1. (Re)Imagining Ireland Through India in the Mid-nineteenth Century: History, Empire, and Nationality in the Early Work of Thomas Davis.
- Author
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Molloy, Edward
- Subjects
- *
IMPERIALISM , *NATIONALISM ,HISTORY of India -- 19th century - Abstract
This essay explores a hitherto neglected text on the history of India by leading nineteenth-century Irish nationalist Thomas Davis. India Her Own - And Another's marks an outright rejection of imperial fantasies of a civilizing mission motivating British involvement in India through an innovative reading of imperial texts. In India Her Own, Davis posits the "spirit of conquest" in direct opposition to the "spirit of nationality," which in turn is identified as kindred to freedom. It will be seen that Davis set up a dichotomy between conquest/empire and nationality/freedom which allows him to oppose imperial expansion without succumbing to notions of universalism or philanthropy. He sees in India's pre-imperial past a potential model for Ireland's future - one that could overcome ethnic tensions within the harmony of an ancient yet emergent nation. This marks an important contribution to how we understand the ambivalent discursive structures underpinning nascent anti-imperial ideological formations in the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
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