This blog is in English because I promised some colleagues at the conference this morning that they would see their picture on the blog, and it is only decent that they be able to read the text as well.
This mornings session was primarily about military history, not - I must admit- a main interest of mine, but the lecturers this morning as well as those yesterday were so keen and spoke so warmly about their chosen subjects that you could not help becoming at least vaguely interested.
The first presentation today was by Eirik Brazier and his subject was “Strangers in a strange land land: Imperial and colonial military identities, as exemplified by the cases of Canada and the Australian colonies c. 1870-1914”. The commanders of the colonial armies were British, but they can’t have been comfortable in the zone between colonial and imperial authorities seeing as very many of them quit their jobs before time or were dismissed.
The colonial military identity was intertwined with the British one. The colonial officers were often eager to adopt British culture, and when the imperial army became Canadian/Australian it copied uniforms, ranks , rules and regulations etc. from the English.
Eirik’s lecture was accompanied by pictures of soldiers and military parades to underline his points which made the session quite entertaining.
The monarchy had a trancending force, its connection to the army was strong and deep. The sovereign’s birthday particularly was celebrated with a military parade.
For example on the 72th birthday of Queen Victoria a huge celebration in Quebec at The plains of Abraham which is a place to memorize earlier British victories.. Also in Melbourne a similar celebration was held on the same day. Huge numbers of people watched the military parade.
In front were the colonial commandants, Herbert in Canada and Tulloch in Australia, on horseback, with music, it was as if it was the British army (which had been withdrawn some time earlier.)
It was the spectacle to watch, Eirik read out from newspapers in both Canada (Quebec) and Australia (Melbourne) in connection with the Queen’s birthday in 1891, and there were pictures as well. The whole setup seemed to be in place in order to remind the crowds of British glory.
Since the military is/was such an important institution, and a soldier is /was such an enviable icon – there are identity isssues of obvious importance to the individual’s and the nation’s perception of himself/itself.
This is an unusually lenghty blog so I think I’ll just stop here and save the rest of my notes for my colleagues at school.
The whole morning was dedicated to army history and army paraphernalia and of course royalty.
I’ll just insert pictures of two talented young men who also had presentations this morning. Tyler Turek (University of Western Ontario) and Iain Johnston (Cambridge University).
Kind regards to everyone attending the conference on Britishness in Aarhus Nov 30th – Dec 1st
The first presentation today was by Eirik Brazier and his subject was “Strangers in a strange land land: Imperial and colonial military identities, as exemplified by the cases of Canada and the Australian colonies c. 1870-1914”. The commanders of the colonial armies were British, but they can’t have been comfortable in the zone between colonial and imperial authorities seeing as very many of them quit their jobs before time or were dismissed.
The colonial military identity was intertwined with the British one. The colonial officers were often eager to adopt British culture, and when the imperial army became Canadian/Australian it copied uniforms, ranks , rules and regulations etc. from the English.
Eirik’s lecture was accompanied by pictures of soldiers and military parades to underline his points which made the session quite entertaining.
The monarchy had a trancending force, its connection to the army was strong and deep. The sovereign’s birthday particularly was celebrated with a military parade.
For example on the 72th birthday of Queen Victoria a huge celebration in Quebec at The plains of Abraham which is a place to memorize earlier British victories.. Also in Melbourne a similar celebration was held on the same day. Huge numbers of people watched the military parade.
In front were the colonial commandants, Herbert in Canada and Tulloch in Australia, on horseback, with music, it was as if it was the British army (which had been withdrawn some time earlier.)
It was the spectacle to watch, Eirik read out from newspapers in both Canada (Quebec) and Australia (Melbourne) in connection with the Queen’s birthday in 1891, and there were pictures as well. The whole setup seemed to be in place in order to remind the crowds of British glory.
Since the military is/was such an important institution, and a soldier is /was such an enviable icon – there are identity isssues of obvious importance to the individual’s and the nation’s perception of himself/itself.
This is an unusually lenghty blog so I think I’ll just stop here and save the rest of my notes for my colleagues at school.
The whole morning was dedicated to army history and army paraphernalia and of course royalty.
I’ll just insert pictures of two talented young men who also had presentations this morning. Tyler Turek (University of Western Ontario) and Iain Johnston (Cambridge University).
Kind regards to everyone attending the conference on Britishness in Aarhus Nov 30th – Dec 1st 
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