SUMMARY:

The article by Elizabeth Buettner investigates intimate life of “empire families” in British India as an expression and a formative area of British colonialism. The first part of the article examines intimate life and behavioral practices of British families whose imperial lives more or less accorded with what were commonly asserted to be standard forms of behavior. In the second part Buettner argues that paying attention to a broader colonial social spectrum – groups which, because of their lower status, are only gradually receiving the historical scrutiny they deserve – enables the wider meanings and importance of family practices to imperial rule to be rendered fully comprehensible. There she focuses on “empire families” whose life not wholly corresponded with standard assumptions, showing how much scholars have to gain through comparing different kinds of Raj family histories. The article is based on close reading of family letters which simultaneously reflected, enhanced, and created forms of long-distance intimacy, illustrating the realities and implications of family separation, the meanings of the divide between metropole and colony, and how this was bridged. When written during the interwar years, they attested to family attachments, helping ensure these were not severed across the twin expanses of time and space. Equally important, they also helped families maintain a British, or “European,” identity via direct communications with the metropole - both with the people they knew residing at home, and with “home” more broadly construed. Members of India’s diverse colonial community thereby maintained a direct connection with the colonizing power – with the heart of the empire – that was empowering on racial, socio-economic, and cultural levels. Buettner shows that long after these letters were written, posted, received, and read, they could survive to provide an enduring material testament to the ways Britons experienced their nation’s overseas presence.