10 Communities of Britishness
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Kathleen Paul
Abstract
This chapter explores the different communities and suggests that their coming to the surface was a direct consequence of the end of empire. The confines of the distinct Irish community of Britishness first assumed concrete form in the negotiations surrounding Ireland's imminent declaration of a republic. British policy-makers sought to use the myth of a single, universal Britishness as one means of holding on to the international power and prestige associated with Britain's position at the centre of an empire. In June 1948, Clement Attlee's Labour Government passed a British Nationality Act which provided for an extremely generous definition of Britishness. Post-war Britain witnessed the migration of several major population groups. The 1971 Immigration Act reclassified all former British subjects as either patrial (subjects who themselves, or whose father or paternal grandfather had been born in the UK) or non-patrial (those without such family connections).
Abstract
This chapter explores the different communities and suggests that their coming to the surface was a direct consequence of the end of empire. The confines of the distinct Irish community of Britishness first assumed concrete form in the negotiations surrounding Ireland's imminent declaration of a republic. British policy-makers sought to use the myth of a single, universal Britishness as one means of holding on to the international power and prestige associated with Britain's position at the centre of an empire. In June 1948, Clement Attlee's Labour Government passed a British Nationality Act which provided for an extremely generous definition of Britishness. Post-war Britain witnessed the migration of several major population groups. The 1971 Immigration Act reclassified all former British subjects as either patrial (subjects who themselves, or whose father or paternal grandfather had been born in the UK) or non-patrial (those without such family connections).
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture 21
- 2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’ 37
- 3 Coronation Everest 57
- 4 Look back at empire 73
- 5 ‘No nation could be broker’ 91
- 6 The imperial game in crisis 111
- 7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age 128
- 8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers 145
- 9 Wandering in the wake of empire 163
- 10 Communities of Britishness 180
- 11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain 200
- 12 India, Inc.? 217
- Index 233
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture 21
- 2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’ 37
- 3 Coronation Everest 57
- 4 Look back at empire 73
- 5 ‘No nation could be broker’ 91
- 6 The imperial game in crisis 111
- 7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age 128
- 8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers 145
- 9 Wandering in the wake of empire 163
- 10 Communities of Britishness 180
- 11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain 200
- 12 India, Inc.? 217
- Index 233
