Webinar | Denying and deflecting the racism of empire: The trope of the ‘malevolent native’ in the writings of the colonial functionary and author Hugh Clifford | Farish Noor

Hugh Charles Clifford (1866-1941) was a colonial functionary who had served in various capacities in British Malaya, notably in the kingdom of Pahang (as colonial agent, 1887-1888; Superintendent (1889) and Resident (1896-1900, 1901-1903). Apart from his duties as a colonial administrator, Clifford was also the author of numerous works of fiction that were set in the kingdom, and was thus an active contributor to the colonial imaginary.

This paper looks at the fictional works of Hugh Clifford, and focuses on one particular theme that recurs again and again in several of his works, which is the notion that the aboriginal and other Asiatic communities of the Malay Peninsula were living under the overlordship of the Malays. That a British colonial functionary like Clifford could have foregrounded such a theme while being seemingly unaware of his own role and subject-position as a functionary of the British Empire then is telling in many respects. In many ways the fictional works of Clifford can be read as a systematic and sustained effort to deny and deflect the racism that was at the heart of racialised colonial capitalism then, which served as the basis of British imperial rule across Asia and Africa.

Speaker

Professor Farish A. Noor is a political historian who works on the discourses and texts of 19th century colonial Southeast Asia. He is currently Visiting Professor at the SDAC Standards of Decision Making Across Cultures Program, Friedrich-Alexander University FAU, Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Moderator

Tom Hoogervorst is a senior researcher at KITLV and adjunct professor at the Department of Indonesian at the State University of Malang (UM). He is interested in the histories and languages of Indonesia.

Format, date & time 

This webinar is an online event via Zoom and will take place on Thursday 25 May, from 15.30 – 17.00 PM (CET).

Registration

If you wish to join this webinar, please register here in Zoom.

Image

Photo postcard from the collection of Farish A. Noor: ‘Malay warriors, Malay Peninsula’.