Colonial nostalgia is back in fashion, blinding us to the horrors of empire | Kehinde Andrews
Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise that an elected member of parliament should be so offensive, not only to most of the world but to millions of descendants of the empire in Britain. The academic Paul Gilroy diagnosed such ideas as “postcolonial melancholia”, the yearning for a time when Britain was great and a leader in the world. Britain’s place on the world stage was built off the back of the empire, and when former colonies gained their freedom, it dented not only the power of the nation, but also its psyche. The loss of the empire heralded the decline of Britain’s prowess and has left British nationalism looking for a symbolic pick-me-up ever since. Olympic success is proving quite the tonic.
And then add the backdrop of Brexit. A driving force behind the leave campaign was to “take the country back” and return to its former glories. With the insistence that we could make trade deals with the Commonwealth, this was an open call to return to the times when Britannia ruled the waves. Ethnic minorities saw through this and overwhelmingly voted remain. The wave of imperial nationalism stoked by the leave campaign certainly contributed to the spate of racial attacks post-referendum, and created the environment for an MP to send out such a vulgar tweet.
Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise that an elected member of parliament should be so offensive, not only to most of the world but to millions of descendants of the empire in Britain. The academic Paul Gilroy diagnosed such ideas as “postcolonial melancholia”, the yearning for a time when Britain was great and a leader in the world. Britain’s place on the world stage was built off the back of the empire, and when former colonies gained their freedom, it dented not only the power of the nation, but also its psyche. The loss of the empire heralded the decline of Britain’s prowess and has left British nationalism looking for a symbolic pick-me-up ever since. Olympic success is proving quite the tonic.
And then add the backdrop of Brexit. A driving force behind the leave campaign was to “take the country back” and return to its former glories. With the insistence that we could make trade deals with the Commonwealth, this was an open call to return to the times when Britannia ruled the waves. Ethnic minorities saw through this and overwhelmingly voted remain. The wave of imperial nationalism stoked by the leave campaign certainly contributed to the spate of racial attacks post-referendum, and created the environment for an MP to send out such a vulgar tweet.