Postcolonial Migrants and Identity Politics

World War II sparked a wave of decolonizations throughout the world. These transfers of sovereignty resulted in extensive, unforeseen movements of citizens and subjects to their former countries. Present-day Western Europe, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Portugal are home to six million first-generation postcolonial migrants. This figure easily triples when subsequent generations are added to it. The phenomenon of postcolonial migration has affected not only European nations, but also the United States, Japan, and post-Soviet Russia. The contributors explore the historical background and contemporary significance of these postcolonial migrations. Providing an overview of the context of migration, the chapters also discuss the ethnic and class composition and the patterns of integration of the migrant population. The political and societal reactions to the unexpected and often unwelcome migrants was significant to postcolonial migrants' identity politics and how these influenced metropolitan debates about citizenship, national identity, and colonial history.