Recent readings XXIV

The new semester just began. I barely had time to maintain the blog and I can only list the recent readings here:

John Griffiths's "Were there Municipal Networks in the British World c. 1890-1939?" The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 37, No. 4, Dec 2009, pp. 575-597. Griffiths contemplates the significance of British world publications such as the Municipal Journal, in the facilitation of British world progressivism and its role in formalising networks.

Deirdre H. McMahon's "'Quick, Ethel, Your Rifle!': Portable Britishness and Flexible Gender Roles in G.A. Henty's Books for Boys," Studies in the Novel, Vol. 42, Nos. 1 & 2, Spring & Summer 2010, pp. 154-72. Henty's imperialism cultivates a portable notion of British identity, in which young boys and girls can go to any part of the globe with their Britishness not only intact but enabling them to survive in foreign lands.

Siân Nicholas's "'Brushing up your empire': Dominion and colonial propaganda on the BBC's home services, 1939-45," The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 31, No. 2, May 2003, pp. 207-230. The BBC's Empire Service was created in 1931 and in Nov. 1939 it was incorporated into a general comprehensive Overseas Service, including North American, African, Pacific and Eastern Services.

Simon Potter, "Communication and integration: The British and dominions press and the British world, c.1876-1914," The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 31, No. 2, May 2003, pp. 190-206.

Aled Jones and Bill Jones, "The Welsh World and the British Empire, c.1851-1939: An Exploration," The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 31, No. 2, May 2003, pp. 57-81.

Clare Anderson's "'The Ferringees are flying - the ship is ours!': The convict middle passage in colonial South and Southeast Asia, 1790-1860," Indian Economic & Social History Review, Vol. 42, No. 2, 2005, pp. 143-86. convict ship mutinies. One case from Hong Kong to Singapore and Penang on General Wood from Dec 1847 to Jan 1848, on which there were 92 convicts. On 3 Jan, convicts successfully seize ship after leaving Penang and attempt to navigate to China. Murder Captain Stokoe, third mate and four lascars. Wreck ship off Cambodia. Nineteen convicts tried by Singapore criminal sessions, 3-5 Apr: 3 executed, 23 life transportation to Bombay. Twenty-seven more tried on 4 June: 3 executed, 24 life transportation to Bombay.

Jonathan Hyslop's "Steamship Empire: Asian, African and British Sailors in the Merchant Marine c.1880-1945," Journal of Asian and African Studies, Vol. 44, No. 1, 2009, pp. 49-67. Hyslop interprets the steam empire as a set of overlapping webs, comprising the shipping companies, British diasporic labour and Indian Ocean seafarers