Introduction: the interface between contemporary British Black and Jewish cultures (original) (raw)

Abstract

The origins of this special issue lie in a symposium on 'The Interface Between British Contemporary Black and Jewish Cultures', co-sponsored by the British Academy-funded network 'British Jewish Contemporary Cultures' and the 'Identities' research group at the University of Reading, held at Reading in November 2016. The symposium was conceived as part of a larger, interdisciplinary research project entitled 'Towards a British 'Black-Jewish Imaginary': The Interface Between British Black and Jewish Literature, Art and Culture 1945-2015สน. The inspiration for this project was the recognition of the stark contrast between the large body of scholarship on black-Jewish relations in the United States and the relative paucity of work on this subject in the context of the United Kingdom. Over the past four decades, a considerable body of work has emerged on the interface between black and Jewish literature, art and culture in the United States, whose influence is signified by the circulation of the term 'black-Jewish imaginary' within U.S. academic discourse. 1 In contrast, there has been very little scholarship on black-Jewish cultural relations in the context of the United Kingdom. There is a significant body of historical scholarship that explores the affinities and differences between the experiences of Jews and BME immigrants in Britain. Colin Holmes, in John Bull's Island: Immigration and British Society, 1871-1971 (London: Routledge, 1988) points out the parallels between the racism encountered by a range of different immigrant groups during this period: The relationships of [immigrants]. .. from the West Indies, India and Pakistan to the housing market. .. was subject to change over the course of time. But. .. the majority of individuals from such groups were to be found by 1971 in the inferior properties of the inner cities. .. these newcomers soon became associated with the causes of the infrastructural problems of the grey, forbidding inner city regions and, as with the earlier Jews in the East End, this association was to add a further complication to their lives. 2

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References (32)

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