Historical Inequalities in Commemoration: The Imperial War Graves Commission and the Indian Dead during and following the First World War

纪念活动中的历史不平等：帝国战争坟墓委员会和第一次世界大战期间及之后的印第安人死难者

• 批准号: 2899961
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Essex
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2899961
• 关键词: Historical; Inequalities; Commemoration; Imperial; War

The project will provide the first study of the IWGC's treatment of the Indian dead of the Great War. Since its creation in 1917 the IWGC/CWGC has prided itself on its commitment to equality in commemoration. Not only was there no distinction of military rank in their graves and memorials, there was also no distinction between the dead of the colonies, the dominions and the British metropole. All had died as members of the British Empire, and the Empire, through the IWGC, would commemorate them all equally. However, the television documentary The Unremembered: Britain's Forgotten War Heroes (C4:2019) claimed that the IWGC had not always lived up to its founding standards, summarized in the Kenyon Report (1918) as 'all, whatever their military rank or position in civil life, should have equal treatment in their graves'. The Unremembered demonstrated that many thousands of the colonial dead in east Africa had not been commemorated by name and that many of the cemeteries that contained their bodies may have been abandoned. Imperial ideologies thus appeared to have shaped commemoration, separating African troops and labourers from the white British soldiers in death as in life.In response, the CWGC formed a committee to investigate global historical inequalities in commemoration after the Great War, publishing the Report of the Special Committee to review historical inequalities in commemoration in April 2021. The Report found that between 45,000-54,000 (primarily Indian and African) dead of the Great War had been treated unequally - some commemorated collectively on memorials rather than in individual graves, and others (recorded as missing) named in registers rather than in stone. Additionally, the Special Committee estimated that between 116,000 and 350,000 dead may not have been commemorated at all. In some instances, across Africa, the Middle East and India, imperial ideologies were allowed to shape the operations of the IWGC, with the perceived 'state of civilisation' of the dead often determining their treatment in death and commemoration. The Report also found that in recent years when the CWGC uncovered inequalities in commemoration it had corrected these, but that 'despite identifying problems and quietly putting them right, it is fair to say that the CWGC has not gone looking for them.' Among its recommendations was the suggestion that the CWGC should continue to search for the non-commemorated dead, seek to further understand and be transparent about these 'difficult histories', that recovered names should be inscribed on physical memorials, that digital memorials should be considered, and that the CWGC should engage in a programme of engagement and education, working closely with communities under-represented in commemoration (Connelly and Noakes have advised the engagement and education team at the CWGC).This CDA will extend the work of the Special Committee, which focused on the work of the IWGC across Africa and the Middle East in the Great War's aftermath. It will draw on the archives of the CWGC, material in the National Archives, the Indian Office at the British Library and the cemetery and records at Neuve Chapelle to examine the commemorative treatment of the Indian dead on the Western Front and elsewhere. The Western Front was the focus of the IWGC's work in the aftermath of the Great War, and some 4,653 Indian troops and labourers who have no known grave are commemorated on the Indian memorial at Neuve Chapelle, France. Over 8,550 of the 140,000 men sent by Imperial India to the Western Front were killed. However, the Indian Army provided another six expeditionary forces for theatres outside Europe, and treatment of the dead of these units will provide the sources for comparison with the treatment of those who died on the Western Front.

该项目将对IWGC对印度人对大战的待遇进行首次研究。自1917年创建以来，IWGC/CWGC一直以其对纪念平等的承诺而感到自豪。他们的坟墓和纪念馆不仅没有军事级别的区别，而且殖民地，统治和英国大都市的死者之间也没有区别。所有人都死于大英帝国的成员，而帝国通过IWGC将同样纪念他们。然而，电视纪录片《未记录：英国被遗忘的战争英雄》（C4：2019）声称，IWGC并不总是符合其建立标准，总结在肯尼恩的报告（1918年）中，因为“全部，无论其在公民生活中的军事职位或地位如何，都应在坟墓中得到平等的待遇。未记录的事实表明，东非成千上万的殖民地死亡并未以名字为纪念，许多包含其尸体的墓地可能已经被遗弃了。因此，帝国意识形态似乎已经塑造了纪念，将非洲部队和劳工与死亡中的白人英国士兵分开。在回应中，CWGC成立了一个委员会，调查了大战后纪念全球历史不平等的委员会，发表了特别委员会在4月2021年及时审查了445,000千年之间的纪念活动。受到不平等的对待 - 有些人在纪念馆而不是在单个坟墓中集体纪念，而另一些则是在登记处而不是石头上命名的。此外，特别委员会估计，可能根本没有纪念116,000至350,000人死亡。在某些情况下，在非洲，中东和印度，帝国意识形态被允许塑造IWGC的运作，而​​死者的“文明状态”经常决定他们在死亡和纪念中的待遇。该报告还发现，近年来，当CWGC发现纪念活动中的不平等现象时，它已经纠正了这些问题，但是“尽管发现问题并悄悄地使它们正确，但可以说CWGC并没有寻找它们。”它的建议之一是建议，CWGC应继续寻找非成熟的死者，寻求进一步理解并透明这些“困难的历史”，应将其恢复名称铭刻在物理纪念馆上，应考虑数字纪念馆，并且应考虑CWGC参与互动和教育的计划，并与之互动，并参与了参与者，并参与了参与者（参与者），并参与了竞争和参与（参与者的参与），并参与了竞争和教育，并应参与进来（竞争者和教育），并参与了参与者的参与，并参与了参与者的参与计划，并应参与其中的参与，并应参与其中的参与计划。 CWGC的团队）。该CDA将扩大特别委员会的工作，该委员会的工作重点是在大战之后的IWGC整个非洲和中东的工作。它将利用CWGC的档案，国家档案馆中的材料，大英图书馆的印度办公室以及Neuve Chapelle的墓地和记录，以研究西方阵线和其他地方对印度人死亡的纪念待遇。西方阵线是IWGC在大战之后的工作的重点，而在法国Neuve Chapelle的印度纪念馆中，大约有4,653名没有认识坟墓的印度军队和劳动者纪念。在印度帝国派往西部阵线的14万名士兵中，有8,550多人被杀。但是，印度军队为欧洲以外的剧院提供了另外六次远征军，对这些部队的死者的待遇将提供与对待西方阵线死亡的人进行比较的来源。