Publication date:
01 December 2012Length of book:
328 pagesPublisher
Manchester University PressDimensions:
234x156mmISBN-13: 9780719066405
This pioneering study of migrant journeys to Britain begins with Huguenot refugees in the 1680s and continues to asylum seekers and east European workers today. Analyzing the history and memory of migrant journeys, covering not only the response of politicians and the public but also literary and artistic representations, then and now, Kushner’s volume sheds new light on the nature and construction of Britishness from the early modern era onwards. It is an essential tool for those wanting to understand why people come to Britain (or are denied entry) and how migrants have been viewed by state and society alike.
The journeys covered vary from the famous (including the Empire Windrush in 1948) to the obscure, such as the Volga German transmigrants passing through Britain in the 1870s. While employing a broadly historical approach, Kushner incorporates insights from many other disciplines and employs a comparative methodology to highlight the importance of the symbolic as well as the physical nature of such journeys.
alive with the spirit of adventure that informs migration
In The Battle of Britishness he [Kushner] shows his mastery of the field through interweaving constant connections between past and present journeys. [...] Building on Kushner's earlier analyses of the public histories and collective memory of immigration to Britain, the book is a tour de force in its balance of breadth and nuance.
'Kushner underscores that remembering is above all a political process of selection and exclusion, and that national memories as well as migrant recasting of narratives are part and parcel of this process. Beyond the author's obvious craftsmanship and empathy for his subjects, what emerges from this is the complexity of the struggle for meaning.'