John M. MacKenzie
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John MacDonald MacKenzie (born 2 October 1943) is a British historian of
imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
who pioneered the study of popular and
cultural imperialism Cultural imperialism (sometimes referred to as cultural colonialism) comprises the cultural dimensions of imperialism. The word "imperialism" often describes practices in which a social entity engages culture (including language, traditions, ...
, as well as aspects of
environmental history Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa. Environmental history first emerged in the United States out of th ...
. He has also written about Scottish migration and the development of museums around the world. He is
Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of imperial history at
Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...
and founder of the
Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with th ...
‘Studies in Imperialism’ series (1984).


Biography

He is the son of Alexander MacKenzie and Hannah (née Whitby) and was schooled in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
(Scotland) and
Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and third in terms of size and population, with a population of 475,194 (''2010 census provisional''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development aft ...
(Zambia), before graduating from the
University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...
and completing his Ph.D (1969) at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
in
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
and in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. This cosmopolitan upbringing developed his interest in the history of the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
, a subject he has written about in ''Echoes of Empire'' and ''How Empire Shaped Us'', and he has travelled extensively throughout its former territories. At
Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...
he became the first Dean of Arts and Humanities. Among his non-academic posts and responsibilities, he was also chairman of governors of two schools in
Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...
, Lancashire, and was a
magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...
of the Lancaster petty sessions (1990-2000). He retired from Lancaster University in 2002 and now lives in
Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...
, Scotland. Since retiring MacKenzie has worked on his website British Battles


