Scandal of colonial rule : power and subversion in the British Atlantic during the age of revolution

Resource Information

The work Scandal of colonial rule : power and subversion in the British Atlantic during the age of revolution represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Scandal of colonial rule : power and subversion in the British Atlantic during the age of revolution

Title remainder

power and subversion in the British Atlantic during the age of revolution

Statement of responsibility

James Epstein

Creator

• Epstein, James

Subject

• Great Britain -- Colonies | History -- 19th century
• Picton, Thomas, Sir, 1758-1815 -- Trials, litigation, etc
• Criminal justice, Administration of -- Trinidad -- History -- 19th century
• Trinidad -- Social conditions -- 19th century
• Slavery -- Trinidad -- History -- 19th century

Language

eng

Summary

In 1806 General Thomas Picton, Britain's first governor of Trinidad, was brought to trial for the torture of a free mulatto named Louisa Calderon and for overseeing a regime of terror over the island's slave population. James Epstein offers a fascinating account of the unfolding of this colonial drama. He shows the ways in which the trial and its investigation brought empire 'home' and exposed the disjuncture between a national self-image of humane governance and the brutal realities of colonial rule. He uses the trial to open up a range of issues, including colonial violence and norms of justice, the status of the British subject, imperial careering, visions of development after slavery, slave conspiracy and the colonial archive. He reveals how Britain's imperial regime became more authoritarian, hierarchical and militarised but also how unease about abuses of power and of the rights of colonial subjects began to grow.--

Member of

• Critical perspectives on empire

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

UkCbUP

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Series statement

• Critical perspectives on empire
• Cambridge Social Sciences eBooks