Histories and Cultures (‘Race’ Nation and Ethnicity)

‘Race’, Nation and Ethnicity focuses on the relation between the historical
processes that have produced modern ‘imagined communities’ of ‘race’, nation and ethnicity (as these intersect with other factors, including class, gender and locality); and the cultural processes and forms in which these formations and identities have been represented. It investigates how collective experiences, myths and memories are drawn upon in narratives that construct the histories, identities and destinies of ‘racial’, national and ethnic groups, which in turn underpin those groups’ ideological and political claims. The pathway begins by examining the historical formation and cultural representation of British national identity in relation to racial and ethnic others, with a particular emphasis on histories of migration and
empire. It introduces key theoretical paradigms that underpin historical accounts of the significance of migration and empire for cultural constructions of Britishness, and develops methods for the critical investigation of practices of history-making in terms of ideology, cultural representation and identity-formation across various sites and forms, visual and linguistic. History-making and identity-formation are also analysed in relation to imaginative geographies of nation and diaspora; involving cultural perceptions, significances, images and memories pertaining to places of origin, of belonging, of journeying and of settlement. Case studies are
likely to focus on the British ‘island story’ and its critique and transformation;
Islam and the Middle East in British cultural imagination; and Jewish migrant cultures in Britain. This work provides a foundation for more detailed investigation of these themes in particular historical contexts, such as the ‘Atlanticist’ diasporic cultures resulting from European slavery and colonialism in the Caribbean; and in particular forms of representation, such as the colonial and postcolonial novel in English. There is also scope for primary research into the local areas of Brighton and Hove and Sussex using local archives and collections, and the resources of local communities.

Mode of Attendance : Full - time