This thesis examines Anglo-French perceptions of power within the context of the rise of the United States of America. It uses several overlapping events falling within a moment at the end of the nineteenth century (1898-1899) - the Spanish-American War, the Dreyfus Affair and the Fashoda crisis - to explore various British and French actors' perceptions of national power, decline, and international competition. It draws heavily on diplomatic material, but its methodology is primarily cultural. It examines ways in which various cultural assumptions affected perceptions of power and global events. It takes a particular interest in the relationship between ideas about gender and dimensions of national power. It focuses on contemporary preoccupations and assumptions, whether spoken or unspoken, and argues that they could prove determinative. External realities were refracted into perceptions that in turn drove prescriptions and policy. The thesis juxtaposes perspectives from multiple states, thereby contextualizing or comparing British, French and occasionally American preoccupations with those of their transatlantic contemporaries. It draws upon archival sources which previously have been under-examined or approached from different perspectives and research priorities. Its exploration of the cultural dimensions of thought about national power and success is grounded in an awareness of the analysis and actions of certain diplomats and politicians involved in the more practical business of international affairs. Conversely, diplomatic and other records are situated within their cultural milieu, to better understand the context in which views about the international order were shaped. The thesis necessarily makes excursions into the history of emotions, since its actors' political analyses at times appear entangled and aligned with their emotional responses. The thesis therefore serves as an example of an international history that integrates diplomatic with cultural and emotional elements and demonstrates their mutual illumination.

L’étude de cas qui mobilise la majeure partie de ma thèse se penche sur une mission de la Church Missionary Society, société missionnaire anglicane, au Buganda, royaume situé au nord du lac Victoria. La thèse revient d’abord sur les raisons qui ont poussé la CMS à s’établir dans cette région vierge de tout occupant européen, et sur les conditions de cette installation, débutée en 1876. Entre 1876 et 1900, la mission connut de nombreux chamboulements, qui seront traités à la lumière de la correspondance des missionnaires de la CMS sur le terrain, de leurs journaux personnels et productions visuelles : les interactions plus ou moins fructueuses des missionnaires avec les autochtones ; le succès de la mission en termes d’influence religieuse ; le déploiement de nouvelles stations au sein du royaume et dans les royaumes voisins ; l’installation de missionnaires catholiques français dans le royaume à partir de 1879 ; l’arrivée des Britanniques dans la région par le biais de l’Imperial British East Africa Company, et la mise sous protectorat de la région à partir de 1894. Tous ces éléments seront passés au crible, ainsi que la façon dont, en métropole, ils furent l’objet de différentes publications, circulations, et donc réceptions. Les ramifications tant politiques que linguistiques et scientifiques de l’entreprise missionnaire anglicane au Buganda sont au cœur de cette étude. Cette thèse met également au jour les liens tissés entre la mission du Buganda et sa direction en métropole (la maison mère à Londres, les soutiens de la mission en amont, les lecteurs et adhérents de la société, et le lectorat britannique de la presse périodique de façon plus générale). D’autre part, il s’agit également de montrer par le biais de cette étude de cas que l’entreprise missionnaire britannique était intégrée dans un projet plus vaste de réforme et de salut global (et non seulement local) de la Grande-Bretagne et de son empire : pour ce faire, je fais appel aux archives d’une société missionnaire œuvrant en métropole, dans la capitale, la London City Mission. La mise en perspective de ces deux types de sociétés missionnaires pourra alors nous éclairer sur les liens que les Britanniques créaient et imaginaient entre la Grande-Bretagne et son empire, à la lumière des pratiques religieuses et culturelles de ses habitants. / This thesis focuses on the Church Missionary Society’s mission to Buganda between 1875 and 1900. Buganda was the most powerful kingdom of the Great Lakes region during the last quarter of the 19th century. This study retraces what motivated an Anglican missionary society to send agents to this