Trevor Harris - Windrush (1948) and Rivers of Blood (1968)

This volume looks at Britain since 1948 the year when the Empire Windrush brought a group of 492 hopeful Caribbean immigrants to the United Kingdom. Post-war Britain may still be the most common label attached to studies in contemporary British history, but the contributors to this book believe that post-Windrush Britain has an explanatory power which is equally useful. The objective is to study the Windrush generation and Enoch Powells now infamous speech not only in their original historical context but also as a key element in the political, social and cultural make-up of todays Britain. Contributions to the book use a diversity of approaches: from the lucid, forward-looking assessment by Trevor Phillips, which opens the volume; through Patrick Vernons account of the legacy of Powells speech in Birmingham and how it inspired him to launch a national campaign for Windrush Day; to the plea from novelist and playwright Chris Hannan for a fully inclusive, national conversation to help overturn deeply ingrained prejudice in all parts of our society.

Trevor Harris is Professor of British Studies at the Universit Bordeaux Montaigne.

Social change impacts not just upon voting behaviour and party identity but also the formulation of policy. But how do social changes and political developments interact? Which shapes which? Reflecting a belief that social and political structures cannot be understood either in isolation from each other or from the historical processes that form them, this series examines the forces that have shaped British society.

Financier among Statesmen, 18631916

Martin Farr

Inside the Welfare State

Foundations of Policy and Practice in Post-War Britain

Virginia A. Noble

British Military Intervention and the Struggle for Jordan

King Hussein, Nasser and the Middle East Crisis, 19551958

Stephen Blackwell

The Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 18541946

Keith Neilson and T.G. Otte

The Western European Union

International Politics Between Alliance and Integration

Sally Rohan

Windrush (1948) and Rivers of Blood (1968)

Legacy and Assessment

Edited by Trevor Harris

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/British-Politics-and-Society/book-series/SE0800

First published 2020

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ISBN: 978-0-367-22969-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-27777-1 (ebk)

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Neal Allen is Associate Professor of Political Science at Wichita State University in the United States. In spring 2018 he was a visiting fellow at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. He is the author of several articles and book chapters on race and political history; his work has been published in journals such as American Political Thought and the National Political Science Review . He is working on a book for the University Press of Kansas, Writing in Opposition: Letters to U.S. and U.K. Legislators About Race in the 1960s . http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=polisci&p=/neal_allen/

Sharon Baptiste is Senior Lecturer at the Universit de Paris 13 Villetaneuse. She is a member of the universitys Pliade research centre. Her recent publications include The Evolution of the Black Cultural Archives 19812015 (in Colonial Extensions, Postcolonial Decentrings , Collection Comparatisme et Socit, Peter Lang, 2017) and Social, Political and Cultural Activism in 1970s Britain: The Case of Black British Youth of African-Caribbean Heritage (in 19701979: Community in the U.K ., Collection Bilingue Intercalaires, Presses Universitaires de Paris Nanterre, 2017).

Rick Blackman is the author of the book Forty Miles of Bad Road: The Stars Campaign for Interracial Friendship & The Notting Hill Riots of 1958 (Red-words, 2017). He is a lecturer in modern history at Hope University in Liverpool, England, at present teaching early modern European history. He is currently also finishing a PhD on music and anti-fascism in postWorld War II Britain. He is also a musician, producer, songwriter and arranger and is involved in a variety of current projects.

David Bousquet is Senior Lecturer at the Universit de Bourgogne, in Dijon, France. He specialises in the study of Caribbean literature, poetry and popular culture with a particular emphasis on musical traditions such as calypso and reggae. His research on song lyrics and performance poems focuses on the tension between orality and writing from the perspective of postcolonial and cultural studies.

Pascal Cudicio teaches English at Paris II University, Panthon-Assas. He is a member of the CRECIB (Centre de Recherches et dEtudes en Civilisation Britannique), the GERAS (Groupe dEtude et de Recherche en Anglais de Spcialit) and the SAES (Socit des Anglicistes de lEnseignement Suprieur). His main academic interests are English for specific purposes and British politics.

Chris Hannan is a playwright and novelist from Clydebank. Chris Hannans work as a playwright has been produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Old Vic, Shakespeares Globe and by the National Theatre of Scotland. His most recent play, What Shadows , opened at Birmingham Rep in October 2016 and was described by the Daily Telegraph as the most provocative theatrical act of the decade. Personal web page at www.chrishannan.co.uk/