THE “WHITE MAN,” RACE AND IMPERIAL WAR DURING THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY

Presenting is Marilyn Lake, Professor of History, University of Melbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies.

(In cooperation with the UNC Chapel Hill, Department of History and the Carolina Seminar on Transnational and Modern Global History)

The lecture explores the transnational formation of the gendered and racialized figure of the ‘white man’ in the constitutive relations of colonial conquest and imperial rule across the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. The self-styled bearer of a ‘civilizing mission’ to Indigenous peoples, the ‘white man’ became a perpetrator of violence and atrocity as imperial rule and colonial settlement encountered continuing resistance and guerrilla warfare. In the process the older ideal of “moral manliness” gave way to a more modern conception of masculinity characterized by toughness, aggression and a capacity to use firearms to “pacify the natives.” Defined by power, even as he was haunted by his vulnerability, the “white man” engaged in systematic denial and disavowal, evasion and euphemism and narratives of nation-building that justified his right to rule.

This event is part of the Carolina Gender, War and Culture Series.

Co-Sponsors and/or additional support provided by UNC College of Arts and Sciences

Acknowledgement of Support: This event has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this event are the sole responsibility of The UNC Center for European Studies and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.