Academic Career

At the beginning of his career he taught at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
, and subsequently at the University of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), the
University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
, and
Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...
, Ontario. His principal post from 1968 was at the
University of Lancaster , mottoeng = Truth lies open to all , established = , endowment = £13.9 million , budget = £317.9 million , type = Public , city = Bailrigg, City of Lancaster , country = England , coor = , campus = Bailrigg , faculty = 1 ...
, where he held the chair of imperial history from 1991 to 2002. He was also successively Principal of
The County College The County College, also known as County College or County, is a constituent college of the University of Lancaster. The establishment of the college was financed through the benefaction of Lancashire County Council and it is named after it. T ...
, Dean of Arts and Humanities and Dean of Education. He holds (or has held) honorary professorships of the Universities of
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
,
St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...
and
Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
and is an honorary professorial fellow of the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
. In 2016 he became Visiting Professor at the Centre for History,
University of the Highlands and Islands , type = federal, public , image_name = UHI Coat of Arms.jpg , image_size = 150px , established = 2011 – University status 1992 – UHI Millennium Institute , chancellor = The Princess Royal , vice_chancellor = , budget = £139m (2022 ...
. His early work, the subject of his Ph.D, was on labour migration and pre-colonial technology and trade in Central Africa. He conducted oral research throughout Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1973-74 and this gave him a keen awareness of the traditional relationships between African communities and their environments. He was also influenced by his experiences as an archaeologist both in Scotland and in Africa, which served to emphasise his belief that historical evidence is to be found in sources other than documents. This helped lead to his pioneering development of the study of the popular culture of imperialism in his books ''Propaganda and Empire'' (1984) and (edited) ''Imperialism and Popular Culture'' (1986), in which he argued that empire had just as significant effects upon the dominant as upon the subordinate societies. He used a wide range of materials from cultural sources, including ephemera. This proved to be controversial since some elements of the historical Establishment considered that British domestic history was somehow little connected with its empire. In the
Porter–MacKenzie debate The Porter–MacKenzie debate is a historiographical controversy in the field of Modern British and Imperial history. It focuses on the extent to which colonialism was an important influence within British culture during the 19th and 20th centu ...
his ideas were challenged by Bernard Porter in the latter’s ''The Absent-Minded Imperialists'', although Porter never actually confronted MacKenzie's evidence head-on. However, MacKenzie’s followers have mounted a vigorous fight-back, not least in the many books in the
Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with th ...
‘Studies in Imperialism’ series dealing with the cultural history of empire, which he established and edited from 1984 to 2012. By 2022 it had reached a total of almost 180 titles making it the most successful academic series in British publishing. Its prime concern remains the conviction that imperialism as a cultural phenomenon had as significant an effect on the dominant as on the subordinate societies. Cross-disciplinary work has appeared across the full spectrum of cultural phenomena, examining aspects of sex and gender, law, science, the environment, language and literature, migration, patriotic societies and much else. His next book, ''The Empire of Nature'' (1988), was an early contribution to the environmental history of empire, particularly charting the human relationship with animals, through both hunting and conservation, in the imperial take-over of Africa and India. His wider ideas on environmental history were set out in the Thomas Callander Memorial Lectures at the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
in 1995, and helped to open up a major field to which many other scholars have contributed. He once again entered the realm of controversy with his critique of Edward Said's ''Orientalism'', published in 1995, which was badly received by post-Saidians and post-colonialists, although many of his early publications pioneered their later work. Said's strict binarism and concentration on concepts of the 'other' were countered by MacKenzie's insistence that Orientalism could, in certain circumstances, involve constructive cross-cultural influences, notably in the arts. These notions were later accepted and developed by other scholars. His interest in the visual arts was reflected in his chapter on the subject in the ''Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire'' (1996) as well as in ''Exhibiting the Empire'' (2015)''.'' His 1991 professorial inaugural lecture ‘Scotland and the British Empire’ was well received and opened up new fields for him, including various aspects of work on the Scottish Diaspora. This led to his book ''The Scots in South Africa'' (with Nigel R. Dalziel) of 2007 (while associated with to the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at Aberdeen University) and a number of edited works. These analysed notions of sub-British ethnicity and identity, not least in their associational, religious and cultural manifestations. He then developed the concept of the four nations and empire, extending the arguments of J.G.A. Pocock to the British Empire, suggesting that it was not so much ‘British’ as a combination of Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English empires, reflecting a range of ethnic skill sets, cultures and identities which in turn influenced British domestic history. His lifelong interest in museums produced ''Museums and Empire'' (2009), a work resulting from a
Leverhulme Trust The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to suppo ...
Emeritus Fellowship which examined the dispersal of the idea of the museum in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and elsewhere. This embedded the development of these institutions within the colonial bourgeois public spheres while reflecting contemporary interests in natural history and ethnography which in turn served to develop the individual identities of various colonies. In recent years he has become particularly interested in comparative empires and the manner in which such parallel studies can illuminate the history of the British Empire. Andrew S. Thompson’s edited book ''Writing Imperial Histories'' was published in 2013 celebrating the significance and influence of his ‘Studies in Imperialism’ series. The same year Karl S. Hele’s edited ''The Nature of Empires and the Empires of Nature'', consciously echoing the title of his own earlier book of 1997, examined his environmental work while greatly extending it, notably in Canada. In 2016 a festschrift conference was held in MacKenzie's honour at the Burn House in Angus, Scotland. The resulting book, ''The MacKenzie Moment and Imperial History'' edited by Stephanie Barczewski and Martin Farr, described itself as celebrating the career of 'eminent historian of the British Empire, John M. MacKenzie, who pioneered the examination of the impact of the Empire on metropolitan culture'. It was structured around the cultural impact of empire, ‘Four-Nations’ history, and the global and transnational perspectives, in essays demonstrating MacKenzie’s influence but also interrogating his legacy for the study of imperial history, not only for Britain and the nations of Britain but also in comparative and transnational context. The contributions from seventeen international scholars 'make crystal clear why the interpretational shifts initiated by MacKenzie’s work are of lasting importance’ (Martin Thomas, University of Exeter UK). In 2020 MacKenzie published the first of two complementary synoptic works addressing cultural aspects of the British Empire. Pursuing his long-standing interest in the built environment, ''The British Empire Through Buildings'' sought to illuminate the history of the empire through the examination of its architecture and urban planning. It revealed the manner in which imperial rule was established and consolidated, and its globalising impact in both styles of architecture and urban development. It also illustrated the ways in which the economic ambitions of colonies together with the needs of British settlers and agents were met. This analysis illuminated the complexities of class and the racial dimensions of empire, and further insights were gleaned from the manner in which aspects of the built environment have been adopted and adapted for a post-colonial world. This was the first work to analyse such issues across the entire British Empire, in all its various types of colonies across five continents. A second equally ambitious work emerged in 2022 with ''A Cultural History of the British Empire'', a ground-breaking history and analysis of British imperial culture involving everything from sports such as horse-racing and cricket to art, statuary, theatre and ceremonial forms. As these were dispersed across the world through the agency of British representatives, emigrants and travellers, facilitated by the rapid growth of print, photography, film, and radio, imperialists imagined this new global culture would cement the unity of the empire. Instead, MacKenzie showed that this remarkably wide-ranging spread of ideas and influences had unintended and surprising results. Colonized peoples adapted elements to their own ends, subverting British expectations and eventually beating them at their own game. As indigenous communities integrated their own cultures with the British imports, with a profound influence on the global culture of the present day, the empire itself was increasingly undermined.


Editorial roles

He has also been an editor of major reference works, including ''Peoples, Nations and Cultures'' (2005) and the four-volume ''Encyclopaedia of Empire'' (2016), and has contributed many articles and reviews to journals as well as chapters in books. He was editor of the journal ''Environment and History,'' 2000-2005 and was editor-in-chief of ''Britain and the World, the Journal of the British Scholar Society'' 2015-20.


Media and other

He has given
BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
talks, has appeared on television programmes relating to the British Empire, and has written for
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
and other newspapers. He was historical adviser for exhibitions at the
National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...
, and the
Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...
, Edinburgh (both on
David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...
, 1997) and the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
, London ('Inventing New Britain: The Victorian Vision', 2001). He also contributed to the catalogue accompanying the exhibition 'Inspired by the East: how the Islamic world influenced Western art', held at the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, London, in 2019.


Honours

He is a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
. In November 2021 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of
Aix-Marseille University Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II o ...
in France.


Bibliography


Books

* * * * * * * * *


Edited books

* * * * * * * * * * * * *


References


External links


John M. MacKenzie's website
* www.Manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie, John M. Living people Academics of Lancaster University Principals of County College, Lancaster Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Historians of the British Empire 1943 births Environmental historians Historians of Scotland Scottish Africanists