Black Victorians : Rethinking the Liberal/Philanthropic British Empire

本研究的目的是重新审视关于大英帝国、解放/自由帝国或“良性/慈善帝国”的著名话语，关注所谓的“维多利亚黑人”的存在。一般来说，这些话语据说是在1780年代至1830年代帝国内部废除奴隶制运动的时代发明的，并在19世纪后半叶牢固确立，以显示大英帝国的特征。直到最近，“维多利亚时期的黑人”这个词一直是英国黑人历史上很少被讨论的话题。在我的研究中，我挑选了几个出生在非洲和亚洲统治阶级的土著男孩和女孩，他们被英国海军或陆军从当地的苦难中解救出来，不顾自己的意图被带到英国，他们在维多利亚女王或一些英国贵族的监护下生活在帝国的中心。有趣的是，他们的救援大多发生在19世纪50年代和60年代，他们的救援背景与帝国内部已经废除的奴隶制密切相关。我通过查阅英国议会文件、皇家档案馆的信件和文件、当时报纸和杂志上的文章、几个传教协会的年度报告，仔细分析了他们是如何获救的，我发现，他们获救的日子被证明对大英帝国自我形象的构建至关重要。这种“解放/慈善帝国”的自我形象，最近在2007年废除奴隶贸易200周年之际受到了挑战。我还在英国各地调查了帝国的这种表现是如何在200周年的特别活动或展览中得到检验的，并明确了作为其遗产的公民身份的后现代战略。

The aim of this research is to reconsider the famous discourses on the British Empire, liberating / liberal empire or “benign / philanthropic empire", in focusing on the existence of so-called “Black Victorians". Generally, these discourses were said to have invented in the days of the abolition movement of slavery within the Empire, from 1780s to 1830s, and strongly established in the latter part of the nineteenth century to show the character of the British Empire. The term Black Victorians has been, until recently, rarely discussed topic of the history of black people in Britain. In my research, I picked up several native boys and girls, born in the ruling class in Africa and Asia, who were rescued by the British navy or army from their local sufferings, taken to Britain regardless of their own intentions, had certain experiences of living in the centre of the Empire under the guardianship of Queen Victoria or some British aristocracies. It is very interesting that their rescues were mostly occurred in the 1850s and 60s, and that the context of their rescues was deeply related to the slavery which had already been abolished within the Empire. I closely analyzed how they had been rescued by examining the British Parliament Papers, letters and documents at the Royal Archives, articles in the contemporary newspapers and magazines, annual reports of several missionary societies, and I discovered that the days of their rescue was proved to be critical for the construction of the self-image of the British Empire. This self-image, “liberating/ philanthropic empire", have recently been challenged in the bicentenary of the abolition of slave trade in 2007. I also investigated around UK how this representation of the Empire has been tested in the special events or exhibitions for the bicentenary and made clear the post-modern strategies for citizenship as its legacy.