Description
Book SynopsisBritish culture after Empire is the first collection of its kind to explore the intertwined social, cultural and political aftermath of empire in Britain from 1945 up to and beyond the Brexit referendum of 2016, combining approaches from the fields of history, English and cultural studies. Against those who would deny, downplay or attempt to forget Britain’s imperial legacy, the various contributions expose and explore how the British Empire and the consequences of its end continue to shape Britain at the local, national and international level. As an important and urgent intervention in a field of increasing relevance within and beyond the academy, the book offers fresh perspectives on the colonial hangovers in post-colonial Britain from up-and-coming as well as established scholars.
Table of ContentsForeword: Living in the bush of ghosts – Elleke Boehmer
Introduction: Rhodesia and the 'Rivers of Blood' – Josh Doble, Liam J. Liburd and Emma Parker
Part I: Institutions of empire
1 'Bloomsbury bazaar': Daljit Nagra at the diasporic museum – John McLeod
2 Anthropology at the end of empire – Katherine Ambler
3 'He is not a "racist" but should not be appointed director of LSE': The impact of colonial universities on the University of London – Dongkyung Shin
Part II: Writing identity, conflict and class
4 Beyond experience: British anti-racist non-fiction after empire – Dominic Davies
5 Empire, war and class in Graham Swift’s Last Orders (1996) – Ed Dodson
Part III: Racial others, national memory
6 White against empire: Immigration, decolonisation and Britain’s radical right, 1954–1967 – Liam J. Liburd
7 Racism, redistribution, redress: The Royal Historical Society and Race, Ethnicity & Equality in UK History: A Report and Resource for Change – Shahmima Akhtar
8 Exemplar empires: Battles over imperial memory in contemporary Britain – Astrid Rasch
Part IV: At home in postcolonial Britain
9 Empire, security and citizenship in Arab British fiction – Tasnim Qutait
10 Black, beautiful and essentially British: African Caribbean women, belonging and the creation of Black British beauty spaces in Britain (c. 1948–1990) – Mobeen Hussain
11 Convivial cultures and the commodification of otherness in London nightlife in the 1970s and 1980s – Steve Bentel
12 Tribe Arts, Tribe Talks – Josh Doble, Liam J. Liburd, Emma Parker, Samran Rathore and Tajpal Rathore
Afterword: Disorder and displacement – Bill Schwarz
Index
