COMPANION TO CONTEMPORARY BLACK BRITISH CULTURE COMPANION TO CONTEMPORARY BLACK BRITISH CULTURE Edited by Alison Donnell London and New York First published 2002 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2002 Routledge All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Companion to contemporary black British culture/ edited by Alison Donnell Includes bibliographical references and index 1. Blacks—Great Britain—History—20th century—Handbook, manuals, etc. 2. Great Britain—Race relations—History—20th century—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Blacks—Great Britain—Civilization—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4. Great Britain—Civilization—20th century—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Donnell, Alison, 1966– DA125.N4 C63 2001 941.00496–dc21 2001019658 ISBN 0-203-19499-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-19502-7 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-16989-5 (hbk) FOR PAULINE POLKEY (1958–99) AND THE JOY OF INSPIRATIONAL FRIENDSHIPS Fifteen years ago we didn’t care, or at least I didn’t care, whether there was any black in the Union Jack. Now not only do we care, we must. (Stuart Hall, 1987) Extraordinary new forms have been produced and much of their power resides in their capacity to circulate a new sense of what it means to be British…. The seemingly trivial forms of youth sub-culture point to the opening up of a self- consciously post-colonial space in which the affirmation of difference points forward to a more pluralistic concept of nationality and perhaps beyond that to its transcendence. (Paul Gilroy, ‘The peculiarities of the black English’, 1993) For me the fact that it’s so difficult to pin down blackness in Britain is a positive thing, it leaves me freer. (Lola Young, 1998) Where is the integration? Blacks as radio and television presenters, as MPs, as arts wallahs means nothing if the lives of ordinary Black people at the bottom of the pile have not improved. (A.Sivanandan, 2000) Unlike their parents, the second generation of Black youth did not see themselves as ‘temporary guests’ of Her Majesty’s government. They were not here to work and eventually return ‘home’ to the Caribbean or Africa. Britain was their home, and according to one of the symbolic political slogans of the time, they were ‘Here to Stay!’ Consequently, they had little choice but to engage the class- and race-laden structures of British society. (Owusu, 2000) Contents Editorial team vii List of contributors viii Introduction xii Thematic entry list xix List of websites xxxvii Entries A-Z 1 Index 462 Editorial team General editor Alison Donnell Nottingham Trent University, UK Advisers David A.Bailey University of East London, UK Satinder Chohan Freelance writer, UK William Henry Goldsmiths College, UK D.Keith Peacock University of Hull, UK James Procter University of Stirling, UK Karen Ross Coventry School of Art and Design, Coventry University, UK Kadija Sesay Editor/publisher of Sable, UK Yinka Summonu Goldsmiths College Carol Tulloch Royal College of Art, UK Lynnette Turner , UK Andy Wood Dundee University, UK List of contributors Margaret T.Andrews Teacher and educator, UK An’Yaa Anim-Addo James Allen’s Girls’ School, UK Joan Anim-Addo Goldsmiths College, UK Rebecca Arnold Central St Martins College of Art and Design, UK Elaine Aston Lancaster University, UK David A.Bailey University of East London, UK Derek A.Bardowell Freelance journalist, UK Andrea D.Barnwell Spelman College of Fine Arts, USA Ian Baucom Duke University, USA Dipti Bhagat Royal Holloway College, University of London, UK Suman Bhuchar Tamasha Theatre Company, UK Christopher Breward London College of Fashion, UK Huw Bucknell Freelance writer, UK Eleanor Byrne Manchester Metropolitan University, UK Gavin Carver University of Kent at Canterbury, UK Janice Cheddie Goldsmiths College, UK Gail Ching-Liang Low University of Dundee, UK Satinder Chohan Freelance writer, UK Sandra Courtman Staffordshire University, UK Susan Croft Theatre Museum, London, UK Pauline de Souza Universities of East London and Birmingham, UK Alison Donnell Nottingham Trent University, UK Tobias Döring Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Oliver Double University of Kent at Canterbury, UK Andrea Enisuoh Freelance journalist/literature consultant, UK Raymond Enisuoh Journalist, New Nation newspaper, UK Diana Omo Evans Freelance journalist, UK Len Garrison London, UK Lynette Goddard University of London, UK Donna Griffiths Freelance writer, UK William Henry Goldsmiths College, UK Peter James Birmingham Central Library, UK Doreth Jones London, UK Kris Knauer University of Silesia, Poland, and WriteOnLine, UK David Knight University of Central Lancashire, UK Paola Marchionni Commonwealth Institute and Wasafiri, UK Pinkie Mekgwe University of Sussex, UK Shaheen Merali University of Westminster and Central St Martins College of Art and Design, UK Cynthia Moody Keeper Ronald Moody Estate, UK Susanne Mühleisen Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany