Black City and White Country. Immigration and Identity in the History of British Decolonization

Abstract

This essay looks at the question of integrative and disintegrative elements of imperial rule in multiethnic societies and tries to identify lines of continuity between the imperial past and post-imperial realities. What influence did immigration have on the construction of self-image in Britain after the Second World War, and what historical continuities existed, particularly with respect to ethnic policies? Clearly, imperialism deeply unsettled British society, as did the empire unsettle the former colonial world. It is also at this point where the tension between the concepts of Empire, Britishness, and Englishness enter the debate.