particular area, which had not been claimed or colonized by any European power at the time of their arrival. Between 1875 and 1900, the mission underwent several changes, which this thesis examines in the light of the missionaries’ letters, journals, drawings and photographs : the interactions between the missionaries and the natives they wished to convert (the kings of Buganda for instance) ; the success of the mission itself and its expansion, mainly through the dissemination of a Bible in luganda by Ganda catechists ; the arrival of rival Catholic missionaries in the capital of Buganda from 1879 onwards ; the arrival of the Imperial British East Africa Company and the creation of the Uganda Protectorate in 1894. This thesis analyses how those changes were dealt with by the missionaries in the field, but also how they were perceived and received by the CMS’s executive committees, the supporters of the mission and the general public in Britain. Studying the political, linguistic and scientific ramifications of the mission in the metropole helps us to understand the manifold impacts that missions had in the late-Victorian era. The way the missionary narrative of the Buganda mission was shaped by the editorial committee of the CMS is also analysed so as to shed light on the strategies at work in London to promote the missionary cause throughout Britain.The aim of this thesis is to take into account what happened in the field and in the metropole in the same frame of analysis, in order to reveal the connected and networked nature of the British missionary enterprise. The example of the Buganda mission will help us to understand how Victorian Evangelicals perceived the salvation and reform of society as a global project. Confronting the CMS sources with archives from a different type of missionary organization – in that case the London City Mission – enables the historian to reveal the ties that linked the home missionary project to the overseas missionary enterprise. This thesis shows that the perceived rivalries between both mission fields were in fact complemented by a strong belief in the connected nature of the missionary enterprise, in terms of staff and support, reprensentations, evangelizing strategies and promotion tools.

This thesis is concerned with literature connected with the abolition of slavery in British colonies. The thesis will treat the topic of the abolitionist movement from the perspective of social, cultural and literary history from the beginnings until the abolition of slavery in British colonies in the Caribbean in 1833 with the Slavery Abolition Act. The thesis will focus on the discourse of race and slavery. The chosen authors represent different opinions and perspectives as the discussion will focus on sentimental poetry, travel writings as well as slave narratives. The chief aim is to identify and define the strategies of abolitionist discourse and the rhetorical practices which it employed especially in shaping the image of Africans and how the hegemonic discourse of sentimentalism influenced their writing. The first part of the thesis is concerned with establishing a theoretical background and the establishing of the literary traditions and customs of the eighteenth century, definition of the sentimental discourse and philosophies of the Enlightenment. This will be framed by a definition of Edward Said's "Orientalism" as well as Paul Gilroy's theory of the "Black Atlantic," which will enable us to define the space between Britain, Africa and the Caribbean, where the history of slavery of...

Il n’existe pas, à proprement parler, une histoire des Français de l’étranger. La définition même de ce terme reste floue et connaît de nombreuses variantes selon les auteurs qui se sont penchés sur le sujet ; ces derniers sont d’ailleurs rarement des historiens. Autre constat, le concept de présence française recouvre une multitude de réalités. C’est un terme polysémique qui n’a pas encore reçu, chez les historiens du moins, de définition claire et précise. Pour explorer ces pistes, il a semblé que Hong Kong dans l’entre-deux-guerres était un terrain propice.C’est une parenthèse active sur un territoire aux influences multiples ; la colonie britannique est aux portes de la Chine, voisine de l’Indochine, et elle connaît des développements et des remous nombreux entre 1918 et1941.L’ambition de ce travail est d’assembler les différentes formes de la présence française, souvent étudiées individuellement dans d’autres cadres chronologiques ou géographiques, pour offrir un tableau complet de ce que signifie réellement ce terme et réfléchir aux concepts contemporains de Français de l’étranger et de culture tierce. Au