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In this seminar, we will explore British culture and history by focusing on aspects of race and ethnicity. Although ‘black Britain’, a term we will discuss critically, is often reduced to the period after World War II, Britain had a black population for more than 400 years, dating at least back to the beginnings of European imperial expansion and slave trading. We will focus on a variety of diasporic cultures, with an emphasis on African and Caribbean history and culture in Britain, and also get to know major theorists in Black British Cultural Studies and the related field of Postcolonial Studies. The goal of this seminar is to historicise milestones in the history of black Britain and analyse their representation, from the beginnings of Empire to the abolishment of slavery, Windrush, the ‘race riots’, to contemporary debates of citizenship and belonging, encompassed in the recent ‘Windrush scandal’, the Grenfell Tower tragedy, or the Black Lives Matter Movement. Next to these key moments, we will also enquire into ‘forgotten’ aspects of British history and culture, such as the black Tudors or Chartists, and into how contemporary films and series (re)imagine Britain’s black history, for example in productions such as Bridgerton (2020–). Our course will trace these aspects by focusing on film, literature, television, music, or visual culture, as well as cultural subjects and practices as diverse as Carnival, hair styles, or Dub Poetry.
Relevant texts and material will be announced at the beginning of term. |
eG