Invulnerability and the Cartography of Resistance to Imperialism

Abstract:Pursuit of invulnerability proliferated in the modern era when individuals took objects into battle or followed practices promising immunity from harm. Western contemporaries wrote off these beliefs as primitive, and later scholars minimized their importance, arguing that colonial authorities exaggerated invulnerability to obscure economic grievances. To date, invulnerability has gained attention for its role in millenarianism. Adopting a case study approach Michael Adas argued that groups that lost power supported prophetic movements. However, the frequency of invulnerability shows the value of a geographic approach. This article charts locations and timing of invulnerability practices to map out zones of invulnerability. This broader approach helps to identify causes for the proliferation of invulnerability. Invulnerability did not create a unified or proto-nationalist response to rapid imperial expansion and settler societies, but invulnerability reflected the shock and disorientation of the period on a global scale.