Professor Victor T. King

The Professor Robert J. (Bob) Benewick Collection of Chinese Cultural and Political Iconography

Victor T. King and Andrew West

A unique and substantial collection of cultural and political iconography incorporating figures, decorated bowls, cups, bottles, tiles and other material, with slogans and Maoist imagery was formed over 30-40 years by Professor R. J. (Bob) Benewick (FRSA, 1932-2023, Professor of Politics and then Emeritus Professor at the University of Sussex), during numerous visits to China and Southeast Asia (for obituaries see Morgan 2023; Blecher 2023). Bob’s teaching and research career principally spanned universities in Hull and Sussex, and it is fitting that the collection has now arrived at the Southeast Asia Museum at the University of Hull where he was Lecturer in the Politics Department in the 1960s and early 1970s. As a Southeast Asian collection, it has interests in the connections which China and the Chinese had and continue to have with the region.

The Benewick collection principally illustrates the changing iconography of Mao Zedong, the party and the Chinese revolution, in varied forms and media, including both special sculptures and everyday objects, dating from the 1960s and the Cultural Revolution to the late 20th century centenary of Mao’s birth, and into early 21st century image appropriation. Apart from the bowls and bottles made during the 1960s, there are other everyday items such as mugs made in Thailand in the 2000s also with Mao imagery; glass propaganda vases with slogans from the Cultural Revolution which contrast with illustrated matchboxes from the 1990s; a figure of Deng Xiaoping alongside one of Ai Weiwei; and diverse badges dating across the period. The collection includes spectacular decorative pieces such as a large ceramic car with standing figures of Mao Zedong and Lin Biao (see image) and a highly symbolic `glass melon set’, comprising a glass melon on a glass stand, inside a glass vase with transfer printed imagery.

Bob arrived in Hull having taken his first degree in the USA where he also developed an interest in British politics; he completed a PhD at the University of Manchester on fascism in the UK during the 1930s, which formed the basis of a book; in Manchester he met Anne, a student from the north of England and they married shortly before Bob took up a research fellowship at the University of the West Indies.

Arriving in Hull in 1962 at the age of 30, Bob brought these experiences to what became an even more diverse, lively and productive Department of Politics where `During the 10 years he spent at Hull University Bob Benewick inspired not just his students … but his fellow members of staff as well’. Ivor Morgan adds, ‘The mystery is how did a relatively small department of politics become home to so many academics who were to have a major impact on their discipline both nationally and internationally?’ (Morgan 2023).

In some sense, it is a mystery, but if a department manages to attract Bhikhu Parekh, Jack Hayward, Michael Leifer, Dennis Kavanagh, Philip Norton, Trevor Smith and Raymond Plant, then the rest follows. Bob was one among several distinguished scholars from the Department of Politics at the University of Hull from the 1960s, some of whom continue to work there or remain associated with the university. They include Bhikhu Parekh, FBA [now Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh of Kingston-upon-Hull, a Labour Peer, Emeritus Professor at the Universities of Hull and Westminster, Centennial Professor LSE (2001-2003)]; Dennis Kavanagh [Professor of Politics at the University of Liverpool and now Emeritus Professor]; Michael Leifer CMG (1933-2001) [Professor of International Relations at the LSE, and Pro-Director 1991-1995, who was a staff member of the Centre for South-East Asian Studies at Hull, 1962-1969]; Raymond Plant, PhD Politics, Hull [Professor Lord Plant of Highfield of Weelsby, County of Humberside, Labour Peer, Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Philosophy and Head of the Law School, King’s College, London, and former Master of St Catherine’s College, Oxford; and see Beech and Hickson 2025]; Trevor Arthur Smith (1937-2021) [Professor the Lord Smith of Clifton, a Liberal Democrat Peer, former Professor of Political Studies at Queen Mary College, University of London, then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ulster]; Robert Nandor Berki (1936-1991) [Professor of European Political and Social Theory and Director of the Institute of European Studies, 1984-1991, University of Hull]; Jeremy Noakes [Professor of History and then Emeritus Professor at the University of Exeter, ‘one of the most important historians of modern Germany’] (and see Gregor 2005); Philip Norton [Professor Philip the Lord Norton of Louth, Conservative Peer, Professor of Government at the University of Hull; ‘the United Kingdom’s greatest living expert on Parliament’; and see nortonview.wordpress.com/tag/university-of-hull (Norton 2025)]; Edward Charles Page, FBA [Sidney and Beatrice Webb Professor of Public Policy, LSE]; Jack [Ernest Shalom] Hayward, FBA (1931-2017) [Professor of French Politics, University of Hull, and Fellow/Emeritus Fellow of St Antony’s College Oxford], Rudi Wurzel [Professor of Comparative European Politics and Jean Monnet Chair in European Union Studies, University of Hull]; Colin Tyler [Professor of Applied Ethics and Political Theory, University of Hull]; Professor Noel O’Sullivan, Research Professor of Political Philosophy at Hull, who came there in 1967 from the LSE and Harvard (‘a genuine expert on conservative thought and a profound scholar’); and Professor Mahrukh Doctor, Professor of Comparative Political Economy, University of Hull, who had also undertaken research, among other institutions at St Antony’s College, Oxford, the World Bank and Johns Hopkins University.

