ABSTRACT

From 1898 to 1956, men of the elite Sudan Political Service cultivated an air of stoic, celibate (if sometimes lonely) bachelorhood which privileged a distinct form of imperial service. Redeeming Sudan for martyred General Charles Gordon meant delaying domestic needs and desires in deference to a larger purpose. And yet, love, sex, and companionship were nevertheless central to imperial work in Sudan. Never formally declared a colony, Sudan’s marginal position within the British Empire resulted, in turn, in a marginalisation of domestic desires, which were hidden, ignored, or relegated to ‘back-home’ in England. Working with an expansive concept of the domestic and a close reading of personal papers and published memoirs, this article traces complex and contested intimacies through a homosocial culture of bachelors, ineffective marriage legislation, and conflicting narratives around sex in order to foreground domestic desire within Sudan’s imperial community. It demonstrates how closely governing philosophies undergirded domestic possibilities. In so doing, this article reanimates the experiences of British male imperialists, recasting them from fixed models of state power and instead recognising their much more vulnerable position as desiring subjects in search of care and comfort.

摘要

从1898年到1956年，苏丹政治服务机构的精英培养了一种坚忍的，独身的（如果有时是孤独的）单身汉的气息，这种特权赋予了独特的帝国服务形式。为dan难的查尔斯·戈登将军赎回苏丹，意味着推迟国内需求和愿望，以求实现更大的目标。然而，爱情，性爱和陪伴仍然是苏丹帝国工作的核心。苏丹从未正式宣布为殖民地，但其在大英帝国中的边际地位导致国内欲望的边缘化，而这些欲望在英格兰被隐藏，被忽视或沦为“家乡”。与广阔的国内概念一起工作并仔细阅读了个人论文和已出版的回忆录，本文通过单身汉的同族文化，无效的婚姻立法以及围绕性的矛盾叙述来追溯复杂而有争议的亲密关系，以彰显苏丹帝国社区内的家庭欲望。它表明了执政哲学如何密切地把握了国内的可能性。通过这样做，本文使英国男性帝国主义者的经历重新焕发了活力，从固定的国家权力模式中重新铸造了他们，相反，他们认识到他们更为脆弱的地位是他们渴望获得关怀和安慰的对象。