The Colonisation of Time (Studies in Imperialism)

The Colonisation of Time is a highly original and long overdue examination of the ways that western-European and specifically British concepts and rituals of time were imposed on other cultures as a fundamental component of colonization during the nineteenth century. Based on a wealth of primary sources it explores the intimate relationship between the colonization of time and space in two British settler-colonies (Victoria Australia and the Cape Colony South Africa) and its instrumental role in the exportation of Christianity capitalism and modernity thus adding new depth to our understanding of imperial power and of the ways in which it was exercised and limited. All those intrigued by the concept of time will find this book of interest for it illustrates how western-European times rise to a position of global dominancefrom the clock to the seven-day weekis one of the most pervasive enduring and taken-for-granted legacies of colonization in todays world.