations with England at a time when New Zealand society was becoming acutely conscious of both its own identity and its place within the British Empire. This imperial relationship reveals structures, ideals and objectives unique to New Zealand. Articulate, engaging and entertaining, Ryan demonstrates convincingly how the cricketing experience of New Zealand was quite different from that of other colonies.

At the start of the twenty-first century we are acutely conscious that universities operate within an entangled world of international scholarly connection. Now available in paperback, Empire of scholars examines the networks that linked academics across the colonial world in the age of ‘Victorian’ globalization. Stretching across the globe, these networks helped map the boundaries of an expansive but exclusionary ‘British academic world’ that extended beyond the borders of the British Isles. Drawing on extensive archival research conducted in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, this book remaps the intellectual geographies of Britain and its empire. In doing so, it provides a new context for writing the history of ideas and offers a critical analysis of the connections that helped fashion the global world of universities today.

This new collection of essays, from leading British and Canadian scholars, presents an excellent insight into the strategic thinking of the British Empire. It defines the main areas of the strategic decision-making process that was known as 'Imperial Defence'. The theme is one of imperial defence and defence of empire, so chapters will be historiographical in nature, discussing the major features of each key component of imperial defence, areas of agreement and disagreement in the existing literature on critical interpretations, introducing key individuals and positions and commenting on the appropriateness of existing studies, as well as identifying a raft of new directions for future research.

Multilingualism remains a thorny issue in many contexts, be it cultural, political, or educational. Debates and discourses on this issue in contexts of diversity (particularly in multicultural societies, but also in immigration situations) are often conducted with present-day communicational and educational needs in mind, or with political and identity agendas. This is nothing new. There are a vast number of witnesses from the ancient West-Asian and Mediterranean world attesting to the same debates in long past societies. Could an investigation into the linguistic landscapes of ancient societies shed any light on our present-day debates and discourses? This volume suggests that this is indeed the case. In fourteen chapters, written and visual sources of the ancient world are investigated and explored by scholars, specialising in those fields of study, to engage in an interdisciplinary discourse with modern-day debates about multilingualism. A final chapter – by an expert in language in education – responds critically to the contributions in the book to open avenues for further interdisciplinary engagement – together with contemporary linguists and educationists – on the matter of multilingualism.