Victor Terence King, FRSA, Emeritus Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Leeds and Distinguished Professor at Universiti Brunei Darussalam was also a Professor in the Department of Politics and Asian Studies (1997-2002) (see Wikipedia 2025, ‘A List of University of Hull People; Notable Academics’).

Apart from Bob Benewick’s book Political Violence and Public Disorder (later republished as The Fascist Movement in Britain, 1969 [1972]), Bob’s collaboration with colleagues in Hull produced many other publications such as the book Knowledge and Belief in Politics: the problem of ideology edited by Bob with R. N. [Robert] Berki and Bhikhu Parekh (1973 [2021], and Bhikhu Parekh subsequently developed a programme in Indian Politics at Hull. With Trevor Smith Bob co-edited Direct Action and Democratic Politics (1973).

Meanwhile, in Hull Anne became librarian at the Art College, and also had expertise in Area Studies on which she wrote a dissertation. The 1960s saw development of multi-disciplinary regional studies and it was then that the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies was established at the University of Hull during academic year 1962-1963. Bob saw the development of the university’s teaching and research programmes on Asia during his ten years at Hull.

Some two decades later in 1994-1995, long after Bob’s departure to Sussex, an Institute of Pacific Asia Studies was established, building on South-East Asian Studies. In 1997 what was then the Department (previously Centre) of South-East Asian Studies joined with the Department of Politics, which was developing teaching in Indian Politics as well, to form a new Department of Politics and Asian Studies. An East Asian Security Studies MA programme, focussing on the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong was also introduced and wider interests developed in East Asian research, particularly on the Korean Peninsula. However, by 2002 the university decided not to continue its support for Indian Politics, the Institute of Pacific Asia Studies was closed along with teaching on East Asia, and the South-East Asian Studies undergraduate and Master’s programme ceased recruiting and five staff posts were transferred to the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Leeds between 2003 to 2005 to help develop its multidisciplinary interests in Pacific Asia.

Bob moved from Hull to the University of Sussex as Reader in 1972 and later was promoted as Research Professor in Politics (1993 to 1997). He was then awarded an Emeritus Professorship on his retirement, continuing his collaborative and multi-disciplinary approaches. He soon, by chance, became involved in travel to China and subsequent studies of Chinese politics, particularly iconographic manifestations. This continued alongside, for example, investigations into ‘the nature of the crowd’ in the UK. During his frequent journeys to China, he built up a collection of Maoist imagery which formed the basis of an exhibition Badgering the People at Brighton Museum (see Benewick and Donald 1996) and his inaugural lecture Facing Left: power, terror and profit in Chinese Iconography (see Dearlove 2023, and the cover of his inaugural lecture, 1996). Through the 1990s and beyond, Bob produced a number of books and papers on China, often in collaboration with others. These included the co-authored and highly regarded State of China Atlas (with Stephanie [Hemelryk] Donald, 1999), followed by State of China Atlas. Mapping the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy (also with Stepanie Donald, 2009) and the Pocket China Atlas (Donald and Benewick 2008) a project that initially also involved Anne as editor and publisher, which ran to three editions, and was translated into many languages around the world, from Italian to Korean. A major project which Bob accomplished, with Philip Green, was the dictionary of twentieth-century political thinkers, published by Routledge (1992 [1997]).

Although teaching on Asian studies at Hull finished in terms of programmes and courses in 2005, the University continued to support the Southeast Asia Museum and associated reference and archive material (the archives on Southeast Asia transferred to the Hull History Centre). The Brynmor Jones Library at Hull still houses a Southeast Asian collection of over 30,000 volumes. The Southeast Asia Museum continued to flourish, with expanding collections and involvement in the community (such as the Precious Cargo activities associated with the 2012 London Olympiad). Lewis Hill, previously Lecturer in Southeast Asian Anthropology, and inaugural editor of the Journal of Museum Ethnography, continued to support the Museum following his retirement from the University in 2000 (see West, King and Kerlogue 2025). In 2022, Dr Monica Janowski, Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies [SOAS] (BA Sussex, MPhil Cantab, PhD LSE); and see monicajanowski.co.uk), an anthropologist with a long-established interest in museum collections and research experience in Southeast Asia, became the new Curator, with Professor V.T. King as her Deputy. The Museum continues to thrive with renewed energies, along with volunteers and external advisors, including Dr Andrew West and Dr Fiona Kerlogue, both of whom read for their PhDs at Hull in subjects related to material culture (see, for example West 2011, 2024; and see, among other publications, Kerlogue 1996, 2004a, 2004b) and the late Professor Michael Hitchcock, a lecturer and senior lecturer at Hull (1989-1995) (see, for example, 1991).

The scope of the collections offers the chance to create new exhibitions and revitalise existing displays, in addition to its role in research; its unique post-colonial establishment now looks forward to a greater online presence, linking academic and local communities with interests in Southeast Asia and beyond, including art, craft and other items of material culture as well as featuring daily life, ceremonies and other rites of passage. As recent visitors have noted – `the museum is a hidden gem’. It is still a gem but no longer hidden.

References

Beech, Matt and Kevin Hickson, eds. 2025. The Idea of the Good Society: Essays in Honour of Raymond Plant. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Benewick, Robert. 1969.[ 1972] Political Violence and Public Disorder: The Fascist Movement in Britain. London: Allen Lane; 1972, revised edition, The Fascist Movement in Britain.

Benewick, Robert. 1996. Facing Left. Power, Terror and Profit in Chinese Iconography. Professorial Lecture. University of Sussex, 26 November 1996.

Benewick, Robert, R. N. Berki and Bhikhu Parekh, eds. 1973 [2021]. Knowledge and Belief in Politics: The Problem of Ideology. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd; 2012 edition, London and New York: Routledge, Routledge Library Editions, Political Thought and Political Philosophy.

Benewick, Robert and Trevor Smith, eds. 1973. Direct Action and Democratic Politics. London: Allen and Unwin.

Benewick, Robert and Stephanie [Hemelryk] Donald. 1996. Belief in China: Art and Politics; Deities and Mortality. Exhibition. Brighton: The Green Centre for Non-Western Art and Culture at the Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery and Museums.

Benewick, Robert and Stephanie [Hemelryk] Donald. 1999. The State of China Atlas. London: Penguin Books.

Benewick, Robert and Philip Green, eds. 1992 [1997]. The Routledge Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Political Thinkers. London and New York: Routledge; 1997, revised and expanded edition.

Benewick, Robert and Stephanie [Hemelryk] Donald. 2009. The State of China Atlas. Mapping the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Blecher, Marc. 2023. Robert Benewick Obituary. The Guardian 20th September.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/sep/20/robert-benewick-obituary

Dearlove, John 2023. Broadcast News. Obituary: Robert Benewick, 23 August 2023. sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/1635. University of Sussex 2025.

Donald, Stephanie [Hemelryk] and Robert Benewick. 2008. Pocket China Atlas – Maps and Facts at your Fingertips. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Gregor, Neil, ed. 2005. Nazism, War and Genocide: Essays in Honor of Jeremy Noakes. Exeter: Exeter University Press.

Hitchcock, Michael. 1991. Indonesian Textiles. London: British Museum Press in association with the Centre for South-East Asian Studies, University of Hull.

Kerlogue, Fiona. 1996. Scattered Flowers. Textiles from Jambi, Sumatra. University of Hull: Department of South-East Asian Studies.

Kerlogue, Fiona. 2004a. Arts of Southeast Asia. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, World of Arts series.

Kerlogue, Fiona. 2004b. Batik: Design, Style and History. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Morgan, Ivor. 2023 Letter to the Guardian. Robert Benewick Obituary. The Guardian 14th November
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/nov/14/letter-robert-benewick-obituary

Norton, Philip. 2025. Professor Philip Lord Norton of Louth. nortonview.wordpress.com/tag/university-of-hull

West, Andy; ed. Fiona Kerlogue. 2011. Museums, Colonialism and Identity: A History of Naga Collections in Britain. London: Horniman Museum and Gardens, Contributions in Critical Museology and Material Culture.

West, Andy. 2024. The Philla Davis Collection of Indonesian and Philippine Textiles in the Southeast Asian Museum at the University of Hull. Journal of the Oriental Rug and Textile Society 7, 3: 2-12.

West, Andrew (Andy), Victor T. King and Fiona Kerlogue. 2025. Obituary. Lewis Hill (1935-2023). Inaugural Editor of the Journal of Museum Ethnography and Curator of the South-East Asia Museum at the University of Hull. Journal of Museum Ethnography No. 38, March: 198-205.

Wikipedia. 2025a. ‘A List of University of Hull People: Notable Academics’. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Hull_People.

Wikipedia. 2025b. Victor Terence King. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Terence_King.; victortking.org