Narrative Projections of a Black British History

Since the mid-1990s, the black experience in Britain has begun to be renegotiated intensely, with a particular focus on history. This book is not a contribution to research in black British history, its events and developments, but to the historical culture surrounding this history. No book-length study has been devoted to the analysis of the discourse surrounding a black British history so far. Narrative Projections of a Black British History brings together some existing theoretical approaches (British Cultural Studies as well as international and German research on historical culture, collective identities and cultural memory) to examine narrative discourses surrounding a black British history that have come forth before and since the 1990s. It identifies the major discursive conditions and practices involved, scrutinizing how diverse narrative choices determine the image of a 'black British history'.While in the 1980s the discourse about a black history in Britain had to be established against a dominant white 'master narrative', the 1990s brought a more inclusive historical culture in Britain within which black history began to assume a more prominent position, at times even faring as cause for celebration. Looking at individual works from the realm of life writing, historical novel, 'artistic historiography' and the visual arts, this book focuses in particular on the positioning of the subject within/towards a collective historical culture. Overall, the book draws attention to collective currents and individual positions, affirmative and critical approaches: Together, they form a representative image of a specific moment in the discourse formation surrounding a black British history.