A Community of Scholars? Academic Appointments and Geographies of Trust in the Universities of the British World, 1880–1940

The migration of scholars from Britain to colonial universities was a significant characteristic of their foundation and development. Yet study of the social and institutional practices that helped shape the uneven topographies of the imperial academic world has to date been neglected. This paper will examine the mechanisms by which academic staff were appointed to universities in different parts of the British Empire between 1880 and 1940. It argues that for most of this period, universities in the settlement colonies used appointment practices that relied heavily on informal and transnational personal connections. Social networks thus served as mechanisms for evaluating academic capacity and potential, working to confer significant advantage upon certain candidates while at the same time excluding others.