The colonisation of time

Ritual, routine and resistance in the British Empire

By (author) Giordano Nanni

Publication date:

30 November 2013

Length of book:

304 pages

Publisher

Manchester University Press

Dimensions:

234x156mm

ISBN-13: 9780719091292

The colonisation of time is a highly original and long overdue examination of the ways that western-European and specifically British concepts and rituals of time were imposed on other cultures as a fundamental component of colonisation during the nineteenth century. Based on a wealth of primary sources, it explores the intimate relationship between the colonisation of time and space in two British settler-colonies (Victoria, Australia and the Cape Colony, South Africa) and its instrumental role in the exportation of Christianity, capitalism and modernity, thus adding new depth to our understanding of imperial power and of the ways in which it was exercised and limited. All those intrigued by the concept of time will find this book of interest, for it illustrates how western-European time’s rise to a position of global dominance – from the clock to the seven-day week – is one of the most pervasive, enduring and taken-for-granted legacies of colonisation in today’s world.

General Editor’s introduction
Introduction
1. Clocks, Sabbaths and seven-day weeks: The forging of temporal identities
2. Terra sine tempore: Colonial constructions of ‘Aboriginal time’
3. Cultural curfews: The contestation of time in settler-colonial Victoria
4. ‘The moons are always out of order’: Constructions of ‘African time’
5. Empire of the seventh day: Time and the Sabbath beyond the Cape frontiers
6. Lovedale, missionary schools and the reform of ‘African time’
7. Conclusion: From colonisation to globalisation
Select bibliography
Index

This impressive book is the first sustained treatment of the effective British colonisation of indigenous time practices. Analysing both the Cape Colony and Australia, Nanni deftly draws our attention to the enormous significance of the temporal as well as the spatial, for the making of the colonial world'.
Alan Lester, Professor of Historical Geography at the University of Sussex

'A very fine study, one that has much to offer the broad range of scholars interested in understanding colonial struggles and their ongoing legacy.'
Kirsten McKenzie, University of Sydney in American Historical Review (April 2013)

[...] if the measure of a good book is that it should ignite the reader’s imagination and suggest all kinds of questions for future research, then this monograph delivers and is a welcome addition to the literature on colonial studies.