West Indian intellectuals in Britain / edited by Bill Schwarz.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Schwarz, Bill, 1951-

Series:

Studies in imperialism (Manchester, England)

Studies in imperialism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

West Indians--Great Britain--Intellectual life.

West Indians.

Intellectuals--Great Britain.

Intellectuals.

Intellectual life.

Great Britain--Intellectual life.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

x, 262 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York : Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 2003.

Summary:

Caribbean migration to Britain brought many new things -- new musics, new foods, new styles. It brought new ways of thinking too. This lively, 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. This is the first comprehensive discussion of the major Caribbean thinkers who came to live in twentieth-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 to this fascinating volume 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. A lucid 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 will all find much of interest in this collection.

Contents:

Introduction: Crossing the seas / Bill Schwarz 1

1 What is a West Indian? / Catherine Hall 31

2 'To do something for the race': Harold Moody and the League of Coloured Peoples / David Killingray 51

3 A race outcast from an outcast class: Claude McKay's experience and analysis of Britain / Winston James 71

4 Jean Rhys: West Indian intellectual / Helen Carr 93

5 Una Marson: feminism, anti-colonialism and a forgotten fight for freedom / Alison Donnell 114

6 George Padmore / Bill Schwarz 132

7 C. L. R. James: visions of history, visions of Britain / Stephen Howe 153

8 George Lamming / Mary Chamberlain 175

9 'This is London calling the West Indies': the BBC's Caribbean Voices / Glyne Griffith 196

10 The Caribbean Artists Movement / Louis James 209

11 V. S. Naipaul / Sue Thomas 228

Afterword: The predicament of history / Bill Schwarz 248.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0719064740

0719064759

OCLC:

52829533