ASSERTING THE EMPIRE: THE RECONSTRUCTION OF CULTURAL MEMORY OF THE COLONIAL OTHER DURING THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851 IN NEW ZEALAND AND MAURITIUS
ASSERTING THE EMPIRE: THE RECONSTRUCTION OF CULTURAL MEMORY OF THE COLONIAL OTHER DURING THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851 IN NEW ZEALAND AND MAURITIUS

Summary/Abstract: The primary focus of this paper is to explore the manner in which cultural memory was reconstructed during the Great Exhibition in two British colonies, New Zealand and Mauritius. The main argument is that, as a result of the propagandistic aspect of cultural memory, the British officials tasked with putting together these two exhibits overwrote the cultural memory of the communities they were representing. Furthermore, as one of the main purposes of the Great Exhibition was to showcase the power of the British Empire over its colonies, these particular reconstructions of cultural memory strip the colonized of their own identity and memory.

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