Work

An Empire of ‘Growth and Nurture’: Agriculture, Documentary Film, and Development in Britain's Empire Marketing Board, 1926–1933

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: Writing in the mid-1940s, the British civil servant Sir Stephen Tallents would reflect that the interwar period saw a shift in terms of how ‘thoughtful Britons’ viewed their empire: less in terms of ‘machinery and organisation’ and more in terms of ‘growth and nurture’. This essay interprets Tallents’ remarkable observation in light of the history of an organisation with which his career was closely associated: the Empire Marketing Board (1926–33). By examining together the diverse activities of this organisation, which ranged from funding agricultural, ecological, and economic research to producing documentary films, this essay contextualises the emergence of Tallents’ view of imperial growth and development.

Source: Contemporary European History

DOI: 10.1017/s0960777322000674

Author: Paul Erickson

Institution: Wesleyan University

Language: English

Topic: Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,255

Funder: Wake Forest University