Postcolonial Manchester: Diaspora Space and the Devolution of Literary Culture

Postcolonial Manchester offers a radical new perspective on Britains devolved literary cultures by focusing on Manchesters vibrant, multicultural literary scene. Referencing Avtar Brahs concept of diaspora space, the authors argue that Manchester is, and always has been, a quintessentially migrant city to which workers of all nationalities and cultures have been drawn since its origins in the cotton trade and the expansion of the British Empire. This colonial legacy and the inequalities upon which it turns is a recurrent motif in the texts and poetry performances of the contemporary Mancunian writers featured here, many of them members of the citys long-established African, African-Caribbean, Asian, Chinese, Irish and Jewish diasporic communities. By turning the spotlight on Manchesters rich, yet under-represented, literary tradition in this way, Postcolonial Manchester also argues for the devolution of the canon of English Literature and, in particular, recognition for contemporary black and Asian literary culture outside of London. See more