regard des spécificités géographiques et politiques de Hong Kong dans l’entre-deux-guerres, en quoi peut-on dire que la colonie britannique joue un rôle particulier pour la France, et qu’à ce titre, elle est un observatoire privilégié de la vie des Français de l’étranger à cette époque ? Cette interrogation cache évidemment de multiples articulations car la présence française suppose l’existence d’une communauté vivante et hétérogène, mais aussi une implantation purement matérielle et parfois abstraite. / Strictly speaking, the History of French people abroad does not exist. The meaning of this term in itself is quite vague and there are lots of variations, depending on the scholars who may have flown over this subject; seldom are they historians. Another significant aspect is that the notion of French presence also covers many different realities. It is a polysemous term which, as yet, has never been given a clear and proper definition yet, at least among historians. In order to explore those tracks, using Hong Kong during interwar period as a search field was thought to be relevant.It is an active parenthesis on a territory animated by multiple influences; the British colony is on China’s doorstep, a neighbour of Indochina, and it has known quite a number of developments and upheavals between 1918and 1941.The purpose of this work is to gather different forms of the French presence, often studied separately and individuallyin other geographical and historic contexts, in order to offer a complete picture of what this concept really means. This is an opportunity to debate on the contemporary notions of fFrench people abroad and Third Culture. Because of the geographical and political specificities of Hong Kong during the interwar period, in what way can we consider that the British colony is playing a particular role for France in the area ? And, on this basis, how can it be considered a privileged observatory of the life of French people abroad at that time? Those questions are obviously hiding many others because French presences suppose the existence of a lively and heterogeneous community, but also a material and sometimes abstract implantation.

Dans ce mémoire, nous comparons l’expérience des Britanniques dans deux territoires qui intègrent l’empire britannique après la guerre de Sept Ans. Nous proposons une comparaison de deux régions du globe aux traits contrastés, le Canada et le Bengale, en posant la question : comment les Britanniques se renseignent-ils sur les populations de ces territoires récemment acquis? Notre étude s’inscrit dans plusieurs courants historiographiques qui proposent une relecture de l’histoire de la Grande-Bretagne et de ses colonies, ce qui est le sujet de notre premier chapitre. Dans le second, nous explorons l’après-conquête au Canada. Après avoir mené à bien leur conquête (en 1759-60), les Britanniques en viennent à vouloir administrer les populations qui y habitent. Pour cela, le gouvernement britannique implante un nouveau régime politique jugé adapté aux conditions canadiennes, sans s’encombrer d’une assemblée. Dans la vallée laurentienne, les administrateurs coloniaux doivent toutefois composer avec une population majoritairement d’origine française de confession catholique, ce qui les a menés à modifier le régime dix ans plus tard. Dans le troisième chapitre, nous nous intéressons à la présence britannique au Bengale après la bataille de Plassey de 1757. Dans cette région, c’est par l’entremise de l’East India Company (EIC) que les Britanniques acquièrent une influence sur les pouvoirs locaux, ce qui leur permet d’administrer par l’intermédiaire des gouverneurs de l’Empire moghol (les nababs). Cependant, les différences culturelles étaient bien plus importantes qu’avec la population canadienne d’origine européenne. La population de l’Inde du nord de l’époque est majoritairement de confession hindoue ou musulmane, et emploie le perse comme langue administrative. Grâce à notre lecture de la correspondance officielle, entre les administrateurs coloniaux et le gouvernement métropolitain pour le Canada, et entre les agents de la compagnie et ses directeurs pour le Bengale, nous affirmons que dans les deux situations, les Britanniques tentent de se renseigner. Cependant, d’importantes différences de nature institutionnelle et culturelle singularisent les types d’information recherchés ainsi que les démarches de collecte de l’information. Les résultats de nos recherches convergent finalement en un point : la quête d’information passe par toute une gamme d’intermédiaires locaux. Dans le dernier chapitre, après avoir exploré les « ordres informationnels » mis en œuvre ou adaptés par les