Singing A Song Of The White Men Poem by Dr Ian Inkster

This verse by Kipling was extremely popular in 1899. The reason being that A Song of the White Men referred directly to the Second South African War, in essemce a war by British forces against both Boers and black Africans. British colonial ideology and jingoism meant that this verse was in no way seen as ironic or even polemical, its sympathies and cultural assumptions were those of the vast number of British people who read their daily newspapers.

It was beyond racism, for the poem claims not only that whites are superior and automatically so, but that the British in particualr had assumed the responsibility for the onward movement of world civilization, so had a moral duty to claim, take and justify in any part of the world where they had power and vested interest. The moral mantle involved most intimately 'proving faith' - faith in the white and Christian way was both necessary for success and also a proof of success and the election of white civilization to rightful colonial dominance of the world.

So now we either bury it or turn it into the political critical irony from which wrong-doing can not finally escape. As I suggest in my other Poemhunter offering on Kipling, 'If', this might be the best way to ridicule the words and intentions of Kipling whilst leaving the actual poetry untouched! So here the song is done as a rocking blues with no reference to its time, and left to try to stand up on its own in the early 21st century!

See also my song from Oodgeroo Noonuccal, White Australia, which attacks the Kipling mentality directly, the wonderfully incisive 'little kiplings rant'! Hope you enjoy!

Dr Ian Inkster