The past really is a different country

1. The past really is a different country Lesley Storey PhD & Evanthia Lyons PhD SPERI, University of Surrey

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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?

6. 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

7. 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

8. Time Line (White Participants) • Roman Invasion • Second World War • Social changes of 60s & 70s • New Labour Victory (1997)

9. 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.

10. 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 wasn’t 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 that’s different that’s it, so I think I don’t even know how I would, how I would even respond if it was like that now, but probably be no difference if it hadn’t changed but thank God for that • I – so in a sense you feel like you’re personally benefiting from that time period? • V – yeah I think every every Black person would • v • DPR – I mean I was I was perhaps doesn’t 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 that’s 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 it’s quite an important change in society

11. 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 they’ve 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 umm…in my own personal experience umm…an 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 it’s kind of hard, I sppose it’s things like that I guess…

12. 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.

13. 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 society’s 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 don’t integrate, they just don’t have any understanding of the other and so people in mixed marriages and so on are not, it’s 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 it’s 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.

14. 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 that’s 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.

15. 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 that’s what people deal with on a daily basis, so however mundane it is, that’s probably it.

16. 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.

17. 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 don’t 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 that’s 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 it’s continuity? • KF – yes, because those people are still around and they all remember it, it accounts for my view that Germany’s violent when it isn’t at all (laughing) umm and I don’t know and I think an approach to situations sort of that sort of feeling that the world could suddenly become undone if you’re not careful

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. Does it matter? • In December 2003, the UK Black poet Benjamin Zephaniah refused an OBE from the Queen because of his perception of the honour’s 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 ...”

21. 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

22. 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.

23. 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

24. 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

25. Thank You