Module description
Through an innovative collaborative partnership with the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, this module investigates the lived experiences, political activism, forms of cultural production and diverse civic contributions of Black women and men in twentieth-century London. Through a combination of lectures, seminars, and hands-on, source-led exercises – delivered in alternate weeks at King’s and at the BCA in Brixton – students will critique Britain’s imperial past and postcolonial legacies and critically interrogate narratives of migration and multiculturalism that position the arrival of the Empire Windrush as the advent of Black Britain.
Themes covered across the module include the mapping of Black spaces in the metropolis, imperial and transatlantic intellectual and cultural networks, anti-racist protest and resistance, and political organisations. Students will engage with a rich and varied range of primary source materials, courtesy of the BCA and other repositories, encompassing film and photography, music and literature, oral histories and social surveys. Students will gain a good grasp of the relevant historiography, and its modulation over the last four decades, and an introduction to methodological questions about 'public history', 'community archives' and historically-informed activism.
Assessment details
1 x 1,500-word formative essay; 1 x 3,000-word essay (100%)
Teaching pattern
10 x 2 hour seminars (weekly)