Empires of sentiment; intimacies from death: David Livingstone and African slavery 'at the heart of the nation'

Lewis, J. E. (2015) Empires of sentiment; intimacies from death: David Livingstone and African slavery 'at the heart of the nation'. Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 43 (2). pp. 210-237. ISSN 0308-6534

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Abstract

The article re-examines the death of David Livingstone. It highlights the importance of an outpouring of disinhibited emotion in 1874. Despite a shambolic funeral, a working-class underdog and an anti-slavery tradition were placed ‘at the heart of the nation’. Media coverage generated the experience of intimacy from sentimentalised versions of Livingstone's death and interactions with Africans, unleashing mass empathy, moral feeling and humanitarian impulse. It was crucial to the development of Britain's soft-power empire liberalism, inspiring a powerful network, aware of public opinion, to later intervene in eastern Africa. Thus the role of emotion and emotion capital should be factored more into the history of empire.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fich20
Additional Information:	© 2014 Taylor & Francis
Library of Congress subject classification:	D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain D History General and Old World > DT Africa
Sets:	Departments > International History
Date Deposited:	24 Sep 2015 14:16
URL:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/63719/

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