The black Atlantic,American studies and the politics of the postcolonial

Abstract

Twelve years of scholarship in the field of black-Atlantic-meets-American studies has resulted in a substantial body of knowledge around the extraterritorial excursions of US subjects and their cultural output. Despite the opportunities that the black Atlantic offered, it has begun to seem that the repositioning of academic perspective it stems from has itself become part of the discursive problems surrounding US American studies. This article suggests that it is time to rethink (black) Atlantic studies in the context of its partial institutionalization within the academy. First, it revisits the methodological and theoretical possibilities the field offered. Second, it examines some of the shortcomings which, in the early stages of the project, it was possible to overlook if not entirely ignore. Third, it looks at developments in the field of postcolonial studies, suggesting some conceptual tensions of relevance to postcolonial, US American, and American studies more generally.     

The Unmaking of Management? Change and Continuity in British Management in the 1990s

In the late 1980s, a series of reports —notably, The Making of Managers by CharlesHandy-outlined a development path for management in theU.K. This was to be based on the development of aneducation and training base and the model set by leadingcorporations. A decade later, this paper reviews currenttrends in managerial work and employment against theexpectations of the late 1980s. In doing so, it distinguishes between the objectivecondition of British management and itsinstitutionalized meaning within wider British society.It argues that recent accounts of changes in managerialwork and employment have focused solely on incremental changes inthe empirical domain and have neglected importantdiscursive shifts in the way management is understoodand enacted within organizations. These shifts have been catalyzed by the emergence of a series oforganizational initiatives-first, Total QualityManagement (TQM) and, latterly, lean production andBusiness Process Reengineering (BPR)-which aim tosystematically deconstruct management by emphasizing workerempowerment, delayering, downsizing, and theredistribution of managerial functions. In short,initiatives such as these are contributing to theunmaking of management. Managerial groups aresubject to intensification and polarization, whilemanagerial practices are diffused throughout the workprocess.     

Associational links with home among Zimbabweans in the UK: reflections on long‐distance nationalisms

In this article, I provide an overview of the character of associations formed in Britain by Zimbabweans in the context of the mass exodus that gathered pace from the late 1990s. I discuss the politicization of the Zimbabwe diaspora, which infuses many aspects of associational life beyond specifically political organizations, and also emphasize the importance of Zimbabwean church fellowships. I offer an historical explanation for the strength of nationalism expressed in the diaspora and the absence of ‘translocal’ associations characteristic of other African diaspora groups, such as hometown associations, and explore reasons why burial societies, which have been centrally important for Zimbabwean migrants in other periods and contexts, are less prevalent in Britain. I build my argument on an historical discussion of continuities and changes in the associational forms characteristic of labour migrancy and urbanization within the southern African region. I emphasize the legacies of a strong segregationist settler state, the mobilizations and international solidarities of the protracted struggle for independence, the Christianization of elite African culture in Zimbabwe's cities, and the international politics of the recent multifaceted crisis. My discussion of the associational expression of ‘long distance nationalisms’ is based on interviews conducted in 2004–5, participation in diaspora meetings and events, and reading of diaspora media and websites. In the article I aim to highlight the specific social histories of association and the political context of diaspora formation, which are essential for understanding the nature of institutions connecting with home, and ideas about home itself.     

'If we only had some of what they have' Ralph Ellison in Wales

Abstract

During his period as a merchant marine in the Second World War, the African American novelist Ralph Ellison was stationed in Swansea, Wales. His short story 'In a Strange Country', collected in Flying Home and Other Stories (1998), is based on these Welsh experiences, and there are two other unpublished Welsh-based stories among the Ellison papers at the Library of Congress: 'A Storm of Blizzard Proportions' and 'The Red Cross at Morriston, South Wales'. This article considers these stories as a basis for exploring the cultural and historical connections and correspondences between African Americans and the Welsh. In drawing inspiration from Ellison's critical writings, the article seeks to substantiate a genuinely comparative, transatlantic approach to literary and cultural texts. This approach leads to an exploration of the ways in which the diversity of the Welsh experience – manifested in language, politics and cultural practice – led Ellison to meditate in new ways on the issues of race, nationhood and identity that he would later famously address in Invisible Man.     

HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY,MANUFACTURING, AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: AN ALTERNATE PERSPECTIVE ON SCHMENNER'S HYPOTHESES

Two simultaneous developments took place during the so‐called Industrial Revolution (1760–1830): the industrialization of Britain and other countries in Europe and the deindustrialization of a number of non‐European countries, including India. I identify international relations as a major driver of the three components—demand, innovations, and capital formation—of the Industrial Revolution. I also offer an alternate perspective on hypotheses proposed by Schmenner in the preceding article in this issue.