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3 - Negotiating Fear

Celebration, Commemoration, and the ‘Mutiny Pilgrimage’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2022

Sebastian Raj Pender
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

The peak of high-imperialism brought with it a resurgence of commemoration aimed at the events of 1857. Portraying the mutiny as a victory won by archetypal Victorian soldier heroes, these new forms of commemoration witnessed in the 1890s and early 1900s are best understood as attempts to embolden the colonial community at a time when the rise of Indian nationalism seemed to make a 'Second Mutiny' more likely than ever before. Lionising the imperial heroes who had 'Saved India' in her time of greatest need, commemoration was designed to reassure the British whilst simultaneously inducing them to be ready to emulate the glorious deeds of a past generation. As is explored in this chapter, however, colonial sites of memory remained deeply ambivalent for the visitors who experienced them. When attention is paid to the travelogues and diaries written by British tourists who travelled to these sites during the ‘high noon’ of empire, it becomes apparent that the excessive triumphalism of commemoration over this period was in reality only ever superficial and belied deep-seated anxieties concerning the threat of further insurrection in the mould of the mutiny.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Negotiating Fear
  • Sebastian Raj Pender, University of Oxford
  • Book: The 1857 Indian Uprising and the Politics of Commemoration
  • Online publication: 21 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009052276.004
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  • Negotiating Fear
  • Sebastian Raj Pender, University of Oxford
  • Book: The 1857 Indian Uprising and the Politics of Commemoration
  • Online publication: 21 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009052276.004
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Negotiating Fear
  • Sebastian Raj Pender, University of Oxford
  • Book: The 1857 Indian Uprising and the Politics of Commemoration
  • Online publication: 21 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009052276.004
Available formats
×