What's in a Name: Friendship, Identity and History in Modern Multicultural Britain

(Hardback)

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Description

What's in a Name is a brilliant distillation of the story of twentieth-century immigration to the UK, told through our names. Our names are so mundane we barely notice them. But they contain a multitude of stories of belonging and heritage, be that a legacy of colonialism or persecution, the desire to fit in, or cultural inheritance from one's parents. Journalist, academic and ex-TV producer Sheela Banerjee's fascinating first book is a blend of history, memoir and politics and tells the history of multicultural Britain.

In What's in a Name Sheela tells stories of friends and family through their names and takes us from the fight against racism in Britain to an escape from Nigeria, from Jamaica in the 60s to pre-Revolutionary Russia. Each name contains centuries of history and acts as a portal to other worlds.

Author Bio

Sheela Banerjee is a journalist and academic and worked for many years at the BBC and Channel 4, directing programmes which told powerful stories of individual lives. She has also worked as a radio reporter and BBC producer on current affairs and political programmes. She left TV to undertake a PhD on Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot. What's in a Name is her first book.