religion of possession

English translation: ~

08:17 Sep 18, 2004

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature

English term or phrase: religion of possession

Durham, hurt and vengeful, inferred that Swettenham had no power of his own, that the arrival of American ships was proof of that, and then, as a parting shot, mentioned the two American soldiers he had seen on British soil without permission, presumptuous upstarts on land they didn't own. Does the baby go out with the bathwater, demanded Durham, face red as a pillar-box, resorting back to the religion of possession that was his birthright, is this not still our country? Is our authority so easily toppled by a few rumbles in the ground?

I didn't catch the meaning of "religion of possession that was his birthright" in this sentence (Chapter 13, White Teeth). Thank you.

Zhoudan KudoZ activity Questions: 337 (none open) (1 without valid answers) (2 closed without grading) Answers: 299
Local time: 22:26

Selected answer:~

Explanation:
Areas of the the former British empire such as Jamaica had been British territory for so long - four centuries - that Britons of that era didn't imagine such places as foreign. They knew that they (such territories) were British because they had (what seemed like) always been so, and from their birth they had been told that Britain had an empire on which (literally) the sun never set.
This is alluded to an episode in the famous film, "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943), where an entirely honourable British general tells his close German officer friend how his (the British officer's) wife died while they were in Jamaica, his friend sympathizes and says how that must have been especially difficult for him, to have happened in a foreign country, away from home, and the General replies with complete sincerity, "Oh my dear chap, we weren't somewhere foreign, we were in Jamaica, Jamaica's British.". His friend shakes his head silently, either as an expression of wonder at his British friend's attitude, or as acceptance that he will never be able to persuade his friend to see it differently.
It seems to me that this deep conviction, born out of the situation, "always having been so", an empire that Britons were told about from birth", is what is meant by the phrase.
In this sense the author isn't saying whether the author considers it good or bad, in this phrase, just reporting the old attitude as a fact.

In old fashioned legal language an overseas territory was referred to as 'a possession' [of a state], with no particular overtones of meaning other than that the state owned it.

Of course, although Jamaica had been British for so long, it had a very different identity, and it was and is a very different place from Britain, for reasons of geography and culture. Some writers about Jamaican life say that this was confusing even for people born in Jamaica, because education there (in the past) very much revolved around the UK, so that people grew up regarding themselves as British and learning about the UK, but had to sort out later questions such as: did Britons in the UK regard them as British, and what was their identity anyway, since Jamaica is and was a different place from the UK. It's possible the author is having a private joke in this sense, criticizing (from the author's point of view) the way that some people born in Jamaica were 'possessed' (metaphor in the witchcraft/voodoo sense) in that they felt British in the sense of being Britons from the UK, and were actually something else all the time. It may or may not be possible to convey in the target language this secondary private joke that I suspect is there.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=173

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Note added at 3 hrs 38 mins (2004-09-18 11:56:11 GMT)
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Jamaica - brief history

\"In the afternoon of the I4th of January 1907 a terrible earthquake visited Kingston. Almost every building in the capital and in Port Royal, and many in St Andrews, were destroyed or seriously injured. The loss of life was variously estimated, but probably exceeded one thousand. Among those killed was Sir James Fergusson, 6th baronet (b. 1832). The principal shock was followed by many more of slighter intensity during the ensuing fortnight and later.

On the 17th of January assistance was brought by three American war-ships under Rear Admiral Davis, who however withdrew them on the I9th, owing to a misunderstanding with the governor of the island,

Sir Alexander Swettenham,
on the subject of the landing of marines from the vessels with a view to preserving order. The incident caused considerable sensation, and led to Sir A. Swettenham\'s resignation in the following March, Sir Sydney Olivier, K.C.M.G., being appointed governor. Order was speedily restored; but the destructive effect of the earthquake was a severe check to the prosperity of the island.

[Jamaica] became independent in 1962.\"

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/jamaica.htm

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Note added at 3 hrs 44 mins (2004-09-18 12:01:23 GMT)
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When I say,
\"They knew that they (such territories) were British because they had (what seemed like) always been so\",
I mean that was what they believed or felt - it\'s not meant to be a political statement, of course....
perhaps it would be better to write,

\"They \'knew\' that they (such territories) were British because they had (what seemed like) always been so\"

(if you see what I mean)

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Note added at 4 hrs 8 mins (2004-09-18 12:25:34 GMT)
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So I would argue that \'religion of possession\' says that
the idea of British possession of Jamaica (and Britishness of Jamaica)
is a deeply held conviction/a matter of faith in the mind of the believer (religion), and it is the believer\'s birthright in the sense that the believer inherited that faith from birth. This is was the literal truth for many people growing up in Britain (and not only Britain) until 1945 - it can be seen differently from the standpoint of 2004, and doubtless the author does so elsewhere in the book, but I don\'t believe \'birthright\' is (in this phrase) ironic. (Even though I\'m sure that plenty else in the book, including the whole attitude which the phrase conveys, is!).

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Note added at 4 hrs 9 mins (2004-09-18 12:26:26 GMT)
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typo. \'This was the literal truth...\'

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Note added at 4 hrs 21 mins (2004-09-18 12:38:37 GMT)
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the author may think that the consequences of the the \'religion\' (which the character has a birthright to) were wrong, or that the \'religion\' was stupid - those would be ironic, but that\'s a different point.

