Immigration and the Making of Modern Britain

Immigration and the Making of Modern Britainprovides a new vision of how Britain was remade by immigration, and how the experiences and identities of migrants were transformed by broader changes in British society and culture. The dynamics of Britain's industrial economy, shifts in national and local politics, urban reforms, demographic and cultural change all shaped the contours of assimilation and exclusion faced by immigrants. This book emphasizes the internal diversity of the Irish, Jewish, Caribbean, African and Asian diasporas in Britain through analyzing their diverging mobilities, transnational networks and experiences of settlement. It explores how the claiming of collective identities by immigrants was articulated within changing political and economic environments from imperial expansion to deindustrialization. The book also charts how the meanings of ethnicity, segregation and integration have been constantly remade both by new arrivals and their hosts. Over seven chapters covering a number of case studies from Irish immigrants to the South Asian Diaspora, Laurence Brown lays out the history of migration in Britain from the early Victorian period through to the present day.