Book contents
- The 1857 Indian Uprising and the Politics of Commemoration
- The 1857 Indian Uprising and the Politics of Commemoration
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 ‘Remember Cawnpore!’
- 2 ‘Forget Cawnpore!’
- 3 Negotiating Fear
- 4 The Mutiny of 1907
- 5 The War of Indian Independence
- 6 Remembering the Mutiny at the End of Empire: 1947–1972
- 7 Celebrating the First War of Independence Today
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - ‘Forget Cawnpore!’
Commemorating the Mutiny, 1857–1877
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 April 2022
- The 1857 Indian Uprising and the Politics of Commemoration
- The 1857 Indian Uprising and the Politics of Commemoration
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 ‘Remember Cawnpore!’
- 2 ‘Forget Cawnpore!’
- 3 Negotiating Fear
- 4 The Mutiny of 1907
- 5 The War of Indian Independence
- 6 Remembering the Mutiny at the End of Empire: 1947–1972
- 7 Celebrating the First War of Independence Today
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Focusing on commemoration over the course of the first twenty years which followed the uprising, this chapter argues that official commemoration was a direct and often conscious attempt to mollify the British population which anxiously anticipated further insurrection. With elevated levels of intercommunal antipathy characterising the post-conflict colonial relationship, this chapter shows how commemoration was designed to produce a conciliatory memory of the uprising consciously shaped to soothe tension and reassure the colonial community about the stability of British India. Responsible for a greatly sanitised memory of 1857, commemoration attempted to mould the conflict into a heroic narrative in which British and Indian soldiers fought side by side to win a magnificent victory in the name of empire. As this chapter further explores, however, despite the enormous ideological energy expended by the administration over this period, fears of further insurrection tied to memories of 1857 were never far from the surface during these practices of commemoration and could still erupt in ruthless outbursts of colonial violence even decades later.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022