Refugees and Cultural Transfer to Britain

This book is the first to focus specifically upon the relationship between refugees and intercultural transfer over an extensive period of time. Since circa 1830, a series of groups have made their way to Britain, beginning with exiles from the failed European revolutions of the mid-nineteenth century and ending with refugees who have increasingly come from beyond Europe. The book addresses four specific questions. First, what roles have individuals or groups of refugees played in cultural and political transfers to Britain since 1830? Second, can we identify a novel form of cultural production which differs from that in the homeland? Third, to what extent has dissemination within and transformation of the receiving culture occurred? Fourth, to what extent do refugee groups, themselves, undergo a process of cultural restructuring? The coverage of the individual essays ranges from high culture, through politics and everyday practices. The volume moves away from general perceptions of refugees as ’problem groups’ and rather focuses on the way they have shaped, and indeed enriched, British cultural and political life.

This book was previously published as a special issue of Immigrants and Minorities.

Stefan Manz is Senior Lecturer and Director of German Studies at Aston University, UK. His microhistorical study on the German ethnic community in nineteenth century Glasgow was published as Migranten und Internierte: Deutsche in Glasgow, 1864-1918 (2003). Other publications include co-edited volumes on Discourses of Intercultural Identity in Britain, Germany and Eastern Europe (2004) and Migration and Transfer from Germany to Britain, 1660-1914 (2007). Current projects include studies on German-Polish relations and on the German diaspora during the nineteenth century. Dr. Manz is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Panikos Panayi is Professor of European History at De Montfort University, UK. He is also a corresponding member of the Institut für Migrationsforschung und Interkulturelle Studien at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. Previouys publications include Life and Death in a German Town: Osnabrück from the Weimar Republic to World War Two and Beyond (2007) and Spicing Up Britain: The Multicultural History of British Food (2008). His current research interests include the history of immigration in Britain since 1800 and German prisoners of war in Britain between 1914 and 1920.