Female Imperialism and National Identity

Through a study of the British Empires largest womens patriotic organisation, formed in 1900, and still in existence, this book examines the relationship between female imperialism and national identity. It throws new light on womens involvement in imperialism; on the history of conservative womens organisations; on womens interventions in debates concerning citizenship and national identity; and on the history of women in white settler societies. After placing the IODE (Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire) in the context of recent scholarly work in Canadian, gender, imperial history and post-colonial theory, the book follows the IODEs history through the twentieth century. Tracing the organisation into the postcolonial era, where previous imperial ideas are outmoded, it considers the transformation from patriotism to charity, and the turn to colonisation at home in the Canadian North. An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence. -- .