Sat 07 May 2022, 15.20-15.40
Dr Audrey Allwood, Goldsmiths
Today we have reached the fifth generation since the WWII mass migration of Caribbean people to Britain. This enabled sizeable communities to form in the major cities in Britain.
Although there have been challenges to the settlement and integration, Caribbean people have also achieved much success. Indeed, the Caribbean influence on British culture is recognisable and recognised.
However, developing a sense of place and belonging ensues through traversing contested territory personally and through navigating a position in British society. The journey through the decades and generations has seen many consistencies, adaptations, and changes, forging local and transnational connections of tradition and culture.
At this post stage, I raise questions about the Caribbean community, but not in criticism, more in terms a focus regarding strengthening a sense of identity as Caribbean roots deepen and multiply in Britain.
About the speaker
Dr Audrey Allwood is a British Social Anthropologist since obtaining her doctorate in 2008, and is currently Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. She undertakes research on the Caribbean community in Britain with a focus on in inter-generational kinship and genealogy, contributions to culture, belonging, and legacy in British society. Recently publishing her research entitled, Belonging in Brixton: An Ethnography of Migrant West Indian Elders in Brixton, London (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).
Audrey has collaborated with Age UK Lambeth obtaining grants to deliver community engagement projects. Most recently authoring ‘Windrush Generations Trades People’ (Self Published 2021) that highlights skills and achievements, showcasing 12 stories of people working in the trades from varies perspectives, such as an accomplished tailor and apprentice builder, launched in Black History Month 2021with Lambeth Libraries. In 2019, delivering a collaborative Windrush Multi-Media Exhibition, developed with a local primary school, youth club, and Windrush elder’s group, that was opened by the Lambeth Mayor.
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