Britanniques dans les deux contextes coloniaux, l’étude s’intéresse à l’information coloniale telle qu’elle est reçue et mise en forme en métropole. À cette fin, les efforts des officiels et parlementaires pour se renseigner sur les conditions coloniales lors de l’ébauche de deux lois, l’Acte de Québec (1774) et le Regulating Act (1773) sont mis en lumière grâce à une lecture des débats parlementaires. Finalement, pour s’informer sur le Canada, les membres du gouvernement britannique misent beaucoup sur l’aide des administrateurs coloniaux ayant séjourné dans la colonie, alors que sur l’Inde ils s’appuient davantage sur une source documentaire, soit les livres de l’EIC, révélant ainsi un autre contraste entre les deux situations à l’étude. / This study compares methods of information gathering in two territories that became part of the British Empire after the Seven Years’ War. We bring these two extremely different regions into the same frame by asking: how did the British gather information about the populations of Canada and Bengal? Our study is part of several historiographical currents that offer a rereading of the history of Great Britain and its colonies, which is the subject of our first chapter. In the next chapter, we explore the post-conquest era in Canada. After the conquest of this territory (1759-1760), British authorities faced the task of administering the Canadian population. At first, they tried to implement a new governmental regime deemed suitable for the Canadian context. However, since the majority of the population they governed was of different religious denomination (Catholics) and of French origin, they had to modify the regime ten years later. In the third chapter, we look at the British presence in Bengal after the battle of Plassey in 1757. The British, through the East India Company, acquired a certain influence over local authorities, which allowed them to govern indirectly via the Mogul Empire’s governors, the nabobs. Nevertheless, cultural differences were much more significant than with the Canadian population of European origin: the Mogul Empire was a Muslim polity, with a Persian administration, and much of the population was Hindu. From our reading of the official correspondence, between the colonial administrators and the metropolitan government in the first case, and between the agents of the company and its directors in the second, we affirm that in both situations the British tried to gather more information. However, important institutional and cultural differences distinguish the types of information sought as well as the approaches to collecting information. The results of our research ultimately converge on one point: the search for information passed through a whole range of local intermediaries. In the last chapter, after having explored the “information order” implemented or adapted by the British in each colonial context, the study considers how colonial information was received and shaped by the metropolitan authorities. To this end, the efforts of officials and parliamentarians to learn about colonial conditions during the drafting of two laws, the Quebec Act (1774) and the Regulating Act (1773) are highlighted through a reading of the Parliamentary debates. Here also, many differences are visible. To become informed about Canada, British authorities relied heavily on the help of the colonial administrators who stayed in Canada after the regime change. However, in the Indian case, they depended mostly on documentary sources, namely the books of the EIC.

The state often enacts violence against marginalized groups by rendering them monstrous. The early eighteenth century saw early and stellar instances of this phenomenon in the way the British Empire pursued and executed pirates. These "golden age" pirates represented an extraordinary cross-section of marginalization politically, economically, socially, and otherwise, all of which threatened the political and social mores of Imperial Britain. In order to implement a policy and practice of pirate annihilation, British authorities constructed pirates as monstrous by racializing, dehumanizing, and emphasizing the supernatural quality of pirates. This study analyzes three eighteenth-century piracy trial transcripts--those of William Kidd, Stede Bonnet, and William Fly--in order to assess how lawyers and judges constructed pirates as monstrous so as to justify the massive and total violence inflicted on them as a class resulting in their complete destruction. In so doing, this study tracks rhetorical tactics and strategies still used by empires and the state today against marginalized peoples to an original historical source.

Cotutelle / Entre 1774 et 1815, la noblesse canadienne tente de stabiliser sa position sociale au sein d’une société canadienne désormais sous tutelle britannique. Pour cela, les nobles opèrent une redéfinition culturelle et sociale de leur idée de noblesse afin de s’adapter au nouveau régime. Grâce aux relations qui s’établissent entre les nobles restés dans l’Empire britannique, ceux l’ayant quitté et les nouvelles élites qui s’établissent dans la colonie au tournant du XIXe siècle, il est possible de mieux appréhender la façon dont la noblesse réinvestit son capital symbolique. L’étude des patrimoines matériels, sociaux et intellectuels ainsi que leurs modes de transmission permettent d’examiner les modalités d’adaptation de la communauté noble. Enfin, cette noblesse à cheval entre deux empires, dont les réseaux s’étendent sur de nombreux territoires, permet de mieux percevoir les évolutions qui s’opèrent à cette époque dans les sociétés coloniales et en particulier en Amérique du Nord et au Canada. En étudiant cinq familles emblématiques de la noblesse canadienne, cette thèse tente de répondre à la problématique et aux sous-questions suivantes : comment la noblesse francophone se renouvelle-t-elle et évolue-t-elle en tant que groupe social distinct au sein des élites impériales entre 1774 et 1815 ? Qui est noble ? Être un noble canadien après la Cession dans les empires français et britanniques, qu’est-ce que ça signifie ? Quelles sont les stratégies d’adaptation de la génération de la noblesse canadienne qui vit sa vie publique et adulte entre 1774 et 1815 ? Y a-t-il une « canadianisation » de la noblesse et, si oui, comment se caractérise-t-elle ? Les nobles canadiens s’adaptent-ils au nouveau régime ? Les élites influencent de façon importante la construction de la société dans laquelle elles évoluent : au XIXe siècle la société canadienne-française telle qu’on la connaît jusqu’au milieu du XXe siècle commence à se développer ; elle a en parti été mise en place par et pour les nobles canadiens. Ma recherche a donc pour but de trouver les mécanismes de reproduction des élites coloniales. C’est-à-dire de comprendre comment, en particulier, les nobles continuent à exister sous le Régime britannique. Mon hypothèse est que les nobles réussissent à trouver une forme d’équilibre entre le besoin de renouvellement qui découle du changement de régime et leur fidélité à des traditions présentées comme séculaires. Ce sont des « caméléons sociaux » qui existent à travers trois paradoxes : un imaginaire transnational dans une réalité juridique nationale ; un désir d’éternité couplé à un besoin d’évolution constant ; une culture de la distinction affirmée à l’intérieur de frontières poreuses. La thèse cherche encore à mieux comprendre comment se vit une identité transatlantique et coloniale, se détachant progressivement, mais jamais totalement des pairs de la « vieille Europe » et à travers la formation d’une identité américaine au sein des empires. Elle démontre également l’ambiguïté qui existe entre l’identité noble coloniale, qui pousse au détachement par rapport à la métropole, et l’identité élitaire, qui, au contraire, ramène les nobles canadiens vers l’Europe et les caractéristiques de son élite. / Between 1774 and 1815, Canadian nobility attempted to stabilize their social position within a Canadian society now under British reign. In that order, nobles operated a cultural and social redefinition of their idea of nobility to adapt to the new regime. Thanks to the relationships that nobles who remained in the British Empire developed with those who left it, and the new elites who settled in the colony, it is possible to better understand how Canadian nobility reinvested its symbolic capital. The study of material, social and intellectual heritages as well as transmission mode make possible to examine the modalities of adaptation of the noble community. Finally, this nobility straddling two empires, whose networks spanned many territories, allows us to better perceive the changes that took place at that time in colonial societies and, more specifically, in North America and Canada. By studying five emblematic families of the Canadian nobility, this thesis attempts to answer the following problematic and sub-questions: how the French-speaking nobility is renewing itself and evolving as a distinct social group within the imperial elites between 1774 and 1815? Who is noble? What does it mean to be a Canadian nobleman after the Conquest in both French and British Empires? What are the coping strategies of the generation of Canadian nobility who lived their public and adult life between 1774 and 1815? Is there a “Canadianization” of the nobility and, if so, how is it characterized? Are nanadian nobles adjusting to the new regime? The elites significantly influence the construction of the society in which they operate: in the 19th century French Canadian society as we know it until the middle of the 20th century began to develop; it was in part set up by, and for, Canadian nobility. My research therefore aims to find its reproduction mechanisms. That is, to understand how, in particular, nobles continued to exist under British rule. My hypothesis is that the nobility manages to find some kind of balance between the need for renewal that arises from regime change and its loyalty to traditions presented as secular. Noblemen and women are “social chameleons” that exist through three paradoxes: a transnational imaginary in a national legal reality; a desire for eternity coupled with a constant need for evolution; a culture of distinction asserted within porous borders. This thesis seeks to better understand how a transatlantic and colonial identity is experienced, separating itself gradually, but never completely from the peers of "old Europe" and through the formation of a North American identity within the empires. It also demonstrates the ambiguity that exists between the noble colonial identity, which encourages detachment from the metropolis, and the elite identity, which, on the contrary, brings the Canadian nobles back to Europe and the characteristics of its elite.

