Excentrism. Issue 5 (20th October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bhattacharya, Sumangala
• Is Part Of: Nineteenth-century contexts. Volume 43:Issue 5(2021)
• Page Start: 553
• Page End: 559
• Publication Date: 2021-10-20
• Subjects: English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Romanticism -- Periodicals; Nineteenth century -- Periodicals; 820.9008
• DOI: 10.1080/08905495.2021.1985878
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0890-5495

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Underwritten by global systemic inequities that contribute to climate change, regional violence, and catastrophic aftereffects of natural disasters, global mass migration has become one of the most urgent crises of our times. At a time when many of us expect global travel to be fast and comfortable, millions of women, men, and children walk or hitch rides on dilapidated vehicles over hundreds or thousands of miles, leaving homes that no longer sustain life for an illusory safety. The global systemic inequities driving these present-day exoduses are rooted in long nineteenth-century industrialism and colonialism. What happened in the Victorian period does not stay in the Victorian period. It is imperative for us as Victorianists to grapple in the classroom, in our research, and in other venues with how the long nineteenth century continues to be a force in the present.