Framing colonial war loot
Framing colonial war loot
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勾勒殖民战争掠夺成果
DOI：
10.1093/jhc/fhab042
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发表时间：
2022
影响因子：
0.2
通讯作者：
Hartwell N
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hartwell N
本文调查了与军事指挥官昆瓦尔·辛格 (Kunwar Singh，1777-1858 年) 有关的四件文物的出处，他在 1857-8 年印度起义期间参加了针对英国的游击战。通过分析这些物品是如何记录和铭刻的，可以表明，通过援引此处所谓的“军事话语”，英国军官以非常具体的方式制定了获取敌方指挥官的武器、盔甲和礼仪财产的过程。作为 19 世纪英国军事文化中一个被忽视的方面，对军事话语的研究有助于澄清英国军官如何在殖民军事背景下介绍所获得的战利品。这里考虑的例子——包括“在行动中夺取”、“捕获”和“spolia opima”——的基础是英国军事机构内部的一种隐含和共同的理解，即被认为象征胜利和军事威力的文物可以被提升到更高的层次，并与在未经批准的侵占和抢劫行为中夺取的文物区分开来。
This article investigates the provenance of four artefacts associated with the military commander Kunwar Singh (1777–1858), who fought a guerrilla campaign against the British during the Indian Uprising of 1857–8. By analysing how these objects were documented and inscribed, it can be shown that, through the invocation of what is characterized here as ‘martial discourse’, British officers framed the acquisition of the arms, armour and ceremonial possessions of an enemy commander in very specific ways. As an overlooked aspect of nineteenth-century British military culture, an examination of martial discourse helps to clarify how British officers presented acquisitions in colonial military contexts. Fundamental to the examples considered here – which include ‘taken in action’, ‘captured’ and ‘spolia opima’ – was an implicit and shared understanding within the British military establishment that artefacts deemed to signify victory and military prowess could be elevated above, and distinguished from those taken during acts of unsanctioned appropriation and looting.