Violence, Colonialism and Empire in the Modern World

Philip Dwyer is the founding Director of the Centre for the History of Violence at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Amanda Nettelbeck is Professor in the Department of History at the University of Adelaide, Australia, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

This book explores the theme of violence, repression and atrocity in imperial and colonial empires, as well as its representations and memories, from the late eighteenth through to the twentieth century. It examines the wide variety of violent means by which colonies and empire were maintained in the modern era, the politics of repression and the violent structures inherent in empire. Bringing together scholars from around the world, the book includes chapters on British, French, Dutch, Italian and Japanese colonies and conquests. It considers multiple experiences of colonial violence, ranging from political dispute to the non-lethal violence of everyday colonialism and the symbolic repression inherent in colonial practices and hierarchies. These comparative case studies show how violence was used to assert and maintain control in the colonies, contesting the long held view that the colonial project was of benefit to colonised peoples.

Provides a comparative approach to how violence was used by a range of empires to assert and maintain control in colonies around the world

1. 'Savage Wars of Peace': Violence, Colonialism and Empire in the Modern World; Philip Dwyer and Amanda Nettelbeck.- Colonial Violence and 'Ways of Seeing'.- 2. The Psychology of Colonial Violence; Richard N. Price.- 3. Colonial Violence and the Picturesque; Elizabeth Mjelde.- 4. Categories of Conquest and Colonial Control: The French in Tonkin, 1884-1914; James R. Lehning.- Colonial Authority and the Violence of Law.- 5. Martial Law in the British Empire; Lyndall Ryan.- 6. Flogging as Judicial Violence: The Colonial Rationale of Corporal Punishment; Amanda Nettelbeck.- 7. Seeing Like a Policeman: Everyday Violence i

n British India, c. 1900-1950; Radha Kumar.- Dynamics of Colonial Warfare.- 8. The Dynamics of British Colonial Violence; Michelle Gordon.- 9. Disciplining Native Masculinities: Colonial Violence in the 'Land of the Pirate and the Amok'; Jialin Christina Wu.- 10. Fascist Violence and the 'Ethnic Reconstruction' of Cyrenaica (Libya), 1922-34; Michael R. Ebner.- Repression and Resistance.- 11. Contesting Colonial Violence in New Caledonia; Adrian Muckle.- 12. From Liberation to Elimination: Violence and Resistance in Japan's Southeast Asia, 1942-1945; Kelly Maddox.- 13. Nothing to Report? Challenging Dutch Discourse on Colonial Counterinsurgency in Indonesia, 1945-1949; Bart Luttikhuis and C. H. C. Harinck.