Dr Naomi Oppenheim

Writing the Wrongs: Caribbean Publishing in Post-war Britain from a historical perspective

PhD completed in 2022

Supervisors:

Dr Kate Quinn (UCL Institute of the Americas) and Dr Beth Cooper (The British Library)

An important part of diasporic community building, my thesis used print culture as a window onto post-war black settlement, the dawning of the post-colonial world, and explorations of racial identity within a context of dislocation. It explores my idea of ‘countercultures of print’ – the unique and interconnected cultural phenomenon of publishing, teaching and activism, that blossomed within Britain’s Caribbean diaspora communities. I analysed the production of history within these countercultures of print. By redefining the parameters of where history is produced and disseminated, not only in history books, but through periodicals, public speeches, and materials produced for supplementary schools, this thesis examines the nature of the connection between history, activism and print.

Dr Oppenheim says about her doctoral degree: 'The Collaborative Doctoral Partnership has allowed me explore the complexities of Caribbean and modern British history, experience teaching, and opened me to the world of cultural heritage - which is where I will be focusing my energies for now'

E-mail: naomi.oppenheim.17@ucl.ac.uk