Burden, Benefit, Trace?

The Legacies of Benevolence

University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

11-14 December 2003

Long before Rudyard Kipling urged his readers to take up the white man's
burden, benevolence was integral to cultural domination, whether through
the formal structures of empire, or through associated charitable activities
such as the provision of medical aid, education, or missions. As the rise of
the middle classes and the emphasis on Puritan conscience increasingly
replaced the notion of aristocratic patronage and noblesse oblige,
benevolence functioned as an umbrella term under which imperial and
neo-imperial domination, particularly cultural domination, were rationalised
and promoted within government and among the subjects of empire. For the
British, the burden of benevolence and the work of civilising were seen
as differentiating their own from other European imperial enterprises. To a
certain extent, a similar self-perception is evident now in the policies and
practices of the contemporary worlds dominant imperial power, the United
States. This conference will consider benevolence, and representations of
benevolence, in a wide variety of forms. Papers on the following topics will
be welcomed:

-> Anthropology and academic study

-> Culture

-> Ecology and Environment

-> Education and training

-> Governance and administration

-> History

-> Literary representation

-> Medicine and welfare

-> Migration and resettlement

-> Military and police activity

-> Religion and missionary activity

-> Trade and commerce

For updates and further information, see the conference website:
benevolence

Abstracts should be sent electronically by 30 April 2003 to

Gilbert

Dale