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<p dir="ltr">Historians reconcile events with stories that are told (or not told) about them. How does one narrative dominate while others fade away? This dissertation investigates histories of the colonies for change over time and addresses the differences and similarities between narratives written by colonists, foreigners, revolutionaries (or loyalists), and citizens of the new Republic. It examines the creation of colonial histories across the long revolutionary generation (roughly 1730-1830) to identify the cumulative development of a national narrative.</p><p dir="ltr">In chaotic times, people create a particular version of the past to navigate an uncertain future. When published, this interpretation hardens into history. My project illuminates and explains current gaps between colonial and revolutionary history. The colonial histories published during this time informed and shaped an emerging historical consciousness. These formative narratives reimagined the past to serve needs of the present and to define conclusions about their place in the world. In a time of division in modern American culture, it is imperative to understand this period in American history, as it represents the origin of many competing claims to the "true" goals of the Revolution that continue to reverberate in current times.</p>

This thesis will explore how writers of nineteenth-century Irish horror fiction, namely short stories and novels, used their works to express the social, cultural, and political events of the period. My thesis will employ a New Historicist approach to discuss the effects of colonialism on the writings, as well as archetypal criticism to analyse the mythic origins of the relevant metaphors. The structuralism of Tzvetan Todorov will be used to discuss the notion of the works' appeal as supernatural or possibly realistic works. The theory of Mikhail Bakhtin is used to discuss the writers' linguistic choices because such theory focuses on how language can lead to conflicts amongst social groups. The introduction is followed by Chapter One, "Ireland as England's Fantasy." This chapter discusses Ireland's literary stereotype as a fantasyland. The chapter also gives an overview of Ireland's history of occupation and then contrasts the bucolic, magical Ireland of fiction and the bleak social conditions of much of nineteenth-century Ireland. Chapter Two, "Mythic Origins", analyses the use of myth in nineteenth-century horror stories. The chapter discusses the merging of Christianity and Celtic myth; I then discuss the early Irish belief in evil spirits in myths that eventually inspired horror literature. Chapter Three, "Church versus Big House, Unionist versus Nationalist," analyses how the conflicts of Church/Irish Catholicism vs. Big House/Anglo-Irish landlordism, proBritish Unionist vs. pro-Irish Nationalist are manifested in the tales. In this chapter, I argue that many Anglo-Irish writers present stern anti-Catholic attitudes, while both Anglo-Irish and Catholic writers use the genre as political propaganda. Yet the authors tend to display Home Rule or anti-Home Rule attitudes rather than religious loyalties in their stories. The final chapter of the thesis, "A Heteroglossia of British and Irish Linguistic and Literary Forms," deals with the use of language and national literary styles in Irish literature of this period. I discuss Bakhtin's notion of heteroglossia and its applications to the Irish novel; such a discussion because nineteenth-century Ireland was linguistically Balkanised, with Irish Gaelic, Hibemo-English, and British English all in use. This chapter is followed by a conclusion. / English / M. Lit. et Phil. (English)