Connecting Histories

by ROMAIN

• ISBN13: 9780710312235
• ISBN10: 0710312237
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2006-06-21
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The dynamics of ethnicity, diaspora, identity and community are the defining features of contemporary life, giving rise to important and exciting new interdisciplinary fields of study and literature on subjects that were previously seen as the exclusive domain of the social sciences. Connecting Histories is an important contribution to this trend. While using sociological and anthropological theories, it is an innovative historical and comparative assessment of ethnic identities and memories. Romain investigates the ways in which 'communities' remember their experiences, focussing on Afro-Caribbean and Jewish individuals and groups in Britain. By examining life histories and 'autobiographical acts' including autobiography, oral history and travel writing, it assesses the ways in which mythologies affect collective memory and personal identities. Key themes include the memories of migration and myths of the Mother Country and Promised Land, the re-remembering of racist riots in early twentieth century Britain, and reflections on community and diasporic identities. The value and originality of Connecting Histories lie in the juxtaposition of two communities - Afro-Caribbean and Jewish - which have many parallels in historical experience, but have rarely been compared to each other. This important study contributes significantly to the understanding of ethnicity, identity and diasporic communities worldwide. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
An Introduction to Historical and Ethnic Memory in Life History: African-Caribbean and Jewish Autobiography and Oral History	p. 1
Paradoxes of Migration: Myths of Migration in Jewish and African-Caribbean Narrative: the Mother Country and the Promised Land	p. 45
Introduction: Paradoxes of Migration	p. 47
Myths, Silence and Autobiographical Contexts: The Autobiographical Memory of Ernest Marke and Maurice Levinson	p. 59
The Self-Knowing Autobiographical Voice, Meta-Memory and the Deconstruction of Myths: Linda Grant, Floella Benjamin, Wallace Collins, and Louis Teeman	p. 83
'By the Waters of Babylon': Blacks, Jews and Diasporic Consciousness in the Autobiographical Act	p. 109
Introduction: 'By the Waters of Babylon'	p. 111
Theorisations of the Diaspora: Race, Identity, and Historical Memory	p. 117
Memories of 'Dwelling' and Migration: Britain and the Diaspora in Travel and Migration Narratives	p. 137
Hidden Histories, Collective Memory, Remembering and Forgetting in Black and Jewish Ethnic Memory	p. 167
Introduction: Hidden Histories, Collective Memory, Remembering and Forgetting in Black and Jewish Ethnic Memory	p. 169
Re-remembering and Forgetting Histories: Memories of Racist Riots in Britain	p. 177
Mythology and History: Memories of Comparative Histories, Black and Jewish Identity and Inter-Ethnic Relations	p. 215
Conclusion	p. 241
Bibliography	p. 249
Index	p. 269
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