NEW DATE: MBHS - “‘The True Whiteman’s Coming’: Roger Casement’s Erotics of Civilization”

Cian Dinan (PhD candidate in History, McGill University)
“‘The True Whiteman’s Coming’: Roger Casement’s Erotics of Civilization”
Roger Casement, the protean Anglo-Irish diplomat, is known to history both for his humanitarian activism and his prolific queer sex life. The Putumayo Affair of 1909-12, in which he helped to publicize a brutal forced labor regime in the Amazon, shows us how Casement’s erotic experiences shaped his public identity. Reading across his private diaries and published writings on the Putumayo, this paper argues that Casement recognizably depicted the process of civilization as a homoerotic racial consummation.
The Montreal British History Seminar, 2024-25
Now in its 28th year, the MBHS provides a forum for faculty and graduate students sharing a research interest in any phase of British History (very broadly defined). Papers of about 45-50 minutes or pre-circulated papers are followed by discussion.
For information, please contact: Elizabeth Elbourne Email or Brian Lewis Email.