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Note added at 6 hrs 22 mins (2004-09-18 14:39:32 GMT)
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There is another possibility - a religion of possession could be seen as an attitude of mind which concentrates too much on the question of who owns/possesses something (a country), rather than other things. After all, there has just been an earthquake causing severe destruction, there is civil disorder, and help from the American warships was withdrawn after a few days, due to a misunderstanding with Swettenham, the governor - the author may be remarking that question of who owned/possessed the country was less important than solving urgent problems.

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Note added at 6 hrs 25 mins (2004-09-18 14:42:53 GMT)
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typo. \'...that the question of who owned...\'

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Note added at 6 hrs 44 mins (2004-09-18 15:01:26 GMT)
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 1907
account of the
Kingston earthquake disaster
http://jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples/earthqu4.htm

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Note added at 6 hrs 50 mins (2004-09-18 15:07:47 GMT)
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this article gives a very interesting contemporary account of the aftermath of the earthquake, and the disagreement between the governor of Jamaica and the admiral.

eg:
\"Governor Swettenham’s attitude toward a friendly American officer’s assistance is greatly deplored by many of the residents of Kingston, some of them even suggesting that the governor be petitioned to resign. His action is construed by some as resentment of President Roosevelt’s attitude toward Jamaican negroes on the Panama Canal. Others ridicule the governor’s objection to the landing of American sailors, armed or not armed. The insecurity of the city is evidenced by the attempt last (Friday) night by six negroes to waylay a midshipman from the Missouri, who drew his revolver and put his assailants to flight...\"

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Note added at 7 hrs 26 mins (2004-09-18 15:43:37 GMT)
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\"The friction between the governor and the admiral began with the arrival of the American war vessels when the governor objected to the firing of a salute in his honor on the ground that the citizens might mistake the firing for a new earthquake. He also declared there was no necessity for American aid — that his government was fully able to preserve order, tend the wounded and succor the homeless.\"

Rear Admiral Davis, however, landed parties of bluejackets, who patrolled the streets, cleared the debris, razed ruins, attended many of the wounded and won the highest praise from [British] citizens and [British] military officers for excellent work.\"

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Note added at 8 hrs 33 mins (2004-09-18 16:50:21 GMT)
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Evolution of Jamaican national identity has a complicated history,
eg, consider: \"Afro-Jamaican traditions and labor organizing on United Fruit Company plantations in Costa Rica, 1910\" (Journal of Social History, Summer, 1995 by Avi Chomsky)

\"Jamaican banana workers themselves [migrants to non-British Costa Rica, working on plantations of the American United Fruit Company - which is itself an interesting historical subject]....brought with them a rich cultural tradition, based on their African background and their generations of plantation work under slavery for the British, which became the basis for organizations and collective action which allowed them to escape from, or to resist, Company domination. This culture of resistance encompassed several apparently contradictory elements:
a British identity and a faith in the British Crown as the protector of the slave or worker\'s interests; involvement in Protestant Non-Conformist sects; and belief and participation in African-based religious forms.(4) In particular, I seek to illuminate the ways in which culture, belief systems and everyday forms of resistance grow into, or intersect with, those areas more commonly studied by labor historians...\"
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2005/is_n4_v28/ai...

and many accounts talk about the rise of the Jamaican independence movement from beginnings in the 1930s (this is 1906).

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Note added at 8 hrs 51 mins (2004-09-18 17:08:17 GMT)
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It seems that most Jamaicans would have regarded themselves as British at that time

Selected response from:

DGK T-I
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:26

Grading comment

Thank you, Dr Giuli, for this great amount of information.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +7

as far as I remember ...

MJ Barber

the belief that the land belonged to those who were born there

airmailrpl

religion/ideology is his birthright-- not the possession itself

Tegan Raleigh

3 +1

DGK T-I

Answers

2 mins confidence:

the belief that the land belonged to those who were born there

Explanation:
'religion of possession that was his birthright' => the belief that the land belonged to those who were born there

airmailrpl
Brazil
Local time: 11:26
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Portuguese
PRO pts in category: 64

40 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +7

as far as I remember ...

Explanation:
As far as I remember from reading this book, these people are in foreign soil at the time this conversation takes place (somewhere in the near east?) and these are two British Officers talking. They are indignant because they have seen American soldiers on land that they conquered first. The religion of possession is the belief that any country belongs to the first "civilised" nation that arrives and plants its flag, "his birthright" means that he was born and brought up in a country (England) where this belief is fully subscribed to. The irony of course is that neither they nor the Americans have any right to own the place.

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Note added at 42 mins (2004-09-18 08:59:44 GMT)
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whoops, not middle east, going back a few years and they are in Jamaica. Well, the concept is the same, these Brits believe that they own Jamaica and that the Americans have no right to be there.

MJ Barber
Spain
Local time: 16:26
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

1 hr confidence:

religion/ideology is his birthright-- not the possession itself

Explanation:
the way that it is phrased, i do not think that it is ONLY the possession itself that is his birthright-- but there is a commentary here on imperialism sprouting from Britain's soil-- this "religion of possession" is something that you can be born into, and is a large part of Britain's past. So "birthright" is ironic, in that it is referring to a sense of entitlement that comes with rampant nationalism. It is a negative judgement of the narrator's on this Durham.

hope I don't sound like an Anglophobe-- many Americans have an imperialist ideology, of course (not that it's OK)!

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Note added at 1 hr 36 mins (2004-09-18 09:53:48 GMT)
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er, that should read-- relgion/ideology is his birthright-- not just the possession itself

Tegan Raleigh
United States
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

3 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

DGK T-I
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:26
PRO pts in category: 20

Grading comment

Thank you, Dr Giuli, for this great amount of information.

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