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Contested Spaces In London: Exhibitionary Representations Of India, C. 1886-1951, Alayna Heinonen

Theses and Dissertations--History

Following the first world exhibition, the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London, exhibitions became routine events across the West that merged both education and entertainment to forward political and economic goals. For the most part scholars have taken the frequency, popularity, and propagandistic efforts of exhibitions at face value, viewing them as successful reassertions of the imperial, industrial, and technological superiority of Western nation-states. Though offering valuable insights into the cultural technologies of imperial rule, these works miss the complexities of imperial projects within specific temporal and geographical contexts.

This manuscript traces the historical dynamics of India at exhibitions held …