Katy,
I strongly suggest that you make contact with Stephen Bourne. He just published a rather comprehensive book in this area. He can be reached through the address above.
Wendy Webster has also done fine work on the subject, notably, Englishness and Empire 1939-1965. It's not only very well written, but has great endnotes and references for follow-up.
Assuming you will have time over Christmas, and assuming they're open, the Kew Archives, as you know, are invaluable.
Best,
Darrell M. Newton, Ph.D.
Chair and Associate Professor
The Department of Communication Arts
Salisbury University
260 Fulton Hall
Salisbury, MD 21801
(410) 677-5060 Office
(410) 543-6229 Department
http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~dmnewton/
________________________________________
From: Members of the Society for Caribbean Studies based in UK [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Katy Johnston [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2010 6:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: West Indians in Britain during the Second World War
Hi everyone,
I was wondering if anyone could help me with a subject I'm looking into for my history dissertation. It's about West Indians in Britain during the Second World War, mainly the social aspect. I'm only in the initial phases so my ideas are all over the place right now but I was trying to look at their expectations, realities, how they were popularly perceived/treated, the concept of Britishness, relations with other minority groups etc.
I've come across some interesting ideas already, which I'm hoping to explore further. The first is whether the uniform of West Indians serving in the armed froces acted as a barrier to racism, which they seemed to experience more of in civilian clothing, and the second is the idea of racism in proportion to the number of West Indians in a particular town or village. I'm also keen to look into the British Honduras forestry unit based in Scotland more as, from what I can gather, their experiences were on the whole quite positive with many staying on after the war.
So far, I have a few official letters that I found in the National Archives (mainly regarding fights between some West Indians and some American G.I.s), some recorded oral interviews from the Imperial War Museum, and the Mass Observation online archive. I could really do with some more primary sources, any letters, diaries, newspaper clippings etc. that could shed any more light on their experiences. But of course I'd be grateful for any general advice as well.
I'm based in Edinburgh but I have a couple of weeks to spare over Christmas, during which I could travel.
Thank you for your time
Katy Johnston
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