Product Description

A brilliant and explosive exploration of racial discourses, this text provided a powerful new direction for race relations in Britain and is still dynamite today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81782 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
'Provocative and stimulating ... not a book which can or should be ignored.' - Times Higher Educational Supplement

From the Back Cover

With a new introduction by the author

‘A major contribution to the study of popular culture.’ – Marxism Today

This classic book is a powerful indictment of contemporary attitudes to race. By accusing British intellectuals and politicians on both sides of the political divide of refusing to take race seriously, Paul Gilroy caused immediate uproar when this book was first published in 1987. A brilliant and explosive exploration of racial discourses, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack provided a powerful new direction for race relations in Britain. Still dynamite today and as relevant as ever, this Routledge Classics edition includes a new introduction by the author. First published: 1987.

Customer Reviews

Post-modern rap
This is a post-modern take on race, racism, and particularly anti-racism in Britain between 1945 and 1985. Its fundamental suggestion seems to be that traditional Marxist approaches are not fully helpful in appreciating the value and significance of race issues. The book's emphasis is towards the Afro-Caribbean experience and looks closely at the anti-racist movements of the seventies and also and the popular music of the black 'diaspora' in Britain, the US and the Caribbean. In doing so it picks out the importance of culture as expressed in the life of the community and suggests revolution by a kind of cultural assertion.

Parts of the book verge on the unintelligible - 'These diverse elements combine syncretically in struggles to reconstruct a collective historical presence from the discontinuous, fractured histories of the African and Asian diasporas' - is fairly typical. Nevertheless Gilroy's enthusiasm and commitment comes through, he was there, you can smell the silk-screen presses making posters for Rock against Racism and get real insight into for instance what really happened on the Broadwater estate or the Bristol riots. There is a lot of detail and in my view a careful balance is maintained.

Gilroy adds a lengthy intro from 2002, somewhat more detached and resigned, but preserves his sense of humour. This is a very valuable overview of our 'multicultural society' for anyone who wants to penetrate the media waffle.