1. BLACK BRITISH COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
So far you have been introduced to what the exam about and what the specific collective group
we're studying. I have chosen to look at the collective identity of Black British people. This has been
interesting to teach in the past as both I and the students have created new hypothesis and theories
into what constitutes someone as belonging to the collective identity ‘Black British’. That’s the fun
part coming up with theories hypothesising and backing it up with evidence from the two media
forms you’re studying, film and music.
There is a requirement from the exam board for students to have knowledge of the past, present
and be able to speculate on the future of the chosen collective identity, always referring to the
media and mediated representations when discussing the past, present and future (remember
every media product is constructed!). The main focus must be the contemporary context of the
collective identity and contemporary texts. It’s necessary to teach you this topic not a leading way
but in way that encourages you to enquire ask questions and form your own debates (hence so
many research tasks and independent work), this will allow you to apply and examine relevant
theorists.
Anything I teach you should enable you to be able to answer the questions provide by the exam
board, so in relation to our collective group you should by the end be able to confidently answer the
following questions:
 How do the contemporary media represent nations, regions and ethnic / social / collective
groups of people in different ways?
 How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?
 What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?
 To what extent is human identity increasingly ‘mediated’?
I have chosen to investigate the collective identity of Black Britain through the media formats of film
and music. I always start by teaching the historical context of Black Britain as this informs you as to
how this has contributed to the present representation of Black Britain and in turn how their
indentity is now constructed by themselves and others.
Historical media texts
FILM
Sapphire (Basil Dearden, 1959)
Flame in the Streets (Roy Ward Baker, 1961)
Pressure (Horace Ove, 1976)
MUSIC (this will be discussed altogether)
Reggae
Ska
2 Tone
Grime
Once you understand the historical context I get students write an essay about what they have
learnt so far, considering how Blacks were represented in the film texts, and how this correlates to
the social and political issues of Britain at the time. This was set for Easter homework.

2. CONTEMPORARY
“The creation of a supposedly multicultural society has created a situation where it’s increasingly
difficult to define what it means to be British. There is no longer any clear distinctive about being
British…” BBC/ DNA
Why have I used this quote?
In order to answer such a question it’s important that you watch the contemporary films, the 2Tone
documentary is also useful (Jack will have copies for you please bring in a memory stick with LOTS OF
MEMORY)
• Kidulthood, Menhaj Huda (2006)
• Shank, Mo Ali (2010)
• Freestyle, Kolton Lee, (2010)
• Attack the Block, Joe Cornish (2011)
I hypothesise that the collective identity of ‘Black Britain’ (notice the use of inverted commas) is, in
fact, a youth sub-culture and that has been slowly been forming. This sub culture is led by British
youth more so ‘urban’ youth, young people who have taken on and assimilated themselves into
black culture. We can no longer describe there being a homogeneous black collective identity that is
exclusively for blacks, instead with the absence of the older generation in media texts black
representation in the media, black British collective identity has taken on a heterogeneity.
So….
If we were to define the social category of black British we may say that:
Black British can be defined as one who was born in Britain and has the cultural heritage or ancestry
from the Caribbean or from Africa
In the past what did it mean to be Black British?
To be Black British in the past, for example in 1940’s Britain, Black British people were not born in
Britain but attained the status of being Black British through the colonial past of Britain. This meant
that any person who was from a country under the Imperial rule of Britain was granted entry into
Britain. But this connection shaped the immigrants in Britain as Imperial ‘Others’ they were on the
outskirts of society, shaped as other, and not belonging to Britain.
Hypothesis - what it means to be part of the collective group ‘Black British’ in contemporary
Britain
The idea of what it means to be Black British in contemporary British society has changed due to the
changing landscape of Britain throughout its history. Britain is a melting pot of cultures and in
particular a youth sub-culture has been developing since the early 1980’s which has Black styles and
culture at the centre. This collective identity is not exclusively for Blacks but any youth who share an
identification with each other that can be communication through and with Black discourses e.g.
black culture, music, language and fashion.

3. Black British collective identity is defined through the media mostly through the representation of an
ever evolving youth subculture ("with the yout'sdem talking black and acting black"), with black
culture at the helm, is this negative or positive who knows? It’s important that you think about how
this compares to the Black British collective identity of the Windrush Days of immigration, the
representation of blacks as 'the Other' (Sapphire and Flame in the Streets) and the militant years of
the 70s (Pressure).
REMEMBER THIS, IT’S IMPORTANT IN EVERY ESSAY ANSWER TO DEFINE THE GROUP YOU
HAVE BEEN STUDYING
When referring to black Britain, in contemporary terms, we’re referring to a subcultural
youth movement, which in its present state can be seen as a post-modern version of the
collective group black British. Originally black British referred to those immigrants (with
Caribbean and African heritage) who came from the Commonwealth countries to settle in
Britain.
Due to syncretic processes the make-up of what is described as black Britain has changed
and evolved and therefore this description can be challenged. What we now have is a post-
modern subcultural youth movement – any young person who is part of this post-modern
collective identity can be from various ethnic backgrounds but the cultural materials -
names, narratives, symbols, verbal styles, rituals, clothing, and so on that they associate
themselves with are strongly grounded in black culture. This evolution in the first instance
was instigated by young white people and first generation born black British, but its
continual evolution, and the way in which this group are represented could be said to have
significant media influence.
I WILL EXPLAIN THIS MORE IN THE COMING WEEKS