Racial Thinking in British Society from 1850-1870

Racial Thinking in British Society from 1850-1870

Contents

I. Introduction

II. The Indian Mutiny

III. The Morant Bay rebellion

IV. Conclusion

V. Bibliography

I. Introduction

The 1850s and 1860s are perceived as a turning point with regard to Victorian attitudes to ′race′. Several scholars emphasise the significance of colonial uprisings as the Indian ′Mutiny′ and the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica and their impact on British opinion. The category of race became a matter of public debate, and radical attitudes gained influence, the most notorious Thomas Carlyle′s ′Occasional Discourse Upon the Nigger Question′ (1853).
If we consider ′race′ as a category we point to the fact that racial difference and features were constructed in several ways and became fixed in public consciousness as natural law. It is difficult to grasp the extent of the spreading of racial thinking within Victorian society. The majority of the population did not take part in the debate, they have no voice in the historical account. We cannot necessarily assume that they were concerned about Jamaican blacks or Indian Sepoys or events taking place in remote parts of the earth. We have to define the term ′Victorian society′ very careful, especially when dealing with the attitudes of that society to rather abstract issues like race. Moreover the term ′race′ in itself seems to be problematic too. As an artificial construct, based on traditional prejudice and new ′scientific′ theories, its real meaning, significance and function is hard to grasp. If Victorian attitudes to race changed during the 1850s and 1860s we have to ask: In which way did they change? How did events in India and Jamaica influence the course of the debate, and in what terms were they interpreted? Can we define the debate as a serious attempt to understand the complex reality of colonial conditions and race-relations or as a mere reflection of domestic problems and a certain world view? In which way were cultural features of non-European peoples interpreted and connected to theories of race? I want to point out right at the beginning, that there can be no definite answer to these questions without ignoring the wide range of facets of the issue. Attitudes changed over time and differed within social groups or even between individuals.

II. The Indian Mutiny

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