Intro: Indigenous histories, settler colonies and Queen Victoria

Abstract

The introduction explains the objective of the collection, which is to plumb the ideas and interpretations which Indigenous people of the British settler colonies have formulated and articulated about or through Queen Victoria in response to the colonial encounter. Essays also consider how the representatives of the Crown employed the figure of the monarch in their interactions with Indigenous people. The introduction explains the scope of the collection, why the focus is on the settler colonies. It describes how this is an innovative, original, timely and significant contribution. It brings together scholarship that has been isolated within the confines of national histories, and contributes to understandings of comparable colonial cultures and networks and webs of empire. It is explained why the collection is divided into three parts, and the themes and issues that link the chapters. Each chapter is summarized. It concludes with the hope that this will generate further interdisciplinary scholarship.