CONNECTING HISTORIES 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. The Author Gemma Romain works at The National Archives, Kew on a Heritage Lottery Fund project called 'Your Caribbean Heritage', cataloguing and researching colonial office original correspondence from the British Caribbean. She co-edited with David Cesarani, 'Jews and Ports Cities, 1590-1990: Commerce, Community and Cosmopolitanism' (Vallentine Mitchell, 2006). Previously, she carried out her Ph.D. at the Parkes Institute, University of Southampton, where she compared and analysed ethnic memories and histories of African-Caribbean and Jewish communities in modern Britain. She was also a researcher and writer for the 'Connections: Hidden British Histories' project, a historical exhibition exploring Asian, Caribbean, and Jewish history in Britain. Additionally, she is a Committee Member of the Society for Caribbean Studies, UK, and an Executive Member of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCore). www.keganpaul.com Kegan Paul Studies in Anthropology, Economy and Society Behind the Teak Curtain Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung Genomics in Asia Margaret Sleeboom Heterarchy and Domination in Highland Jambi Heinzpeter Znoj Muslims in Australia Nahid Kabir Talking It Out Stories in Negotiating Human Relations Francis Deng Greening Industries in Newly Industrializing Economies Asian Style Leapfrogging Peter Ho, ed. Hypercity The Symbolic Side of Urbanism Peter J.M. Nas and Annemarie Samuels, eds. 400 Million Customers Carl Crow Indigeneity in India Bengt G. Karlsson and Tanka B. Subba, eds. Connecting Histories A Comparative Exploration of African-Caribbean and Jewish History and Memory in Modern Britain Gemma Romain CONNECTING HISTORIES A Comparative Exploration of African-Caribbean and Jewish History and Memory in Modern Britain GEMMA ROMAIN First published in 2006 by Kegan Paul Limited UK: P.O. Box 256, London WC1B 3SW, England Tel: 020 7580 5511 Fax: 020 7436 0899 E-Mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.keganpaul.com USA: 61 West 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023 Tel: (212) 459 0600 Fax: (212) 459 3678 Internet: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup BAHRAIN: [email protected] Distributed by: Marston Book Services Ltd 160 Milton Park Abingdon Oxfordshire OX14 4SD United Kingdom Tel: (01235) 465500 Fax: (01235) 465555 Email: [email protected] Columbia University Press 61 West 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023 Tel: (212) 459 0600 Fax: (212) 459 3678 Internet: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup © Gemma Romain, 2006 Printed in the United States All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electric, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying or recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. ISBN: 0-7103-1223-7; 978-0-7103-1223-5 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Romain, Gemma Connecting histories : a comparative exploration of African-Caribbean and Jewish History and memory in modern Britain. – (Kegan Paul studies in anthropology, economy and society) 1.Jews – Great Britain – Identity 2.Blacks – Great Britain – Ethnic identity 3.Oral tradition – Great Britain 4.Tradition (Judaism) 5.Jews – Great Britain – History 6.Blacks – Great Britain – History I.Title 305.8’924041 ISBN-10: 0710312237 Contents Acknowledgments vii 1 An Introduction to Historical and Ethnic Memory in Life History African-Caribbean and Jewish Autobiography and Oral History 1 I Paradoxes of Migration: Myths of Migration in Jewish and African-Caribbean Narrative: the Mother Country and the Promised Land 45 Introduction: Paradoxes of Migration 47 2 Myths, Silence and Autobiographical Contexts The Autobiographical Memory of Ernest Marke and Maurice Levinson 59 3 The Self-Knowing Autobiographical Voice, Meta-Memory and the Deconstruction of Myths Linda Grant, Floella Benjamin, Wallace Collins, and Louis Teeman 83 II ‘By the Waters of Babylon’: Blacks, Jews and Diasporic Consciousness in the Autobiographical Act 109 Introduction: ‘By the Waters of Babylon’ 111 4 Theorisations of the Diaspora Race, Identity, and Historical Memory 117 5 Memories of ‘Dwelling’ and Migration Britain and the Diaspora in Travel and Migration Narratives 137 III Hidden Histories, Collective Memory, Remembering and Forgetting in Black and Jewish Ethnic Memory 167 Introduction: Hidden Histories, Collective Memory, Remembering and Forgetting in Black and Jewish Ethnic Memory 169 6 Re-remembering and Forgetting Histories Memories of Racist Riots in Britain 177 7 Mythology and History Memories of Comparative Histories, Black and Jewish Identity and Inter-Ethnic Relations 215 Conclusion 241 Bibliography 249 Index 269 vi Acknowledgments Writing this book offered me the opportunity to explore the memories and identities of many Caribbean and Jewish people, whose life experiences I have found captivating. It has been a great joy to be able to read about peoples’ experiences, not only those of established authors such as Caryl Phillips and Linda Grant, but also of the many people who have shared their stories in creative and life writing courses and oral history projects. It is these projects that have allowed academics to explore the experience of migration from the perspective of a multitude of different voices previously unheard, ignored or marginalized. I would like to thank many organisations and individuals who have helped me over the last seven years. I am particularly thankful to the centres where I spoke with and interviewed individuals. Although their stories do not appear in this book, I certainly found speaking with them an invaluable experience. In this context, I would like to thank the members and staff of the North London Jewish Day Centre; the Hibiscus African-Caribbean Day Centre, Stratford; and the Queenshill Jewish Day Centre in Leeds. Many individuals provided invaluable expertise and help including Max Farrar, Edie Friedman, Clement Cooper, Gerry Gable, Simon Joseph, Caryl Phillips and his literary agent, A P Watt Ltd, Richard Stone, Sam Walker, Bill Williams, Rachel Garfield, Mike Whine, John Solomos, Ze’ev David Portner, and Waltraud Ernst. I would like to express my gratitude to the Ian Karten Charitable Trust, the Hugo Gryn Trust, the Ashdown Trust, the Black-Jewish Forum, the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (J- Core), and Julia Cottrell, Julia Sadowski and Peter Hopkins at Kegan Paul. I visited and corresponded with various archives and libraries across the country and received fantastic help from archivists, librarians and other staff. I would like to thank Brett Harrison of the West Yorkshire Archive Service; Sam Walker of the Black Cultural Archives; staff at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Archive in Manchester; the Hackney Archives; Hammersmith and Fulham Archives; the Liverpool Record Office; the Tower Hamlets Library and Archives; the Parkes Library and Southampton University Archives; and The National Archives, Kew. I am thankful to all of my family and friends who have offered me their support over the period of completing my thesis and writing this book. I would like to thank my parents, grandmother, Gary, Daniel, Rachel Howse, Tony Kushner, Tom Lawson, Kristy Warren, Georgina Hague, Mandy Banton, and Graham Macklin. Whilst completing this book I have been working as an archivist on a Caribbean heritage project at The National Archives, Kew; I am grateful to my colleagues at the Archive for their support and advice with this book. I thank all of my colleagues and friends at the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations and the history department at the University of Southampton where I was based for nine years from an undergraduate to a post-doctoral research fellow. I would like to particularly mention and thank David Cesarani, Sarah Kavanaugh, Julie Gammon, Neil Gregor, Jenny Shaw, Lena Munday, Alex Luschetti, Gavin Schaffer, Jo Reilly, Elisa Lawson, Donald Bloxham, Naomi Hetherington, Michelle Perkins, and, once more, Tom Lawson, and my supervisor Tony Kushner. viii 1 An Introduction to Historical and Ethnic Memory in Life History