Connecting Histories

ISBN-13: 9780710312235 / Angielski / Twarda / 2006 / 300 str.

Gemma Romain

Opis

The study of ethnicity, diaspora, and identity is one of the most expanding and exciting areas of contemporary historical research and publication in the UK today. There is an increasing body of literature being published on this subject, which was previously seen as the domain of the social sciences. Connecting Histories is an important addition to that trend as, whilst utilising sociological and anthropological theories, it is a historical and comparative assessment of ethnic identities and memories. It investigates how African-Caribbean and Jewish individuals and 'communities' remember their experiences, by examining 'life histories' and 'autobiographical acts', including autobiography, oral history, and travel writing. Its main focus is to assess how mythologies affect collective memory and influence personal identities. Key themes of exploration include the memories of migration and myths of the Mother Country and Promised Land, the re-remembering of racist riots in early twentieth century Britain, and reflections on community and diasporic identities. Its value and originality lies in juxtaposing two communities who have many parallels in historical experience, identity, and memory but who have rarely been compared to each other.

Spis treści

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Historical and Ethnic Memory in Life History; Part 1 Paradoxes of Migration; Chapter 2 Myths, Silence and Autobiographical Contexts; Chapter 3 The Self-Knowing Autobiographical Voice, Meta-Memory and the Deconstruction of Myths; Part 2 ‘By the Waters of Babylon’; Chapter 4 Theorisations of the Diaspora; Chapter 5 Memories of ‘Dwelling’ and Migration; Part 3 Hidden Histories, Collective Memory, Remembering and Forgetting in Black and Jewish Ethnic Memory; Chapter 6 Re-remembering and Forgetting Histories; Chapter 7 Mythology and History; Chapter 8 Conclusion;

O autorze

Gemma Romain works at The National Archives, Kew on a Heritage Lottery Fund project called ‘Your Caribbean Heritage’, cataloguing and researching colonial office original correspondence from the British Caribbean. She co-edited with David Cesarani, ‘Jews and Ports Cities, 1590–1990: Commerce, Community and Cosmopolitanism’ (Vallentine Mitchell, 2006). Previously, she carried out her Ph.D. at the Parkes Institute, University of Southampton, where she compared and analysed ethnic memories and histories of African-Caribbean and Jewish communities in modern Britain. She was also a researcher and writer for the ‘Connections: Hidden British Histories’ project, a historical exhibition exploring Asian, Caribbean, and Jewish history in Britain. Additionally, she is a Committee Member of the Society for Caribbean Studies, UK, and an Executive Member of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCore).