The past really is a different country

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The past really is a different country

• Lesley Storey PhD Evanthia Lyons PhD
• SPERI, University of Surrey

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Methods 1

• Interviews lasted between 35 minutes and 1 hour,
  15 minutes
• Audio tape-recorded and transcribed in full
• Analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological
  Analysis (IPA) (Smith, 1996).
• All conducted by same researcher

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Methods 2

• This paper is based on a study which consisted of
  an interview based around a sorting task.
• This was done with two groups of British people
  British-born UK citizens of African Caribbean
  descent and heritage and White UK citizens.

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Interview Study

• All participants were asked to choose an era or
  event which had been critical in shaping modern
  Britain and to explain why they felt it had been
  so important.
• They were also asked to state whether they felt
  that this had been a positive or negative effect.
  
• Time lines have been constructed to show
  graphically the events identified.

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Aim of Time Line analysis

• The time line analysis aims to address the
  following questions
• To what extent is the factual history shared?
• To what extent are the interpretations/readings
  of history shared?

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Time Line (All participants)

• Roman Invasion
• William the Conqueror
• Industrial Revolution
• Empire
• The Victorians
• Second World War
• Post war non-White immigration/Windrush
• 60s Black Civil Rights
• Murder of Blair Peach
• Thatcherism
• 80s race riots
• Murder of Stephen Lawrence
• New Labour Victory

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Time Line (Black participants)

• William the Conqueror
• Industrial Revolution
• Empire
• The Victorians
• Post WW2 non-White immigration / Windrush
• 60s Black Civil Rights
• World Cup victory
• Murder of Blair Peach
• Thatcherism
• 80s race riots
• Murder of Stephen Lawrence

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Time Line (White Participants)

• Roman Invasion
• Second World War
• Social changes of 60s 70s
• New Labour Victory (1997)

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Shared past?

• Common events identified by both White and Black,
  similar eras are identified but the significance
  of the era is different.
• For the White sample we have a timeframe covering
  the full chronological period up to the present
  day picking economic, political and military
  events.
• For the Black sample, the emphasis is far more on
  recent events and specifically events which have
  occurred since the large-scale post-war
  immigration of Black people into the UK, the
  events are also far more personal with two murder
  victims being mentioned by name.

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To what extent is the factual history shared?1
social changes of the 60s

• V umm the 60s, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X
  and all that
• I so the sort of effect of that American change
  on on? And what sort of changes do you feel it
  made?
• V well, in like at school the history work that
  we did do was like where like the Black people
  had to sit at the back of the bus and wasnt
  given the right to go into places where White
  people were or anywhere and I think that was
  completely wrong because they was all uman just
  skin colour thats different thats it, so I
  think I dont even know how I would, how I would
  even respond if it was like that now, but
  probably be no difference if it hadnt changed
  but thank God for that
• I so in a sense you feel like youre personally
  benefiting from that time period?
• V yeah I think every every Black person would
• v
• DPR I mean I was I was perhaps doesnt feel
  like an event but the sort of late 60s 70s umm
  feel of change in society is probably something
  that I see as quite important, maybe thats
  associated with err what I said earlier about
  perhaps what I feel is a lessening in class,
  broadening in tolerance in some ways umm in
  limited ways actually but umm and perhaps I mean
  you know associated with that some of the
  breakdowns in terms of umm roles of the
  traditional family, increasing acceptance of umm
  not needing to get married, not needing to have
  the 2 children I think its quite an important
  change in society

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To what extent is the factual history shared?2
WW2

• Similarly the Second World War/Immediate post-war
  era was mentioned by both Black and White but
  with different elements being identified as
  important.
• DPR well I suppose the one that immediately
  jumps to mind is the second world war and the
  enormous effect that had on my parents
  generation
• I mm hmm
• DPR umm in terms of umm both in terms of what
  theyve said and people of their generation have
  said in terms of political change in the way umm
  society was thought about but also a sort of a
  bringing together in terms of joint hardship type
  thing ummin my own personal experience umman
  event .
• V
• CT yeah definitely, the war itself I think that
  umm the influx of more immigrants, definitely umm
  yeah take it back absolutely.I suppose its kind
  of hard, I sppose its things like that I guess

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Themes (Black participants)

• Theme 1 - Race-specific events/eras with racial
  consequences.
• Theme 2 - Race neutral or generic events from
  which racial consequences or implications are
  drawn.
• Theme 3 - Non racially-oriented events with no
  race-specific consequences.

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Theme 1 - Race-specific events/eras with racial
consequences.

