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Reshaping British History: The Historiography of West Indians in Britain in the Twentieth Century
Author(s) -
Rush Anne
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00403.x
Subject(s) - historiography , commonwealth , diaspora , history , decolonization , british empire , empire , context (archaeology) , notice , identity (music) , immigration , ancient history , spanish civil war , ethnology , gender studies , political science , sociology , politics , law , archaeology , art , aesthetics
Just after the Second World War, a group of migrants from the Caribbean arrived in Britain on a former troopship, the Empire Windrush , heralding a significant post‐war migration of Commonwealth colonials to Britain. The arrival of West Indians in Britain after 1945 launched a complex and diverse historiography that not only took notice of the centuries‐long presence of people of colour in Britain, but has been vital to reshaping the way that historians understand the field of British history. This article traces the myriad paths of the historiography devoted to West Indians who lived in Britain in the twentieth century, looking at the work of scholars as they have explored West Indians in the context of the black diaspora, immigration, British national identity and culture, the British Empire and domestic decolonisation.