Writing, Travel and Empire

The British Empire drew on the talents of many remarkable figures, whose lives reveal a wonderfully rich involvement with the crucial issues of the period. In many cases they left a legacy of travel writing, novels, biography and ethnography which made important contributions to our knowledge of other cultures."Writing, Travel and Empire" explores the lives and writings of eight such figures, including Sir George Grey, Gertrude Bell, Sir Hugh Clifford, and Roger Casement. All travelled the Empire - from Grey, the renowned colonial governor who undertook dangerous journeys to the interior of Australia, to Tom Harrisson, the emaciated polymath, war hero and Arctic explorer, whose time in the New Hebrides embraced both cannibalistic rituals and a meeting with film legend Douglas Fairbanks Sr, who sought Harrisson out for a Hollywood feature about savage life.All saw themselves as writers, despite their very different approaches and interests, and each was writing against a backdrop of the impending disappearance of indigenous cultures around the world. Writing from the margins of what was shortly to become the more formalised discipline of anthropology, their work yields interesting insights into both the issues of empire and the ways in which academic disciplines define the boundaries of their subject. Embracing themes such as gender and travel, racial science, the globalisation of 'native management' and the internal colonies, and with a geographical coverage that extends from South America to Russia via Africa and the South Seas, "Writing Travel and Empire" will engage all those with an interest in cultural geography, anthropology, history, postcolonial studies, biography and travel writing.

Peter Hulme is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies at University of Essex, UK. His publications include The Dinner at Gonfarone's: Salomón de la Selva and His Pan-American Project in Nueva York, 1915-1919 (2019) and (with Leslie James) Red and Black in Harlem and Jamaica: The Revolutionary Life and Selected Writings of W. A. Domingo (2025).

List of Illustrations - vii 1. Introduction: In the Margins of Anthropology. Peter Hulme and Russell McDougall - 1 2. George Grey in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Leigh Dale - 19 3. Henry Ling Roth in Tasmania. Russell McDougall - 43 4. Flora Annie Steel in the Punjab. Ralph Crane and Anna Johnston - 71 5. Everard im Thurn in British Guiana and the Western Pacific. Rosamund Dalziell - 97 6. Gertrude Lowthain Bell in Mesopotamia. Julia Emberley - 119 7. Hugh Clifford in Malaya. Robert Hampson - 147 8. Roger Casement in the Amazon, the Congo, and Ireland. Helen Carr - 169 9. Tom Harrisson in the New Hebrides and Bolton. Rod Edmond - 197 10. Afterword: Writing in the Margins of a Marginal Discipline. Peter Pels - 221 List of Contributors - 237 Index - 239