Henry, Lewis (1982) The growth of corporate black identity among Afro-Caribbean people in Birmingham, England. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This work charts the development of corporate "Black" identity
among Afro-Caribbean people in Birmingham. It begins with a theoretical
appraisal of the concept of identity and offers a sociological
definition in terms of the conscious projection of a shared and worthy
self-image into social reality. In selecting Afro-Caribbean people
as a case-study, a historical and internatipnal perspective is adopted.
Even though the peculiar mode of incorporating Africans into British
slave-based societies suggested that a Sambo/Quashie identity resonant
with the dominant "White" structures would emerge, it is argued that
more positive identities were cultivated among the blacks and
transmitted to their descendants by means of "creole" cultures. Such
syncretic cultures provided complex links with the countries from which
the resources came. The British elements presumably reinforced the
objective economic and political forces that accounted for the migration
of black British subjects from the colonies to the metropolis
after World War II. However, the low social placement of these migrants
together with their depiction in local newspapers as non-white,
troublesome, alien and unwanted "guests" created identity problems
for them. The empirical data of this study show that they drew
resources from black reference groups abroad to assert a number of
more positive and meaningful identities that ranged from avoidance,
through acceptance and toleration, to suspicion and rejection of the
status quo. As conditions worsen and as "racialist" structures congeal
during the current economic recession, it is contended that this
typology will contract into a characteristic Pan-African identity
among Afro-Caribbean people resident in Britain. The anti-imperial
component of this identity implies that the struggle for liberation
will be brought home to the metropolis and mark the final stage of
the British imperial adventure.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	West Indians -- England -- Birmingham, Africans -- England -- Birmingham, West Indians -- Ethnic identity, Africans -- Ethnic identity
Official Date:	1982
Dates:	Date Event 1982 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Sociology
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Rex, John ; Cohen, Robin, 1944-
Sponsors:	Social Science Research Council (Great Britain)
Extent:	585 leaves
Language:	eng

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