West Indian Intellectuals in Britain

(Paperback)

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Description

Caribbean migration to Britain brought many new things - new musics, new foods, new styles. It brought new ways of thinking too. This innovative book explores the intellectual ideas which the West Indians brought with them to Britain. It shows that for more than a century West Indians living in Britain developed a dazzling intellectual critique of the codes of imperial Britain. In this comprehensive discussion of the major Caribbean thinkers who came to live in 20th-century Britain, chapters discuss the influence of amongst others: C.L.R. James; Una Marson; George Lamming; Jean Rhys; Claude McKay and V.S. Naipaul. The contributors draw from many different disciplines to bring alive the thought and personalities of the figures they discuss, providing a dramatic picture of intellectual developments in Britain from which we can still learn much. An introduction argues that the recovery of this Caribbean past, on the home-territory of Britain itself, reveals much about the prospects of multiracial Britain. Written in an accessible manner, undergraduates and general readers interested in relations between the Caribbean and Britain, imperial history, literature, cultural and black studies should find much of interest in this collection.

Reviews

"This is a fine collection and its significance lies in several areas. West Indian intellectuals were important actors in the drama that was to change the face of Britain, both because they adopted and reformulated British ideas about culture, and because they brought with them important cultural texts, including novels, poems and essays."--Simon Gikandi, University of Michigan

Author Bio

Bill Schwarz teaches at Goldsmiths College, University of London