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.

该项目将首次研究IWGC如何对待一战中死去的印第安人。自1917年成立以来，IWGC/CWGC一直为自己在纪念活动中致力于平等而感到自豪。不仅在他们的坟墓和纪念馆里没有军衔的区别，而且在殖民地、自治领和英国大都市的死者之间也没有区别。他们都是作为大英帝国的一员死去的，大英帝国将通过IWGC平等地纪念他们。然而，电视纪录片《被遗忘的：英国被遗忘的战争英雄》（The Unremembered：Britain's Forgotten War Heroes）（C4：2019）声称IWGC并不总是符合其创始标准，在《凯尼恩报告》（1918年）中总结为“所有人，无论他们的军衔或在公民生活中的地位如何，在他们的坟墓中都应该得到平等的待遇”。《被遗忘的人》表明，东非成千上万的殖民地死者没有被命名，许多埋葬他们尸体的墓地可能已经被遗弃。因此，帝国意识形态似乎塑造了纪念活动，将非洲军队和劳工与白色英国士兵在死亡和生活中分开。作为回应，CWGC成立了一个委员会，调查一战后纪念活动中的全球历史不平等，并于2021年4月发布了特别委员会报告，审查纪念活动中的历史不平等。该报告发现，45，000至54，000名（主要是印度人和非洲人）在一战中死亡的人受到了不平等的待遇-有些人被集体纪念在纪念碑上，而不是在个人坟墓中，其他人（被记录为失踪）则在登记册上而不是在石头上命名。此外，特别委员会估计，116 000至350 000名死者可能根本没有得到纪念。在某些情况下，在非洲、中东和印度，帝国主义意识形态被允许塑造IWGC的运作，死者的“文明状态”往往决定了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“尽管发现了问题并悄悄地纠正了这些问题，但公平地说，CWGC并没有去寻找这些问题。“其建议之一是建议CWGC应继续寻找未纪念的死者，寻求进一步了解这些'困难的历史'并保持透明，恢复的名字应刻在物理纪念馆上，应考虑数字纪念馆，CWGC应参与参与和教育计划，与在纪念活动中代表不足的社区密切合作（Connelly和Noakes为CWGC的参与和教育团队提供了建议）。该CDA将扩展特别委员会的工作，重点介绍了IWGC在一战后非洲和中东地区的工作。它将利用CWGC的档案、国家档案馆的材料、大英图书馆的印度办事处和Neuve Chapelle的墓地和记录，研究对西线和其他地方的印度死者的纪念待遇。西线是IWGC在一战后的工作重点，法国Neuve Chapelle的印度纪念碑上纪念了大约4，653名没有已知坟墓的印度士兵和劳工。印度帝国派往西线的14万人中有8,550多人阵亡。然而，印度陆军为欧洲以外的战场提供了另外六支远征军，这些部队的死者待遇将提供与西线阵亡者待遇进行比较的资料来源。