Glossary

abolitionists

Someone who campaigned for the abolition of the slave trade and slavery.

apprenticeship

This system of labour was imposed across the British Caribbean, except in Antigua and Bermuda, after slavery ended. Field workers were apprenticed for six years and domestic workers for four years. Children under the age of six became immediately free. Apprentices had to work for their former owners for forty-five hours per week for free.

autonomy

The right of people to self-govern or at an individual level to make informed choices without control or coercion.

Baptist War

Enslaved uprising which broke out in Jamaica at Christmas in 1831. It involved approximately 60,000 people and was led by an enslaved Deacon named Samuel Sharpe. It was the largest enslaved rebellion in the history of the British Caribbean. Historians have argued that it sped up the process of abolition.

Black Lives Matter

A movement founded in 2013 after the murder of African American teenager Trayvon Martin. It is a global organisation in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and individuals.

cartographer

Map maker

chattel

A legal term for property

civilising mission

One of the rationales for the European imperial projects. The idea was that colonised places would be 'improved' by contact with what Europeans considered to be their 'superior' civilisation (political and legal system, culture and religion).

Colour bar

In Britain this was a social system (in contrast to legal segregation in America) which meant that non-white people experienced discriminatory treatment or disadvantage in housing, employment, leisure, and other areas of life.

communal violence

Is a form of violence that is perpetrated across ethnic or communal lines.

compensation claims

At the ending of Caribbean slavery in 1833, £20 millions of compensation was paid by the British government to the slave-owners to compensate them for their loss of ‘property’. People had to come forward and file a claim which was assessed and if validated they were paid.

Constitution of 1848

A constitution passed in France on 4 November 1848 by the National Assembly, the constituent body of the Second French Republic.

decolonisation

This term has several meanings. It can be used to refer to the formal process by which colonial powers withdrew from colonised territories leading to independence. It can also mean the informal processes of identifying colonial structures and relationships and working to challenge and dismantle them.

dissimulation

The concealment of one’s thoughts, a form of deception or pretence.

eugenic

A form of pseudo-scientific theory which categorised people based on essential and unchanging characteristics which were attributed to their identities. These characteristics were believed to be hereditary. Eugenic thinkers believed that applying their genetic theories would ‘improve’ mankind. Eugenic thinking led to programmes of mass sterilisation and, in the case of Nazi Germany, genocide.

federalised

Bringing separate states into a political union with a centralised government.

hierarchic

Classified according to various criteria in levels of layers.

hybridity

Refers to the mixing of cultures, ideas and identities that occurs as the result of cultural contacts.

imperial imaginary

Ideas that seek to legitimate empire. For example, that the metropole is superior to the colony and has the right / duty to ‘civilise’ colonised people. This was a form of justification for empire.

liberal imperialism

Tied together the idea of empire with that of reform and improvement as a moral justification based on duty and good governance.

liberal paternalism

A form of governance that intentionally overrides people’s preferences to align them with the supposed interest of the collective.

Mahdist

The Mahdists were the followers of Muhammad Ahmad, a Sudanese religious leader who promoted a mystical interpretation of Islam. Ahmad declared himself ‘al-Mahdi’, which in Arabic means the ‘Right-Guided One’. The Mahdists controlled Sudan between 1885 and 1898.

marginalised subjects

Groups and communities that experience discrimination and exclusion (social, political and economic) because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, social and cultural dimensions.

material culture

Relates to the objects and architecture that a culture produces and their relationship to those things.

memorialising

To preserve the memory of. Memorial culture takes in statues, plaques, and commemorative events.

metropole

Central territory or state exercising power over a colonial empire.

Mexica empire

A civilization, also known as the Aztec empire, that flourished in Central America between 1325 and 1521.

Nahua

An indigenous group located across all of Mexico and parts of El Salvador. The Nahuas are also sometimes referred to as Aztecs.

neoconservative

A political ideology supporting free market capitalism and an interventionist foreign policy.

Obeah

A spiritual and medicinal practice that drew on West African traditional beliefs and practices. These traditions were preserved and adapted by enslaved people. Obeah was outlawed in the British Caribbean and its practice closely associated with rebellion.

Pan-Africanism

A worldwide movement to create a sense of shared identity and collaboration among all people of African descent whether they lived inside or outside of Africa.

Papal bull

A document, such as a latter or charter, issued by the Pope. Is it called such because the seal which authenticates it is called a 'bulla'.

patriarchy

A system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.

periphery

The outward bounds of something as distinguished from its internal regions or centre.

philanthropic

Seeking to promote the welfare of others; generous and well meaning. In relation to imperial philanthropy, we should think critically about what the intentions might be behind the expression of generosity.

piazza

The veranda of a house.

political anticolonialism

Political organising in relation to the struggle against imperial rule in colonised countries.

protagonists

An advocate or champion, a leading character.

public goods

Commodities or services that benefit all of society.

reparations

There are many ways to define reparations. The dictionary definition is ‘the act of making amends, offering expiation, or giving satisfaction for a wrong or injury.’ The International Centre for Transitional Justice states that ‘Reparations are meant to acknowledge and repair the causes and consequences of human rights violations and inequality.’ What this means in practice is varied and different groups have outlined different reparatory programmes which have included provisions for education, health, culture, technology, business, land, and wealth transfers. Increasingly reparations in relation to climate justice have also been sought.

restitution

The restoration of something that has been lost or stolen. Making amends for injury or loss. Making good.

Scramble for Africa

 A term used to describe the rapid colonisation of Africa by the major European powers, between roughly 1880 and 1914. The Berlin Conference (1884–1885), a major international meeting, was a key moment in the ‘Scramble for Africa’, paving the way for the partition of the continent among the European colonisers.

subjectivity

Refers to how someone's perspective is shaped by personal opinions and feelings.

Zulus

An ethnic group in South Africa.