Not just black and white
Culture, Identity and Politics Ethnic minorities in Britain
Edited by Terence Ranger, Yunas Samad and Ossie Stuart Published
by Avebury
Price £35.00.
Culture, Identity and Politics comprises a selection of essays
offering an insight into those questions fundamental to our
understanding of contemporary studies of ethnicity and race. The
book's principal argument is that the black/white dichotomy,
which tends to dominate the debate on race relations, must be
replaced by a more dynamic and flexible approach that takes into
account the complexity of ethnic identity.
Personal experience will have taught most Irish people living in
or visiting Britain that racism and discrimination go beyond skin
colour. It is therefore highly appropriate that Mary Hickman's
essay ``Racism and Identity: Issues for the Irish in Britain'' has
been chosen to introduce the first section of the book. She
points out that the assimilation from the nineteenth century
onwards has rendered them ``invisible'' at the official level.
But this did not mean that they have not been victims of racism
and discrimination. They have experienced segregation, i.e.,
ghettoisation and marginalisation, and their identity as Irish
has become the subject of racist jokes and practice. Hickman
argues that it as this ``official invisibility'', together with the
approach dominating the discourse which affirmed that racism was
about colour, that ensured the exclusion of the Irish from
debates about racism.
The first section of Culture, Identity and Politics explores the
historical context of this ``black/white dichotomy''. Contributors
to the second section focus primarily on issues of power and
domination. Of particular interest is Susan Benson's argument
that the anthropologist must look beyond the typical concerns of
the participant observer - that is culture and religion - and
explore the relationship between ethnic identity and the wider
society.
The final part of the book, concluded by Stuart Hall, comprises a
series of case studies, the general thrust of which underlines
the argument that ethnic identity cannot be understood only
within the black/white paradigm. It is more than this as Claire
Alexander's research on black youth in London emphasises. Her
work points to the active role of the individual (and group) in
manipulating the black stereotype as a mean of self-affirmation.
Much of the debate in Culture, Identity and Politics is
theoretical and aimed at academics. However, the case studies in
the final section may appeal to a wider audience. Research on
African Caribbeans and cricket in Oxford, the impact of the
Salman Rushdie affair on the ``Islamic community'', and the
influence upon Sikh women in Britain of political events in India
provides a refreshing perspective of the politics of identity
among Britain's ethnic minorities.
By Aoife Maguire
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