Cultural paternalism, colonialism and the Empire Marketing Board: A blog post by Lauren Woodcock
Introduction
In January 2021 UCIL piloted a new module on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion that began with a historical overview of social reform and legal frameworks around EDI. Students enrolled on ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Your Role in Shaping a Fairer World’ were asked to complete an assignment in which they found and evaluated a historical source. This was in a response to blog post created by the University of Manchester Special Collections called ‘Gender, Race and Disability: what do the archives tell us?
We are delighted to share samples of student work submitted for assessment on this module. We would like to thank Lauren Woodcock for permission to include her reflections on the imagery used by the Empire Marketing Board in the 1930s.
The above modernist style posters were commissioned for advertisement purposes by the Empire Marketing Board (EMB), an organisation established by the British Government that was to convince the British public of the importance of buying into the idea of a new ‘unified’ expansion into trading goods manufactured across the British Empire (McDougall 1928).
Attitudes to race and depictions of colonial subjects within the Empire by the British institution were deeply oppressive as demonstrated through the images portrayal of the Wests view of East-African colonial subjects as requiring development in order to be seen in British culture as legitimate members of the Empire. The direct intention of the posters was attempting to change the common conceptions of the British people at the time viewing those of East-African ethnicity as “inferior natives” in need of “civilising” by illustrating the ‘old transport’ to ‘new transport’ idea and introduction of a visible white evident figure of superiority as a way of depicting how Britain and the white race was seen at the time to be superior (Kothari 2014).
Ideas of cultural paternalism and colonialism and Britain’s role in perpetuating exploitation and colonial discourse for the benefit of British interests is supported in these images. Britain at the time was in need of the British publics support to back up the innovation initiative by purchasing exported ‘Empire’ goods. Instead of highlighting the innovation and skills held by the communities within these colonies, Britain used these images as a way of sort of convincing the public. Through the image it can be inferred that it is a representation of how traditional practices and cultures innate to East African people were viewed negatively in the West and the understandings of a joint enterprise between Britain and East-Africa was mostly framed within the idea that Britain holds more power over these people, and they will be exploited to better our own agenda and economy (Dilley 2008).
Themes of this poster was illustrating the concept that British manufacturing power could and would help to process the world’s commodities and encourage international development within the British Empire. These historic examples of the visual representation of the role of the British institution have in the colonial discourse argument as outlined through the period of colonial-era development practices through the modernising mission of colonised African Nations. It is relevant today when understanding the institutionalised and inherent racism and inequality inflicted by nations through neo-colonialism (Byrant 2006).
Although the decolonisation process went so far as to address the institutionalised issues of inequality and racism towards the many African nations, progress is limited, and evidence suggest the inequality between the ‘West’ and ‘the rest’ and the extent to which development initiatives by Western powers in the Global North is still underpinned by motivations of neo-colonialism whether that’s through the capitalisation of raw material exportation including oil by British companies in Africa or the complex and dubious motivations of British foreign policy initiatives such as the Department For International Developments High Level Prosperities’ scheme that leverages foreign aid in Africa in return for Britain’s access to Africa’s raw materials (Hall & Gieben 1992).
In order to address progression towards equality when addressing the development initiatives today by the West in the Global North is by recognising the power of local knowledge and culturally appropriate methods to assisting in development practices. Today, examples of western superiority and unsustainable development initiatives by western powers within the global south are still exposed through ambiguous motivations aiming at maintaining power and influence over low developed areas through the disguise of calling it aid or development (Duffield 2013).
References:
Allinson, 1931. East African Transport New Style. [Poster] http://www.open.edu/openlearn/historythe-arts/history/world-history/selling-empire-posters 1930–31, Colonial Progress Brings Home Prosperity.
Allinson, 1931. East African Transport Old Style. [Poster] http://www.open.edu/openlearn/historythe-arts/history/world-history/selling-empire-posters 1930–31, Colonial Progress Brings Home Prosperity.
Andrew Dilley, Economics and Empire. In The British Empire: themes and perspectives
Bryant, 2006. The West and the rest revisited: Debating capitalist origins, European colonialism, andthe advent of modernity. Canadian Journal of Sociology/Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, pp.403–444.
Constantine, Buy and Build: The Advertising Posters of the Empire Marketing Board (London: HMSO, 1986), 3.
Duffield and Hewitt. eds., 2013. Empire, development & colonialism: the past in the present. Boydell & Brewer Ltd.
Hall, and Gieben,1992. The West and the rest: Discourse and power. Race and Racialization, 2E: Essential Readings, pp.85–95.
Horton, M., 2010. Propaganda, Pride and Prejudice: Revisiting the Empire Marketing Board Posters at Manchester City Galleries (Doctoral dissertation, The Manchester Metropolitan University).
Kothari, “Trade, Consumption and Development Alliances: The Historical Legacy of the Empire Marketing Board Poster Campaign” Third World Quarterly 35, no. 1 (2014): 53.
McDougall, “The Empire Marketing Board and Empire Economic Affairs,” The Economic Record 4 (February, 1928): 141.
Schumpeter, Imperialism and Social Classes (New York, A.M. Kelly, 1951).
