Colonial administrators on rotation resembled pilgrims in a secular sacred journey.

Evidence

The ‘secular pilgrimage’ should not be taken merely as a fanciful trope. Conrad was being ironical, but also precise, when he described as ‘pilgrims’ the spectral agents of Léopold II in the heart of darkness. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 264

Categorization

• DEFINE: Fleshes out the ‘secular pilgrimage’ mechanism that defines the creole functionaries’ career trajectories as itself a form of sacred, identity-forming journey.
• XREF: connects to: Shared bureaucratic pilgrimage transforms colonial states into national states — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 448; Colonial schooling directed elite pilgrims outward while administrative careers confined them to demarcated homelands — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 473

Related

• Shared bureaucratic pilgrimage transforms colonial states into national states (similarity 0.89)

Broader Connections

• Colonial schooling directed elite pilgrims outward while administrative careers confined them to demarcated homelands #expands (0.85) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 473