Empire, Race and the Politics of Anti-Caste

Winner of the Women’s History Network Prize 2014 Winner of the Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize 2015

Empire, Race and the Politics of Anti-Caste provides the first comprehensive biography of Catherine Impey and her radical political magazine, Anti-Caste. Published monthly from 1888, Anti-Caste published articles that exposed and condemned racial prejudice across the British Empire and the United States. Editing the magazine from her home in Street, Somerset, Impey welcomed African and Asian activists and made Street an important stop on the political tour for numerous foreign guests, reorienting geographies of political activism that usually locate anti-racist politics within urban areas.

The production of Anti-Caste marks an important moment in early progressive politics in Britain and, using a wealth of archival sources, this book offers a thorough exploration both of the publication and its founder for those interested in imperial history and the history of women.