エッセイ１☆essay1
title : "We are here because you were there' (A.Sivanandan) : the impact postcolonial migrations have had on British culture and society
History of Caribbean community and identity of young migrant in London

 INTRODUCTION
 The minority ethnic population is, thus, geographically concentrated in the most highly urban area.
 "Data from the 1991 Census* indicated that there are now in excess of 3 million people of minority ethnic origin resident in Great Britain, representing 5.5 per cent of population,Ethnic minorities comprised 5.9 per cent of the population of England and Wales, and 6.2 percent of the population of England. "(Owen, 1992; 1-2 )
 "44.8 percent of population living in London ( which contains 10.3 per cent of the white population) and 14 per cent in the west Midlands ( by comparison with 9 per cent of the white population )." (P35.36, Mason, 1995)

  Nowadays, Britain has huge amount of immigration from commonwealth countries. Especially in urban area such as London, where ethnic minorities make up over 20 per cent of the population. Indeed, we can realise that when we just take a walk on the street. There are many nationalities living in London. Such as, European, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, Caribbean, and Indian. When we meet other people in London at first time, most people ask you to 'where are you come from?'
 In London, even white British people come from another religions. That meant all of them come from another place. Many people try

to make a community with those who come from the same background, speaking same mother language, and eating the same kind of foods. In this essay, I'd like to investigate ethnic minority communities in London, focusing in particular on the Caribbean community. As the Parekh report point out,
"'Community ' is a tricky term. To speak of 'the black community', 'the Irish community', 'the Bangladishi community', and so forth, is to refer accurately to a strong sence of group solidarity. Post-migration communitues are distinct cultural formations, but they are not cut off from the rest of British society. It is  true that maintaining tradition is critical to their self-identities, but their sence of community owes as much to how they are treated as to where they came from." (Parekh,1999, p26)
 
 In this essay I will discuss, firstly why they living there now. And the strong connect between this and imperialism and post- colonialism. Secondly, I will try to argue what it means to be another nationality in other country. It will be concerned with  national identity, and what is 'Britishness' and 'Englishness'. Also, it consider the identity of immigrants, and the identity of second  and third generation of ethnic migrants who were born in UK.


'THE BRITISH-CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY'
 In this section, I'd like to examine the Caribbean community and to explore how British empire. Caribbean communities are set up in many areas across London.
 The case of Caribbean migrations history started as slave trade before second world war.
 "At the end of the 18th century, it is reported, London could count a black population of some twenty thousand. Most of them would have been freed slaves, soldiers, sailers and servants of various kinds. By the end of the 19th century Britain had become the most accomplished, and largest, slaveing nation on earth." (Martin,1999)
 After the second world war, the arrival of the cruise ship Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks on the morning of 22 June, 1948, marked the start of modern day mass immigration to Britain.
 "On board were 492 Jamaicans, mostly young, single men, who had made the voyage across the Atlantic in search of work. They came to Britain because Caribbean people answered the calls from British industries to help rebuild a post war nations."
( quoted from ;bbc  /uk/  10 key  moment in the UK race relations and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1517672.stm )
 However, Caribbeans in Britain have been troubled for a long times, after they came to Britain. In the post-colonial moment,  

British Caribbean's have occupied position of lower paid, less skilled jobs which white people don't want to do. Also they have been disadvantaged in the housing market, at school, and media and culture representations. However, Caribbean immigrations fought to the improvement of their working and living conditions. This quote show, how they started to make communities.
 "Finding a home or a room to rent was a difficult task for Caribbeans. Landlords would not rent to them and banks would not authorise their mortgage applications. If they were to secure accommodation, then rooms were often in bad condition and they were charged extortion ate rents. To overcome this hurdle, the Caribbean people started to use "Partner" system, as they had done in the Caribbean. This allowed them to raise the capital to buy a home as a group." (quoted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/london /yourlondon/unitedcolours/caribbean/welcome_history.shtm)

  In many areas across London there is a visible presence of Caribbean people, such as near our university in Tottenham, Willesden and some area in South London. Brixton was probably the first area to house Caribbeans and is still the centre of that vibrant community.
 Setting into new communities is not so easy, however they have to make community for against racism and discriminations, and  

protect themselves from the other problems.
 "seventies the group of migrants from various countries and Caribbean had founded a network of Black communities distributed throughout most of Britains industrial centres. "

 In post-colonial times, living as a Caribbean person in London can be difficult. Communities are subjected to a racist construction from outside, to surveillance from the police and dubious housing allocation procedures.
 "Violence flared up in urban centres across England as young blacks vented their anger at society and in particular, their treatment by police in 1981, its Brixton Riots. Throughout the previous years attitudes towards the Caribbeans migrants within the police forces mirrored attitudes in society at large. Most policeman emerged from the social groups who most feared the black migrants, and who are most prepared to use violence to express thier fears." (quoted from ;bbc/uk/10keymomentintheUK race relations)

 In 2002, British Caribbean's most important event, Notting Hill Carnival was joined to the Queen's Golden Jubilee Festival. This occurrence shows to us how Britain accepted Caribbean culture to part of their culture. It's quite important turning point of modern

British society. Because, the twenty first century, still not all British people are welcoming to migrations and migration cultures.
 At the beginning of the seventies the Notting Hill Carnival was expanded rapidly, and was on the way to its present form. However this was the precise moment that the political culture had begun to express itself in the street.

"The roots of carnival are in Trinidad, where the first Caribbean carnival  was held in 1833. When the first significant numbers of West Indian immigranta began to come to the UK in the 1950s, they brought with them thier musical traditions, and in 1964, a group of mostly Trinidadian immigrants decided to throw an impromptu carnival procession through the streets of their Notting Hill neighbourfood. Almost a decade of racial tension, including the infamous Notting Hill riots of 1958, had taken its toll on the "Windrush geniration"of West Indian immigrants in Britain. The first Carnival was both asocial protest and cultural cerebration, but as other Weat Indian immigrants and white locals joined the festivaties year on year, Notting Hill Carnival grew to the epic proportions it is now famed for attracting almost two million revellers last year. British race relations have come to be seen as perhaps the most important aspect in helping to forge a peaceful and fair society.Many people cerebrate and reflection of London's uniquely multi-cultural make up." (quoted from http://www.nhct.org.uk/history)


IDENTITY OF BRITISH MIGRANTS YOUTH
 "In the late twentieth century questions about cultural  identity seems to have become critical everywhere. 'Who are we ?' 'Where do we come from ?' 'Which "we" are we taking about when we talk about "we" ?' Such questions are always there, intimately connected to but distinct from the insistent question of origin that engage every child. New nationalism and ethnic identities alongside the international communication highways. Questions as to roots and origins haunt the imaginations of disparate people across national and inter-continental boundaries."
( quoted from,Edited by lain Cambers, Linda Curti, P65 )
 
 Tne children of the empire who arrived from various parts of the world had less in common with each other than would have been expected from people with a shared history of being colonised by Britain.In the modern world, the national cultures into which we are born are one of the principal sources of cultural identity.
 "In defining ourselves people sometimes say we are English or Welsh or Indian or Jamaican. Of course, this is to speak

metaphorically. These identities are not literally imprinted in our genes. "
 I consider about second and third generation of ethnic migrants in Britain. It will be focus on national identity of young generation of ethnic migrants in Britain. British born young ethnic gave rise to a generation which was much more deeply involved in transactions across ethnic boundaries than were the original migrants. Young British born generation go to the same school with white and other British born immigrants now. How they thinking of their national identity?

 Yasmin Alibhai Brouwn says that, instead of " ethnic minorities " I prefer to use descriptions such as ' British Black', 'British Asian', 'Chinese British', because I feel that the British identity is now an umbrella term which gathers under it a large number of bi-racial and combined ethnicity people, as well  as all kinds of ethnic and religious groups including the English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Polish, Turkish, Jewish, Chinese, and a host of the other people. (Alibhai-Brown,P.ix,2000)

  In this article, we are able to apprehend the people proud of themselves being mixed nationalities and struggle of people's identity. And try to find a way of being British, but not English.    

 It's raises issues about how they come to be the kind of people they are, that is, how they are produced as subjects and how they identify with certain descriptions of themselves as male or female, black or white, young or old, in short, what kinds of identities they adopt.
 National identities are not things we are born with, but are formed and transformed within and in relation to what they representing. Migrations to Britain from the Caribbean, the South Asian subcontinet, China and Africa have raised many questions, discussed throughout this essay, about British identity and British institutions.

CONCLUSION
 As the Parekn Report says, "Britain is at a turning point, a crossroads. Migration is a worldwide phenomenon. It affects every metropolitan Western country." If immigrants had not come to London, it would be completely different society, foods,and culture now. "It is more than half a century since the large scale migration of visible communities into the Britain, a movement which brought not only the excitement of new food and music, but ideas, art, different social functions and formations and a sence of history."(Yasmin Alibhai-Broun,2000, p1)
 The strength of immigrant's culture can be felt across the capital from arts to food and language. Young generations in London became repositories of anti-racist feeling.
 "As Black styles, music, dress, dance and languages became a determining force shaping the culture of urban Britain as a whole, blacks have been strucured into the mechanisms of this society in a number of different ways."
 You are able to look at anywhere to view a whole shop assistants, musicians, singers, teachers and MPs who are second and third generation of migrations. Of course, in our class have so many of them. Finding a 'pure English' is quite difficult in London. We see many different ethnictial representing their London teams in football, cricket no such thing has ever existed, however and standing as MPs in parliament.  people have become one of the threads holding London all together. We are part of it.

References
*Edward W.Said, Culture and Imperialism, (Chatto and Windus Ltd
1994)
*Extracts from The Parekh Report : The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain (Profile Books, 2000) and S.I.Martin, Britain's slave trade ( Macmillan, 1999)
*Edited by John hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith, Ethnicity,  (1996, Oxford university press)
*Les Back, New ethinicities and urban culture, racism and multicultural in young lives ,(1996, UCL press)
*David Mason, Race and Ethnicity in Modern Britain ,(1995, Oxford university press)
*John Rex, Race, colonialism and the city (1973, Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd)
*Chris Barker, Television, Globalization and Culture Identities (1999, Open university press)
*Phillip Darby, Three faces of imperialism, British and American Approaches to Asia and Africa 1870-1970,  (1987, The Bass Press)
*Edited by lain Cambers, Linda Curti, The post- colonial question ,  (1996, Routledge)
* Yasmin Alibhal-Brouwn, Who do we think we are? imagining the New Britain ( Allen Lane, 2000)
*Mike Phillps and Trevor Phillips Windrush , the irresistible rise of multi-racial Britain, (1998, published by Harpercollins publishers)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1517672.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/your london/unitedcolours/caribbean/welcome_history.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/your london/unitedcolours/indian/welcome_history.shtml
http://www.nhct.org.uk