Martial Races: The Military, Race and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857-1914

Martial Races: The Military, Race and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857-1914
ISBN-10
0719069629
ISBN-13
9780719069628
Category
History
Pages
258
Language
English
Published
2004
Publisher
Manchester University Press
Authors
Heather Streets, Heather Streets-Salter

Description

This book explores how and why Scottish Highlanders, Punjabi Sikhs, and Nepalese Gurkhas became identified as the British Empire's fiercest soldiers in nineteenth century discourse. As "martial races" these men were believed to possess a biological or cultural disposition to the racial and masculine qualities necessary for the arts of war. Because of this, they were used as icons to promote recruitment in British and Indian armies--a phenomenon with important social and political effects in India, in Britain, and in the armies of the Empire.

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