Barbara Korte

Eva Ulrike Pirker

Britain's recent historical culture is marked by a shift. As a consequence of new political directives, black history began to be mainstreamed into the realm of national history from the late 1990s onwards. »Black History - White History« assesses a number of manifestations of this new cultural historiography on screen and on stage, in museums and other accessible sites, emerging in the context of two commemorative events: the Windrush anniversary and the 1807 abolition bicentenary. It inquires into the terms on which the new historical programme could take hold, its sustainability and its representational politics.

Britain's Historical Programme between Windrush and Wilberforce

Black History - White History

Judith Rahn

The future is a contested terrain and one that has in recent years been debated, theorized and imaginatively constructed with an unprecedented, albeit unsurprising, sense of urgency. The recent Afrofuturist imaginary is an increasingly noticeable field in these debates and manifestations, requesting as it does the envisioning of a future through an artistic, scientific and technological African or Black lens. Afrofuturism is not a new term, but it seems to have broadened and developed in different directions. The recent Afrofuturist engagements, which oscillate between narratives of empowerment and tech-wise superheroes on the one hand and dystopian agendas on the other, raise questions about earlier futurist accounts, about historical Black visions of the future that precede the establishment even of the term “Afrofuturism”. This volume contextualizes Afrofuturism’s diverse approaches in the past and present through investigations into overlapping horizons between Afrofuturist agendas and other intellectual and/or artistic movements (e.g., Pan-Africanism, debates about Civil Rights, decolonial debates and transcultural modernisms), as well as through explorations of Afrofuturist approaches in the 21st century across media cultures and in a transcultural perspective. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Critical Studies in Media Communication.

Resistant Imaginaries Between Margins and Mainstreams

Afrofuturism’s Transcultural Trajectories

Since the mid-1990s, the black experience in Britain has begun to be (re)negotiated intensely, with a strong focus on history. Narrative Projections of a Black British History considers narratives that construct, or engage with, aspects of a black British history. Part I poses the question of what sort of narratives have emerged from, and in turn determine, key events (such as the iconic 'Windrush' moment) and developments and provides basic insights into theoretical frameworks. It also offers a large number of comparative readings, considering both 'factual' and 'fictional' forms of representation such as history books, documentary films, life writing, novels, and drama, and identifies main strands, 'official' narratives and countercurrents. Part II embarks on close readings and analyses of a selection of narratives that can be classed as reactions to the 'established' historical culture. Overall, the book draws attention to collective currents and individual positions, affirmative and critical approaches: Together, they form a representative image of a specific moment in the ongoing debate about a black British history.

Eva Ulrike Pirker

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