What does Cannadine understand as “ornamentalism” and how
does he apply this concept to the British empire?
Cannadine uses “ornamentalism” to describe how the British viewed
their own empire. From the mid-nineteenth century, through Queen Victoria’s
Diamond Jubilee in 1896, and ending with Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation in
1952, Britain experienced overseas expansion and imperial domination through
which imperial hierarchy expanded across the growing empire. I think the social
construct of British hierarchy forms the basis of how Cannadine understands ornamentalism.
A layered social hierarchy allowed the British to bestow
titles, awards, peerages, and honors on natives of conquered dominions and colonies
and on British governors, viceroys, and wealthy citizens. Canada, for example, held
an exaggerated regard for British traditions, had a layered and established social
structure, and maintained notions of rank and respectability (29). For their part,
the British saw an eagerness for hereditary distinctions and honors as vital to
the new settler colonies and dominions. In India, the British took what they
considered an established social order based on class, and preserved and
promoted a similar hierarchy to their own (41). There, too, honors were a way
to promote and encourage traditional hierarchy. That India was generally village
living and princely-led fit right in with the established social hierarchy in
Britain (45).
It was in India were ornamentalism took on an even more
exotic meaning. In pomp and circumstance ceremonies in India far-exceeded
British rituals. The image of India as glittering, ceremonial, layered and
traditional was protected and projected by the British (51). Cannadine uses descriptions
like ostentatiously ornamental, brilliantly displayed, splendor, and
pretentious to describe India’s ordered and ornamental regime and ceremonies.
Sort
of on a tangent, I would like to mention Britain’s continued ornamentalism in
the form of modern rituals. The wedding of Kate Middleton to Prince William was
broadcast around the globe, and I can hardly think of another ceremony more
ornamented than their wedding. The pomp, pageantry, uniforms, etc. all carry
forth Britain’s ornamentalism even though the British Empire as it once was is
no longer in existence. Kate and William’s son, George, was born on the same
day as my son (July 22, 2013). When they were born, I read where if you had a child
born on the same day in England the royal couple sent silver pennies to your
family. I wanted a penny so badly even though I live in Texas!
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