Negotiating Political Identities by Daniel Faas

Author:Daniel Faas [Faas, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367602826
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2020-06-30T00:00:00+00:00

To be English, as the term is in practice used, is to be white. Britishness is not ideal, but at least it appears acceptable, particularly when suitably qualified – Black British, Indian British, British Muslim and so forth. However, there is one major and so far insuperable barrier. Britishness, as much as Englishness, has systematic, largely unspoken, racial connotations. Whiteness nowhere features as an explicit condition of being British, but it is widely understood that Englishness, and therefore by extension Britishness, is racially coded.

New Labour’s approach, which I would call ‘multicultural Britishness’ (i.e., a combination of notions of multiculturalism and social inclusion), has presented a major shift in thinking about the concept of nationhood. Unlike the Conservative governments which largely excluded ethnic minority communities from the idea of nationhood, the New Labour administration promoted race equality, and the 2000 Race Relations Amendment Act represented the first race relations legislation for 25 years (see Table 5.1). From 2002 on, all public authorities – including schools, colleges and local education authorities – have a duty to promote race equality by eliminating racial discrimination, promoting equality of opportunity, and working toward good ‘race relations’. The Race Relations Amendment Act also laid out specific duties for schools, including the implementation of a written policy on race equality, the monitoring of recruitment and progression of ethnic minority staff and students, and an assessment of the impact of new and current policies on ethnic minority staff, students and other service users.15 In addition, it called for a system for monitoring grievance, discipline, appraisal, staff development, and termination procedures by ethnicity.

The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act of 2002 also engaged with the debates surrounding race equality, social inclusion and citizenship in multicultural Britain, and thus reasserted the concept of nationhood. The legislation requires residents seeking British citizenship to be tested to show ‘a sufficient knowledge of English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic’, to have ‘a sufficient knowledge about life in the United Kingdom’ and to take a citizenship oath and a pledge at a civic ceremony (Home Office 2002). In September 2002, the year preceding this study, the government established an independent advisory group, chaired by Sir Bernard Crick, to advise the Home Secretary on the method, conduct and implementation of a ‘Life in the United Kingdom’ test, also known as Britishness or citizenship test. The resulting report The New and the Old (Home Office 2003) made a number of recommendations for new migrants to Britain. Firstly, prospective citizens should be assessed on their progress in English, and required to move from one English for Speakers of Other Languages level to another, with the minimum movement being from ‘no English’ to a ‘sufficient level to take up unskilled employment’. Secondly, applicants would have to learn English and citizenship in parallel. Thirdly, the report called for a ‘Life in the United Kingdom’ handbook, which would include a short introduction to Britain’s history and society, and be given to all those applying for naturalization as well as other legal migrants with work permits.

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