Colonialism and Homosexuality

Colonial lands, which in the late 19th and early 20th centuries included most of Africa, South and Southeast Asia and the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the Caribbean, provided a haven for many Europeans whose sexual inclinations did not fit neatly into the constraints of European society. “Colonialism and Homosexuality” is a thorough investigation of the connections of homosexuality and imperialism from the late 1800s to the era of “new imperialism” – until the era of decolonization.Robert Aldrich reconstructs the context of a number of liaisons, including those of famous men such as Cecil Rhodes, E.M. Forster or Andre Gide, and the historical situations which produced both the Europeans and their non-Western lovers. Each of the case studies is a micro-history of a particular colonial situation, a sexual encounter and its wider implications for cultural and political life.

Author Biography

Robert Aldrich teaches European and colonial history at the University of Sydney. He is the author of The Seduction of the Mediterranean (1993) and coeditor of Who’s Who in Gay and Lesbian History and Who’s Who in ContemporaryGay and Lesbian History (both published in 2001).