Dividing the Spoils: Perspectives on Military Collections and the British Empire - Paperback

$63.18

Dividing the Spoils: Perspectives on Military Collections and the British Empire - Paperback

Name: Dividing the Spoils: Perspectives on Military Collections and the British Empire - Paperback
Brand: BooksCloud
SKU: 9781526163622
Price: 63.18 USD
Availability: InStock

$63.18

Book Overview

by Henrietta Lidchi (Editor), Stuart Allan (Editor)

At a time of heightened international interest in the colonial dimensions of museum collections, Dividing the Spoils provides new perspectives on the motivations and circumstances whereby collections were appropriated and acquired during colonial military service. Combining approaches from the fields of material anthropology, imperial and military history, this book argues for a deeper examination of these collections within a range of intercultural histories that include alliance, diplomacy, curiosity and enquiry, as well as expropriation and cultural hegemony.

As museums across Europe reckon with the post-colonial legacies of their collections, Dividing the Spoils explores how the amassing of objects was understood and governed in British military culture, and considers how objects functioned in museum collections thereafter, suggesting new avenues for sustained investigation in a controversial, contested field.

Back Jacket

At this time of heightened international interest in the colonial dimensions of museum collections, Dividing the spoils provides new insights into the motivations and circumstances whereby objects were appropriated and acquired during colonial military conflict.

Over 130 military museums in the United Kingdom preserve the historical collections of British regiments, corps and services including artefacts taken by British servicemen during colonial campaigns and on imperial garrison duties across the globe. The phenomenon of collecting in theatres of war is primarily associated with looting. Combining approaches from the fields of material anthropology, imperial and military history, Dividing the spoils argues for a deeper examination of the motivations and circumstances that created these collections, operating within a range of intercultural histories that include diplomacy and enquiry, as well as expropriation and cultural hegemony.

As a contribution to the wider debate about the post-colonial legacies of museum collections, the research collected here considers how the amassing of objects was understood and governed in British military culture and how these objects have functioned in museum collections thereafter.

The discussion crosses generational boundaries and disciplinary fields, with distinguished contributors including imperial historians Edward Spiers and John M. MacKenzie, material anthropologists John Mack and Louise Tythacott, and archaeologist Christopher Evans.

Dividing the spoils suggests new avenues for sustained investigation in a contentious field, which will appeal to students, researchers and practitioners working on colonial and military museum collections as well as the wider fields of social and cultural history, anthropology and archaeology.

ISBN	9781526163622
Publisher	Manchester University Press
Genre	History and Arts
Format	Paperback
Published	August 2022
Language	ENG- English
Pages	344
Weight	1.0 lb
Target Audience	Adults
Print Size	Standard Print