• CT yeah, it was I mean it actually shows how
  the relationship between white and black people
  has changed, I mean it was so overtly racist and
  now it has changed and the amount of Black people
  who were killed it was so explicit and up until
  the death of Stephen Lawrence, I think it has
  been a watershed because I think it was, I think
  that white societys consciousness has been
  raised umm and I think that has a lot to do with
  just time that the white kids these days because
  they mix more and interact more and are less
  parochial I think, because I know when you go
  further out in the country people are more
  parochial, they just dont integrate, they just
  dont have any understanding of the other and so
  people in mixed marriages and so on are not, its
  much more of a normal thing now at least in some
  parts of London and some parts of England so I
  think because of that its forcing people to
  challenge the old way of looking at things as
  well so I think yeah I think the death of Stephen
  Lawrence I think was quite a big umm social event
  I think.

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Theme 2 - Race neutral or generic events from
which racial consequences or implications are
drawn

• I ok, and thinking about sort of Britain now in
  the early part of the 21st century, if you had to
  pick either a time period or a particular event
  from the past thats been sort of absolutely you
  know pivotal in making Britain what it is now,
  which would you pick?
• ED - industrial revolution
• I mm hmm why would you pick that one?
• ED - .the period leading up to it is when the
  institutions came into being, banks, insurance,
  the slave trade, institutions have developed
  forging a sort of a can-do mentality, umm we rule
  the world type attitude and it laid it laid the
  foundations for the institutions that are still
  running and still umm still running the show now,
  so yeah that would be the sort of thing, that
  would be the era.

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Theme 3 - Non racially-oriented events with no
race-specific consequences

• I ok, and umm you talked a bit about things
  that have gone on in the past, if you had to pick
  from history or even more recent events one
  either an event or a period of time that you feel
  has been critical in making Britain the country
  it is now, which would you choose?
• SH - ..umm the industrial revolution because
  although all of the you know many other periods
  could you know deal with things that evoke more
  emotion, umm the very fact that we got division
  of labour, 9 to 5 working days umm and all the
  toasters in our kitchen all this sort of stuff
  all sprang from there and thats what people deal
  with on a daily basis, so however mundane it is,
  thats probably it.

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Themes (White participants)

• Theme 1 - maintaining group boundaries and
  in-group positive esteem
• Theme 2 no relationship between sub-groups and
  pivotal events
• Theme 3 - concept of threat.

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Theme 1 - maintaining group boundaries and
in-group positive esteem

• KF oh Lord I should come up with something
  really intellectual like well I think it was the
  1834 Poor Law amendment act (laughing), well
  failing that one umm oh I dont know World War 2,
  I should think possibly because there are enough
  people around who remember that to have it affect
  on how the world is now.
• I right and when you think of how thats sort
  of had an effect on how things are now, is it
  because those people are still around or is it
  because or particular changes?
• I so its continuity?
• KF yes, because those people are still around
  and they all remember it, it accounts for my view
  that Germanys violent when it isnt at all
  (laughing) umm and I dont know and I think an
  approach to situations sort of that sort of
  feeling that the world could suddenly become
  undone if youre not careful

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Theme 2 no relationship between sub-groups and
pivotal events

• Whites tended not to identify pivotal events
  relating to sectional interests of their own
  sub-groups eg class, gender, sexual orientation
  despite making references to the importance of
  these affiliations elsewhere in the interviews.

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Theme 3 - concept of threat.

• This was a recognition that the race of the
  interviewer may have prompted a defensive
  response in participants. In contrast to the
  Black participants.
• The White interviewees tended to have a more
  positive representation of Britain and
  Britishness.
• They assigned negative characteristics to the
  British past and emphasised positive changes over
  time using a discourse of progress.
• They also made external attributions for negative
  qualities or behaviours either through linguistic
  form or by associating negative behaviours with
  people unlike themselves.

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Does it matter?

• In December 2003, the UK Black poet Benjamin
  Zephaniah refused an OBE from the Queen because
  of his perception of the honours links with
  colonialism and slavery.
• Upon receipt of the letter informing him of the
  Award, Mr. Benjamin Zephaniah wrote Me? I
  thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry
  when I hear that word "empire" it reminds me of
  slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of
  brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers
  were raped and my forefathers brutalised. It is
  because of this concept of empire that my British
  education led me to believe that the history of
  black people started with slavery and that we
  were born slaves, and should therefore be
  grateful that we were given freedom by our caring
  white masters ...

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Other possible explanations

• A clash between his Rastafarian religious values
  and the acceptance of a secular honour
• An anti-monarchist personal stance
• Against his political or moral code
• Only for toilet cleaners

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Theoretical implications

• Difficult to look at issues such as alienation
  only in the present tense
• Issues of identity benefit from a social memory
  perspective
• Past has different resonances for different
  groups
• Without engagement with the meaning of the past
  opportunities for dialogue are limited.

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Conclusion 1

• Difficult question for some interviewees
• Requires a degree of historical knowledge but
  historical inaccuracy is not a problem
• Requires some degree of articulacy in
  participants
• Needs larger scale study with matched
  participants

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Conclusion 2

• Pivotal event question generates data not
  otherwise accessible
• Qualitative analysis of this type of data raises
  new issues
• New type of data for social memory theories
• Would benefit from larger-scale study in its own
  right

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Thank You