The Colonisation of Time: Ritual, Routine and Resistance in the British Empire

The Colonisation of Time is a highly original and long overdue examination of the ways that western-European and specifically British concepts and rituals of time were imposed on other cultures as a fundamental component of colonisation during the nineteenth century. Based on a wealth of primary sources, it explores the intimate relationship between the colonisation of time and space in two British settler-colonies (Victoria, Australia and the Cape Colony, South Africa) and its instrumental role in the exportation of Christianity, capitalism, and modernity, thus adding new depth to our understanding of imperial power and of the ways in which it was exercised and limited. All those intrigued by the concept of time will find this book of interest, for it illustrates how western-European time's rise to a position of global dominance-from the clock to the seven-day week-is one of the most pervasive, enduring and taken-for-granted legacies of colonisation in today's world.

Author: Giordano Nanni
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 11/30/2013
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.86lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.58d
ISBN13: 9780719091292
ISBN10: 0719091292
BISAC Categories:
- Political Science | Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
- History | Europe | Great Britain | General
- History | Modern | 19th Century

About the Author

Giordano Nanni is an Honorary Fellow of the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne.