Belonging in Brixton: An Ethnography of Migrant West Indian Elders in Brixton, London [1st ed.] 9783030545970, 9783030545987

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Belonging in Brixton An Ethnography of Migrant West Indian Elders in Brixton, London Audrey Allwood

Belonging in Brixton

Audrey Allwood

Belonging in Brixton An Ethnography of Migrant West Indian Elders in Brixton, London

Audrey Allwood Department of Anthropology Goldsmiths University of London London, UK

ISBN 978-3-030-54597-0    ISBN 978-3-030-54598-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54598-7 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Brixton: Come in Love

Preface

My Motivation for Writing This Book The decision to write this brook rose out of a personal and academic interest on the experiences of migrants from the West Indies, residing in Britain. My aim in this book is to provide information about an underresearched part of that community, namely the elderly people who migrated in the ‘Windrush’1 era of migration, and to add to the scholarly body of knowledge on this migrant group. In particular, to capture and document the details of the legacy of their migration, but rather than lay emphasis on the legacy of the West Indian migration on British culture and society, this gaze is focused on the opposite. Consequently, the interest here is concerned with the impact of migration on the people who came from the West Indies and remained in Britain, living into the elderly stage of the life course. To some degree, the West Indian community still face discrimination and exclusion and people continue to adjust within Britain, so it is within the adjustment process that this book explores how the elderly people negotiate their belonging, through the examination of everyday life experiences. It also arises from the sentiment, ‘Come in Love’, that is written in a welcome mural on the bridge at the entrance to central Brixton,2 that I believe 1  The ‘Windrush’ era of migration refers to those who migrated to Britain from the West Indies during the period 1948–1971. 2  ‘Come in Love’, artwork by Farouk A Agoro and Akil Scafe-Smith, commissioned by Lambeth Council.

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encapsulates the heart the West Indian migrants brought with them to Britain and that which ignites my passion to share their experiences.

Belonging Why I Am Interested to Explore Belonging? I answer this question by sharing my understanding of what belonging means, reflecting that found in the Cambridge Dictionary,3 that reads, Belong: ‘to be in the right place or a suitable place … to feel happy … or comfortable in a situation’.

Belonging is a complex word, loaded with important meaning to us as humans, particularly because we need secure attachments to develop healthy identities and sense of self, to feel value in existence and in the place that we live. I therefore use belonging to describe the processes of attachment that encompass how we think, feel, act, and settle. I situate belonging in the phrase ‘sense of belonging’ to describe the processes because ‘sense’ relates to feelings and the process of movement and settlement is emotionally determined, as well as socially influenced. Indeed, when people move away from home to a new country with a different culture, language and communication style, climate, social mores, and expectations based on class and race, where comfortable attachment is often absent at the outset, navigation and negotiation are required to find one’s position. The navigations and negotiations also encompass the readjustments required to the country of origin, as well as managing the imagined preconceptions and experiences in the new place. Consequently, living among new people and experiencing new encounters require adaptation to find the best fit, to acquire balanced well-being, with an identity that affords one to feel they belong, where they reside. However, this is a vigorous process for migrants and their families. As I reflect on how and why my interest in belonging grew and how the idea for this project developed, I will share some personal experiences that I encountered during my early life in England. Indeed, it was through reflexive self-exploration, as an adult, that I really began to unravel what 3

 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/belonging, 14.04.2019

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was going on regarding my own sense of belonging. Up to this point, reacting was the automatic mode of action by doing what was necessary to survive the experiences, but what was going on was more than pure jerked reflex reaction. For as I looked at the choices that my ‘outsider’, ‘insider’, merged differences had given me, I realised that I was living through a complex process, as I navigated my sense of belonging. Though I live in London, where I was born, I have a Jamaican cultural lifestyle and visit Jamaica through partaking in the spatial ‘diasporic’ movements that migrants and their children make. Therefore, I exist with influences formed from fluid cultures, as described in Teju Cole’s novel (Gehrmann 2016). Indeed, being mobile between spaces, like many of my parents’ generation, harbours similarities to the ‘Afropolitan’ generation that Taiye Selasi draws upon in her novel concerning migrants who experience a mixture of ‘restlessness’, unrootedness’, and ‘unbelonging’, encompassing the struggle for identity (Gehrmann 2016). Looking back into childhood, my reflections on encounters and behaviours of other children show that my identity and sense of belonging were in question. Nonetheless, as a resident in South London, where I grew up, I endeavoured to fit into my environment, manage my comfort, and engage with others. Although, at that early stage in my life, I had not yet acquired an academic understanding of belonging, I had acquired a feeling of being different from my engagements outside of my household. Therefore, it was as a mature adult, when new migrants to Britain asked me, ‘Did you always feel that you belong here?’, that the reflection on the experiences I encountered whilst growing up in British society provided me with the opportunity and the desire to explore deeply within the questioning. Consequently, my response also serves to explain why exploring belonging interests me. I recall, in reply to the question, I told the story that follows: I remember growing up in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, and as a young girl I experienced encounters that exposed me as different, and I felt that difference. At primary school, while socialising in the playground, some white British classmates asked me, ‘Is your blood-red?’ Further, asking me if my blood was like theirs! They would stroke my skin and touch my hair (uninvited) to feel me, because they were trying to understand me, while seeking to connect with our similarity beneath our obvious differences. This somewhat unwelcome intrusion into my personal being was offensive to me. However, they were working out how to relate to me in a way that made

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sense and was comfortable for them, because we were at school, and in the company of each other. The nature of such questioning indicated to me that they were not like me, and for sure, I was not like them. Yet, I was with them at school and we lived in the same community, we played together, we learnt in the classroom together, some other children in our neighbourhood even came to my home and ate dinner with me, but there was something different about me. This left me feeling somewhat confused, annoyed and at ill ease.

At this point the gasp of my conversant would interrupt me, as a further question followed, typically on the lines of, ‘So what did you do?’ I would reply saying, Well, I sought to manage my difference at primary school. I learnt to live with the difference, discomfort, and similarities. Although, I was not settled in that space I just wanted to be accepted and I wanted to belong, albeit with one foot in and one foot out.

Interestingly, my exploration and negotiation have remained, for I am constantly re-examining my position, self, and sense of belonging in Britain, because the influencing narratives constantly shift in response to changes in the population construction and the governing social, economic, and political structures and systems locally, and globally, that affect Britain and the Caribbean. Nevertheless, my journey is no longer passive because I recognise that through resilience, I ‘consciously’ re-position myself to suit my comfort and find value in my life and in society, using my personal choice and will, to navigate and manoeuvre in the places where I find affinity and acceptance, and avoid where I do not. The jostling I exercise to find my place is not unique to me because I shared this type of journey with my parents. In fact, they taught and helped me by equipping me with skills to do this job. I listened to my parents’ stories and witnessed them navigating their way through life in Britain. For they too were also ‘different’ and experienced ‘discomfort’, occupying an interesting ‘insider’ yet ‘outsider’ position to Britain, whilst changing their perspectives towards their country of origin, familial contact, and initial dream of returning to Jamaica. I also observed them manoeuvring their thoughts, as a response to changes to immigration law and political shifts that ensued. They were concerned with how safe they felt about living in Britain and their status, against the background of

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hearing of violent attacks by racist groups such as the National Front on black people, alongside issues of police brutality in the Caribbean community (Gilroy 1987, 1993), causing them concern for the safety of their sons. I recall my parents’ membership of the Association of Jamaicans, and the social events we attended as a family, that solidified me being Jamaican with and through my parents and their cohort, as well as going to school and being British with other British children, though I was often the ‘different’. I remember being sick when I started school and ate school lunch, because I was not accustomed to such food preparation, and my mum coming for me at lunchtime so I could go home and enjoy her (our) food. I also remember, at primary school age, the grocery man delivering West Indian provisions on a Friday night to our rented flat. I remember the picture of Bustamante4 on the wall in our front room and the drawings that I made, as a child, of the Jamaican flag at home, and the Union Jack at school. I occupied two cultural spheres in different ways and both influenced my agency, sense of self and belonging in Britain. Again, at primary school age, I clearly recall my mum saying that she came to England to earn money and return home and buy a home in Stony Hill, St. Andrew’s, Jamaica. My dad wanted to return to Jamaica but he could not and eventually my mum did not want to return, so they both stayed. In addition, looking back, it was in Secondary School, when I took Sociology as an ‘O Level’ subject option that my academic interest to study society and the people within it ignited and remained through my undergraduate and master degrees. While continuing my education, I encountered literature on Caribbean identity that showed that such navigation was widespread among other migrants and that identity (Hall 1996), the state, and race played a part in fitting into British society (Gilroy 1993), and this validated my interest further. Interestingly, it was as adult that my dad involved my brother and me in his desire to sort out ‘family land’5 in Jamaica. He engaged us in a return trip to Jamaica to undertake the legal process of surveying the

4  Sir Alexander Bustamante became the first prime minister of Jamaica in 1962. He founded the Jamaican Labour Party and started the Trade union to represent workers’ rights. 5  ‘Family Land’ is land that belongs to a family linage, passing on from one generation to another without sale.

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­ ortions of land to obtain a ‘title’ paper6 to secure it for his extended famp ily, but I think this was a gesture of eternal hope and emotional attachment more than his actual return (unfinished…my dad later passed away). I realised that staying in Britain, for my parents, was a loaded decision that included emotional, financial, practical, and other concerns, which become reconciled, albeit somewhat like ‘Hobson’s choice’.7 Nevertheless, my parents retained their Jamaican identity as residents in Britain that afforded them their place of difference in British society (Hall 1996),8 until both passed away in the early 2000s. Indeed, unlike those caught up in the recent ‘Windrush scandal’,9 my parents did apply for naturalisation and received the validation certificate that invoked their British Nationality status in law, whilst they worked out their sense of belonging, in reality. Certainly, they made tolerable adjustments. However, this predicament interested me. Therefore, when I decided to do my doctorate degree, I chose to explore the sense of belonging among elderly West Indian migrants from the Caribbean. I made this choice so that I could investigate, find, and share an understanding of the nuances involved. In addition, I wanted to provide a resource to share understanding of the impact and legacy on the lives of the migrants from the ‘Windrush’ migration era and to facilitate discussions on the issues presented, and those that further unfold, in order to find solutions to on-going difficulties among the successive generations in Britain.

The Journey to Doing This Book The desire to undertake this research also results from my longstanding professional work and involvement in the social welfare field. In particular, I had seen many conflicts where ethnicity and cultural differences clashed 6  ‘Title paper’ refers to the legal document stating ownership of land. It is emphasised here because my dad lost legal paperwork of land ownership during his migration to Britain. It was therefore necessary to undertake the conveyance process to obtain the legal documentation, or risk potential loss. 7  ‘A situation in which it seems that you can choose between different things or actions, but there is really only one thing that you can take or do’. https://dictionary.cambridge. org/dictionary/english/hobson-s-choice?q=Hobson%27s+choice 8  Hall acknowledged those who could not return to Jamaica carved out a space in England, devoid of an independent national identity, while adapting from a marginalised position. 9  The Windrush Scandal involves those who migrated to Britain from the West Indies between 1948 and 1971 and refers to illegal deportations of those who did not undertake the procedures to naturalise and become British citizens.

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within the state’s professional administration of services, throughout my career. Importantly, I worked in Brixton and other deprived areas in London that gave me first-hand experience of how government strategy, policies, and administration interfaced with migrants and the West Indian community. This experience also serves to introduce my connection with Brixton and share why I chose to undertake my research in this place. After my first degree, as a fresh Social Science graduate, I worked for Lambeth Council in the Recreation Department, and I personally experienced the ‘front line’10 area in Brixton, when I worked at a community project on Railton Road, during the period of the infamous riots in the 1980s. This project officially housed the One O’clock Club, a group for mothers with young babies, as well as a youth project catering for those aged 5–16 years old. Unofficially, the community centre filled with varied people of all ages from babies to adults in their 30s, 40s and beyond. The attendees lived on Railton Road, on the surrounding streets, or elsewhere in South London and had a connection to Brixton through family or friendship. Though the Brixton area at that time was a notorious region, crime filled and often feared, I found it welcoming, exciting, and fun. Nevertheless, the stabbing in the project’s location, within my first week of employment, alongside talking to ex-convicts and hearing their wows, seeing those damaged by mental health medications, and hearing the dire imprisonment experiences with irreparable personal breakdown, brought my Social Science education to life, and what I experienced further educated and touched me. I also enjoyed joyful experiences there, such as engaging with locals and accepting the invitations to parties and learning to play pool (well, of a fashion) and to execute playing dominoes well enough to acquire the ability to ‘read players’ hands’, although I did not master the art of slamming the dice on the table. I gained first-hand experience of the difficulties that arose in the community, and I witnessed reactions to those feeling that their voices were unheard and their needs left unmet. At this time, during the early to mid-­1980s, in the interim years between the Brixton riots of 1981 and 1985, I also worked for Lambeth Council in the Housing Department. In that post, I advised a lot of the West Indian population about their housing rights because many lived in unsatisfactory accommodation, under 10  The ‘front line’ is a deprived area that is notorious for poverty, deprivation and an associated social experience.

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unsatisfactory circumstances, and most often strikingly misunderstood when explaining their plight, particularly older people from the West Indies. Certainly, there was a large reliance on the state for assistance, but this was often met with ambiguity; however, I tried my best to advise and advocate for those seeking to assert their rights against unjust landlords within the maze of legal rights and obligations. This was in the early days of equal opportunities policies and the implementation of ‘Section 5.2 (d)’.11 This regulation enabled black employees to work with the black community and highlight the plight of its members, enabling the provision of services sensitive to their specific needs. Such personnel also advised the council on how to develop services to meet the needs of Afro-Caribbean people. At this time, different lobby groups met within the borough and in Lambeth Town Hall, such as the ‘Black Workers’ Group, that provided a voice in local government to push up issues encountered by black workers and residents in the borough to the higher tiers of management to influence policy. I attended many meetings and discussion groups on various topics and there was some success, resulting in the development of new initiatives and policies. So it was my earlier life experiences, alongside my reflections on my parents’ reconciliation process, my wider personal experiences, and those from my early engagements in Brixton and beyond that also influenced my decision to focus my doctoral research among long-term elderly West Indian migrants. I was also keen to explore what happened to services developed in the mid-1980s period specifically for the West Indian community and to find out how they served the community over the decades. I found the sheltered housing scheme, with elderly West Indian residents, and it was available to me to undertake my research. I read research on Caribbean migration that excited my interest further. Nevertheless, the opportunity and dedication to write this book emerged over time, for after completing my PhD in 2008, and immediately publishing an article in a housing journal, I did not work in academia, instead I continued to work in public sector roles. Such roles served to expand my knowledge of the elderly further. I undertook interim roles at City and Hackney Primary Care Trust, in Strategic Commissioning, where as a consultant I worked on Adult Safeguarding Legislation, 11  Section 5.2(d) is a part of the Race Relations Act 1976, amended 2000 and 2003 that enabled an employer to employ a black worker. This occurred as long as it was proven that the client group are best served by workers reflecting their race and culture.

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concerning implementing the legislative, and policy changes across the trust, including services for elders. I moved on as project manager to investigate the needs of residents and service providers, regarding planning additions to the dementia care pathway under the ten-year strategic plan. In both roles, my remit included finding out more about the health care needs of the population, and the specific needs of the African Caribbean segment, often disadvantaged while in need of healthcare and other social services, that, on reflection, served to re-enliven interest in the topic of this book. In addition, over the years after completing my doctorate, I regularly frequented Brixton, both as a commuter and participant in social activities, meeting friends, shopping in the market and shops in the area, so I witnessed a lot of change taking place. The changes resulted from the 1980s and the infamous riots of 1981, 1985, and the 1995 and 2011 disturbances, that brought continued developments in housing, the economic trading areas, social activity sites, and the implementation of government services to reduce crime, increase safety, and enhance the environment and local economy. As a result, my interest to share my research in Brixton grew as I saw old places close and new ones emerge; indeed the Brixton area had changed significantly in the years after completing my PhD. I reflected and realised that my initial research was important because we needed to hear the stories the elders told, and they had much to contribute about their lives that remained unheard. So, I returned to Goldsmiths University as a Visiting Research Fellow in 2017  in the Anthropology Department to update my original research for book publication.

Challenges Indeed, completing this book has been a labour of love, as well as a journey well loved. That said, surely, there have been challenging moments. I completed both my PhD and the Visiting Research Fellow research period on a part-time basis. I intermittently undertook external contractual roles, and the tension between having time to engage in scholarly research and manage my finances brought weary navigation. Nevertheless, I pursued to find a zone in which I could engage just enough lucidity in my mind and find some clarity in my writing. Interestingly, another development also spurred me on. Lately, those born in Britain to parents who migrated in the ‘Windrush’ era of migration

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are increasingly undertaking research into their genealogy. Indeed, my niece, Yasmin, asked me to put our family tree together so that her children will know their West Indian heritage. Therefore, over the last five years I have been compiling information constructing our family tree. Having done so, I have deeper understanding regarding my sense of belonging, from knowing more about my roots, and the development of my lineage, albeit through the days of slavery, and out of contested and settled notions of what lay within and beyond it. Consequently, as I reflect on the research in this book, regarding a sense of belonging, I believe it will assist an understanding of the roots and legacy of Caribbean migration (forced and ‘free’) and survival. It will also help the Caribbean migrant community, and others, understand more about the nuances involved in settlement, as well as enabling the development of a confident identity, sense of personal stability, resilience, and an understanding within and beyond the Caribbean community about the process of adjustment that migration brings. Indeed, my challenge in completing this work is to take enough importance from the need for such conversations so that I continue to gather and share more aspects of the journey that Caribbean people make.

Considerations in Undertaking the Research ‘Insider’ Research Position Prior to embarking on this research and entering my PhD fieldwork area, I had many considerations about the forthcoming work. I considered my status and position as insider researcher. I wondered if this position would support the research or hinder it. Nevertheless, I was too keen to retreat and my research position was not unique. The increasing trend over the decades to study the familiar, that brings challenges to the traditional boundaries of location, fieldwork dilemmas, obstacles, topic, and the ethnographer’s gaze (Marcus 1999), comforted me. Nevertheless, researching among people with a similar heritage to my own brought concerns regarding identification and my ability to remain objective, so I explored in this direction. Certainly, I am an ‘insider’ researcher, sharing the same racial and cultural background with the research group, as well as residing in London. Therefore, my position is similar to other insider researchers, such as Myerhoff (1989) who stated,

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tied to a different culture…all of the while maintaining sufficient detachment to observe and analyse it with some objectivity, because it involves an act of imagination, is a means of discovering what one is not and will never be. However, ‘…working with one’s own society and more specifically, those of one’s own familiar heritage, is perilous, and much more difficult’. (1989: 90)

Nonetheless, Myerhoff (1989) concluded, ‘… my membership and my affection are my qualifications’, and this is also a point of view that I share. I also reflect on Besson (2002) who stated that her ‘Caribbean background influenced her interpretation of Martha Brae’, and she held what Asad, Rosaldo, and Whitaker refer to as a ‘positioned subjectivity’ (cited in 2002: xxiv), as a native researcher at home, holding a distinctive mix of, ‘insight and blindness’. I relate to this experience with regard to my African Caribbean heritage and status as British citizen holding a similar position, so I am mindful of the various aspects regarding the similarities and differences that I share with my respondents and the impact of my position in the field. I considered my intellectual exercise (Shore and Wright 1997) harbouring power, as interpreter of information that people tell me, and my comments on observed events from my examination of the social and political issues (Dewalt and Dewalt 2002) encountered. Consequently, I respond to the ethical aspect of the investigations, and I tried to balance authenticity, striving to remain neutral and not assuming power or to advocate on their behalf, while upholding a moral responsibility through practicing self-accountability (Argyrou 2000), to the informants and my research. Furthermore, as a practitioner within the public sector social care arena, it is also important to engage in ethical research practice that does not breach confidentiality, perform, or acquiesce with any form of abuse. I, therefore, sought to place a boundary around the professional self and my researcher self, adhering to professional codes of conduct to mitigate issues about exploitation (Bell and Nutt 2002). Eventually, as researcher, I am accountable for what I write. Therefore, I adopt the consequentialist position (Birch 2002) and abide by professional academic regulations that guide the research. My doing so ensures credibility of the research as I uphold the reputation of the profession and the rights of the research subjects (Dewalt and Dewalt 2002), ensuring their safety, protection, confidentiality, and anonymity (Birch 2002), as well as observing boundaries. As a result, I also observed my respondents’

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omissions, but I could only validate information to the best of my ability (Chevannes 1994) and as far as they allowed. Overall, I foremost asserted my position as researcher, employing the skill that Mead explained by stating, ‘many anthropologists seems to have one characteristic in common: the image of stepping in and out of society, of being involved and detached’ (Dumont 1978: 6). As well as adopting a stance similar to Boas, Kroeber, Radcliffe-Brown, and Evans-Pritchard, amongst others who sought to remain detached, to ensure the scientific acceptance of anthropology (Dumont 1978), and to be factual. Nonetheless, I understood from Robbins (2003) who reflected on Bourdieu stating the reflective pursuit of ethical action does not guarantee neutrality or ethical detachment. Indeed, Lewis (1983) declared his familiarity with the Mexican culture in conjunction with his own values and personality inevitably influenced the outcome of his study, and I am sure that I similarly influenced mine. Therefore, my objective stance contained paradoxical consequences for although I took a formal ‘outsider’ perspective, perhaps the human condition cannot remain totally detached, but surfaces by acting in an indirect way. As a result, I acknowledge that my beliefs encroach on the data to some extent, through my interpretations. To balance this out, I practiced ‘ethical’ research and placed myself within the realm of a reflexive researcher from which interesting summations and conclusions arise. London, UK

Audrey Allwood

References Argyrou, A. 2000. Self-Accountability, Ethics, and the Problem of Meaning. In Audit Cultures: Anthropological Studies in Accountability, Ethics and the Academy, ed. M. Strathern. London/New York: Routledge. Bell, L., and L.  Nutt. 2002. Divided Loyalties, Divided Expectations: Research Ethics, Professional and Occupational Responsibilities. In Ethics in Qualitative Research, ed. M.  Mauthner, M.  Birch, J.  Jessop, and T.  Miller. London/ Thousand oaks/New Delhi: Sage publications. Besson, J. 2002. Martha Brae’s Two Histories, European Expansion and Caribbean Culture Building in Jamaica. Chapel Hill/London: The University of North Carolina Press. Birch, M., and T. Miller. 2002. Encouraging Participation: Ethics and Responsibilities. In Ethics in Qualitative Research, ed. M. Mauthner, M. Birch,

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J. Jessop, and T. Miller. London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage publications. Chevannes, B. 1994. Rastafari Roots and Ideology. New  York: Syracuse University Press. DeWalt, M., and R.  DeWalt. 2002. Participant Observation: A Guide for Fieldworkers. New York/Oxford: Atlanta Press. Dumont, J.P. 1978. The Headman and I: Ambiguity and Ambivalence in the Fieldworking Experience. Austin/London: University of Texas Press. Gehrmann. 2016. Cosmopolitanism with African Roots. Afropolitianism’s ambivalent mobilities, Journal of African Cultural Studies 28 (1): 61–72. https:// doi.org/10.1080/136815.2015.1112777 Gilroy, P. 1987. There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack. London: Unwin Hyman Ltd. The Black Atlantic. ———. 1993. The Black Atlantic. London: Verso. Hall, S. 1996. You Can Go Home Again, You Just Can’t Stay: Stuart Hall and the Caribbean Disapora. Research in African Literatures, Bloomington 27 (4, Winter): 28–48. Lewis, O. 1983. The Children of Sanchez. Peregrine: Books. Marcus, G.E. 1999. Critical Anthropology Now, Unexpected contexts, Shifting Constituencies, Changing Agendas. Sante Fe: School of American Research Press. Myerhoff, B. 1989. So What Do You Want From Us Here? In In the Field: Readings on the Field Research Experience, ed. D.C. Smith and W. Kornblum. New York: Praeger Publishers. Robbins. 2003. The Responsibility of the Ethnographer. Anthropology Today, vol. 19, 2, April Shore, C., and S. Wright, eds. 1997. Anthropology of Policy: Critical Perspectives of Governance and Power. London: Routledge.

Acknowledgements

My West Indian, Jamaican parents, though deceased in the early 2000s, were the first storytellers in my life. My mum continuously told my siblings and me stories of her life experiences, so she was really the first ‘anthropologist’ in my life. My dad, who was into politics and held steadfast to ‘old Labour’ ideas, was the first ‘ideologist’ in my life. Both parents influenced and inspired my interest in people in the world that led me to eventually become an anthropologist and to tell this story. I thank my brothers, Patrick and Hugh, for believing that I had more to offer … similarly wider family and friends. I thank all of the participants in this research, for this research could not exist without them. I acknowledge the courageous movements that the elderly people took, as young people in their sojourn to Britain from the West Indies in the ‘Windrush’ era of migration. I admire the ability of the elders to navigate difficulties and make a life in the communities in which they found themselves, and I acknowledge the resilience and adaptations that took place and enabled survival mechanisms to manifest. I acknowledge the elders’ maintenance of culture in all its vibrant manifestations, and the ancestors that dwell through us all. I am grateful to the academic support and encouragement kindly afforded to me by Professor Jean Besson, whose dedication to her research and publications has inspired me to pursue the development of mine.

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About the Book

This ethnographic case study explores the experiences of elderly West Indian migrants residing in a sheltered housing scheme in iconic Brixton, south London. It focuses on notions of placement and ‘belonging’, that also challenge inclusion. It shows how the elders negotiate their sense of belonging, amid paradoxes within the heterogeneous nature of the elderly group that contests notions of reputation and respect, amid a complex interface with state services, and varied family members that maintain their well-being. Certainly, class, gender and notions of matrifocality affect connections, and placement. Nevertheless, migration creates multiple layers and meanings of belonging, with contradictory and conflicting issues associated with the culture of movement, that ultimately challenges notions as ‘settlement’. Undoubtedly, Gramsci’s (1990) agency and Bhabha’s (1994) notions regarding placement assist unpacking how, and where the elders find belonging. Wherein I ultimately suggest they are ‘marginal within places’, remaining in the UK by default.

References Bhabha, H.K. 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge Gramsci, A. 1990. Selections from Political Writings (1921–1926). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Contents

1 Introduction  1 Questions Explored in This Project   2 Background   3 Research Approach   4 Research Methods   5 Material Culture   8 Memory   9 The Research Participants   9 Creation of the Sheltered Housing Scheme  10 End of an Era  13 Locating the Research  15 Lambeth  16 Brixton  18 Walking Through Brixton  19 Structure of the Book  30 Conclusion  32 Bibliography  33 2 The Complexity of Belonging: Theoretical Perspectives 37 Introduction  37 Themes  37 Understanding Belonging  38 Caribbean Kinship and Origins of the Lower-Class Black Family  40 Class and the Family Structure  45 xxv

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Contents

Family Structure and Belonging  46 Lessening Connection to Family Land  48 Gender Equality  49 Migration and Belonging  51 Globalisation and Migration  52 Migration, Separation, and Re-localisation  54 Agency  56 Outsiders?  59 My Assessment Framework  64 Conclusion  66 Bibliography  67 3 Elderhood and Black Sheltered Housing 75 Introduction  75 The Complexities of Old Age  75 The African Caribbean Sheltered Housing Scheme  76 Mitigating the Exclusion of Black Elders  82 Elderhood in the West Indian Context  83 Ageism and a Preference for Younger People  86 Different Approaches to Elderhood  90 Respect for the Elderly in the Community  93 Elders and the State 100 Concerns About the Position of the Black Elderly 103 Conclusion 106 Bibliography 107 4 The Experience of Migration: Planting Roots109 Introduction 109 Local Connections 110 Dispersed Connections 119 The Effect of Dispersal 122 Migration, Identity, and the Individual Focus 125 Which Home Is Home? 132 Conclusion 139 Bibliography 140

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5 The Elder’s Children: Family Relations and Gender Differences143 Introduction 143 Concerns of This Chapter 143 Circumstances Behind Movement into the Scheme 144 Kinship, Social Organisation, and Gender Relations 149 Gender Equality 157 The Formation of the Marginal Male Position 163 Understanding the Gender Differences 169 Movement, Kinship, and Gendered Roles 175 Conclusion 178 Bibliography 178 6 Socialisation: ‘Small Garden, Bitter Weed’181 Introduction 181 Being Local 182 Differences 183 Together and Divided 189 Mutual Support 195 Culture ‘V’ the State 198 Outsiders Within 202 The Dominoes Group 204 Bickering 207 New Year, Old Things 210 Impact of the Church 211 From Windrush ‘till Now 216 Belong: In or Out? 217 Reflections of the New Scheme Manager 219 Conclusion 222 Bibliography 223 7 Elder’s Engagement with State Support Services225 Introduction 225 The Equalities Ethos 226 BME Difficulties 227 The Administrative Paradox 228 Navigating Support and Care 230

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Management Issues 232 Consultation and Conflict 239 Ethnicity, Culture, and Staffing 243 Ambivalence and Ambiguity Towards Ethnic Difference 247 Personal Care and Cultural Differences 250 Culture or Personality Differences 256 Conclusion 260 Bibliography 260 8 Conclusion263 Introduction 263 The Research Framework 264 Research Findings 265 Where the Elders Belong 269 Contribution to Anthropology 272 Bibliography 273 Appendix: Genealogy Charts277 Bibliography295 Index309

List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Fig. 1.2 Fig. 1.3 Fig. 1.4 Fig. 1.5 Fig. 1.6 Fig. 1.7 Fig. 1.8 Fig. 1.9 Fig. 1.10 Fig. 1.11 Fig. 1.12 Fig. 1.13 Fig. 2.1 Fig. 3.1 Fig. 3.2 Fig. 3.3 Fig. 3.4 Fig. 3.5 Fig. 6.1

Period of significance 15 Map of Brixton 20 Mural ‘Stay in Peace’ 21 Lambeth Town Hall 21 Mural ‘Remain, Thriving’ 22 Windrush Square 23 Black Cultural Archives 23 African and Caribbean war memorial 24 St. Matthew’s Church 25 Youth centre 26 Brixton Village 27 Inside Brixton Village 28 Brixton Pop 29 Assessment framework 65 The communal laundry in the sheltered housing scheme 78 The communal kitchen at the sheltered housing scheme 78 A rose representing the shared garden space 79 The integration of services at the sheltered housing scheme 81 The professional services provided at the sheltered housing scheme82 The communal lounge 184

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List of Tables

Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 5.3 Table 6.1 Table 7.1 Table 7.2

Family of orientation patterns and connections Motivation to travel Direct circumstances leading to movement into the scheme Link with children relationship status and gender differences Family of orientation and family of procreation Social activity Support and care services Help from social services

111 127 145 148 168 188 231 251

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction

This book is entitled Belonging in Brixton: An Ethnography of Migrant West Indian Elders in Brixton, London, and is concerned with how elderly West Indian1 migrants residing in a sheltered housing scheme negotiate their sense of belonging. This work consists of doctoral research in 2008, subsequently updated with continued visits and observations in the Brixton area throughout the interim years, with return visits to the sheltered housing scheme in 2018. On return, I found the majority of the respondents had passed away, with only a few of the original participants remaining, mostly in poor health with limited communication. Nevertheless, the rich information and stories previously collected form this ethnographic compilation. This ethnography therefore captures the legacy of the ‘Windrush’ migration, through the examination of life experiences of 26 elderly West Indian migrants residing in Brixton, during a significant time in British history, in which Brixton as well as the migrant West Indian community experienced social and cultural change that brings a multilayered approach to examining the complexities of belonging. In this introduction, I lay out the main line of enquiry and the associated questions of the research. I also contextualise the timely importance of this work that harbours experiences of those in the ‘Windrush era of migration’, as residents of the iconic2 Brixton area. I also introduce the 1  The West Indian settlement in Brixton became an important site for migrants and became an iconic representative of Caribbean culture and community. 2  The Brixton area has a well-known and established image that is associated with the West Indian people. As such, it is an iconic area that represents West Indian migration and settlement in Britain.

© The Author(s) 2020 A. Allwood, Belonging in Brixton, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54598-7_1

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research approach used to capture the experiences and nuances involved in negotiating belonging. As a result, this work shares pertinent insights gained from observations of the elders and those they interact with such as family members, friends, and state workers.

Questions Explored in This Project The foremost question of this enquiry is concerned with the examination and understanding of how the elderly people negotiate their sense of belonging, and is shaped by the important influences they hold as migrants. Therefore, I specifically explored two related questions: the first question asks, how does the local placement and trans-national dispersal of the migrants’ families affect belonging? The second, how is the migrants’ sense of belonging influenced and negotiated because of their interface with state services? Indeed, they were born in the West Indies and travelled to Britain as youngsters and young adults. Therefore, they have experiences of childhood and growing up in the West Indies as well as living in Britain that influence their outlook on elderly life. As a result, their perspective of being elderly is pungent with experiences, links, and expectations, born out of both the West Indian and British contexts. Consequently, while I explore their contemporary experiences, I also examine the effect of migration and the connection that the elderly people hold to the community of origin, local community of residence, family, and the state to examine how these connections affect their well-being and sense of belonging. I examined my informants’ connections to their family, unpacking the effect of a dispersed familial network and familial associations that underpins the experiences they encounter as vulnerable elderly people. I also compiled genealogy charts that provided a social map of the location of my informants’ dispersed family members, to understand the family patterns they engaged. Further, belonging to a dispersed kinship network with varied patterns of family ties, engagement in trans-national travel, return trips to the West Indies, attempting to return home as elders, as well as severing ties with ‘back home’, all greatly influence their sense of settlement and belonging in Britain as elders. It is the aforementioned responses to the West Indies and the link with globalisation, migration, and the kinship structure that contribute to their relationships, and comprise the complex considerations regarding belonging.

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I also interrogated my informants’ links with the state. They are working class, so as a result of their economic position they forged an inextricable bond with the state, due to their need for a place to live and to access healthcare services to facilitate their well-being, thereby developing an interplay with the welfare state administration systems, local community groups, and each other in particular ways that determine how they negotiate their placement. Indeed, the complex entanglements create a paradoxical and multifaceted placement and sense of belonging. While the main focus of the enquiry is on identifying the sense of belonging and position of the elders in British society, there are also two interlocking influences underpinning a sense of belonging, namely class and gender. Also, other interesting points arise that add to theoretical discussions on the theme of matrifocality.

Background In truth, this project began long before the ‘Windrush scandal’ made breaking news in 2018. However, that scandal regarding immigration status, deportations, and refusal of re-entry into the UK, for some of those who migrated to Britain in the Windrush era of migration, stirred up the ongoing debate about the recognition, treatment, and notions of belonging regarding the West Indian community in the UK (Craggs 2018). Certainly, one end of this ‘Windrush’ debate spectrum is concerned with objectifying the migrants, now in elderly life, as illegal. Whereas, the other seeks to honour the contribution of the elders as citizens, as those who participated in rebuilding the British infrastructure and developing public health services after World War II, and prior engagement in World War I, even remembering a black presence in previous centuries. Nevertheless, the contemporary polemic positioning exemplifies concerns of the ‘backhanded recognition of the essential contribution made’ to British society (Olwig 2018). Indeed, many migrants within the UK who did not undertake the naturalisation process to obtain a British passport have been denied re-entry to Britain after travelling to the West Indies, and excluded from the UK National Health Service (NHS) health treatment, housing, and employment. Many have been caught up in the legalities regarding uncertainty of status amid calls for compensation regarding their treatment. One of the

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outcomes of the scandal is the creation of ‘Windrush Day’, an annual celebration of the legacy of the Windrush migrants and their descendants in Britain that began in June 2019. Similarly, my research and consequently my position are situated amid the fluctuations and contradictions within the realm concerning the status and sense of belonging for the Caribbean migrant community within the UK. That said, this project does not seek to discuss the outcomes and battles contained in the Windrush scandal; rather, it is focused on West Indian elders in a sheltered housing scheme that affords a unique gaze into the ordinary day-to-day life of this group of predominantly Jamaican working-class migrants. There are interesting outcomes from this micro case study that contribute to the body of ethnography and narratives concerning the elderly life of migrants, in addition to works undertaken by Chamberlain (1995, 2001), Gardener (2002), Olwig (2007), and Nare (2016). It became increasingly apparent that more work was required to better understand elderly life regarding the health and well-being (Goulbourne 2001) of Caribbean migrants who remained in Britain. Although there has been research on affiliations and different forms of belonging that looked at work and leisure activities and the complex life cycle, the life course remained under-examined (Byron and Condon 2008). As a result, the need to investigate into Caribbean elderly life remained, especially with increasing numbers of West Indian elders entering into state care to assist in the management of their well-being. This book therefore presents a gaze into the everyday lives of elderly West Indian migrants affording insights into how, as elders, they navigate and negotiate their sense of belonging in contemporary Britain. It also brings out awareness of the continuities, differences, and consequences of events through their life course. What also makes this research unique is the compilation of their voices that tell us of their experiences of living in a housing complex solely consisting of black African Caribbean elders, with the majority from Jamaica.

Research Approach I recognise that globalisation and social change have an impact on the research topic. Indeed, my research is situated in a local area, within the context of a complex urban environment populated by many migrants, who, like my informants, mostly moved to improve their economic status. Therefore, I draw on the theories that discuss how globalisation affects

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social processes and individuals (Marcus 1999) from structural, phenomenological, postmodern, and critical theory perspectives in this anthropological research. I also focus on the personal agency of my elderly informants and the agency of workers acting on their behalf as a powerful and central part of the processes determining their belonging. I draw on Gramsci’s (1990) theory of social transformations to aid my thematic assertions concerning how my informants negotiate their belonging. Bhabha’s (1994) notions of ‘hybridity’ and the ‘third space’ also help me to develop my informants’ position, and I show where his notions apply and where they do not; ultimately, I suggest that my elderly informants, assisted by others, push boundaries to find ‘their’ particular place in society. This research therefore provides further anthropological insight into the flux and confusions identified by anthropologists such as Hannerz (1992) and Papastergaidis (2000) among migratory people. In addition, the research provides an examination of the processes involved for the elderly people as they face challenges regarding their roots that affect belonging.

Research Methods I applied a reflexive approach towards engaging with my research subjects. I therefore devised structured questionnaires to ask my subjects specific key questions and also occasionally employed the questions in a semi-­ structured way. In reality, I used more informal conversational type techniques. I was flexible in my questioning so decided that I would ask a mixture of direct, open-ended, and closed questions to facilitate a comfortable and open environment. I used more structured questions when interviewing professionals providing services to the elderly. My use of questionnaires helped me to ask questions pertinent to the topic of the research and they further contributed to the conversations I held with my informants who told me their stories and their version of experiences in their lives. I fully immersed myself in participant observation; this involved using a variety of research techniques, to get close to people and make them feel comfortable enough so that observations and recording information about their lives could take place. Certainly, my aim was to capture real-life experiences (Marshall and Rossman cited in Silverman 1993), by learning ‘first hand’ about them and their culture (Burgess cited in Silverman 1993).

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I gained the consent (from four elderly informants) to sound record conversations with them. However, I was aware that I would meet much resistance from the elderly people because they would not want me to record them. I therefore took notes during the interviews and afterwards to ensure I captured the relevant points of the discussion and background information. Where I was able to sound record and write notes in interviews, they often ensured that I had written down the information correctly. I envisaged taking photographs to illustrate my written account, but I was aware that my informants might not want me to take their photographs and found this to be the case. Accordingly, I monitored the behaviour of my informants as they engaged in their daily tasks (Bernard 1995). Through being with them and engaging in conversations that involved a certain amount of impression management and compromise (Bernard 1995), I conversed with them to allow me access to their inner thoughts, so that my data would be ‘authentic’ (Silverman 1993: 10). I spoke to various individuals in the community and representatives of organisations in Brixton. I also walked as a participant commuter through the area, and undertook shopping and attended events in the area, observing the community and continued change after my initial research in 2008.’ I used the narrative technique within my participant observation encounters to capture information. My use of narratives is similar to Chamberlain who used the narrative to gain information concerning the experience of migration, even so it is important to understand the ‘structure of narratives in order to understand the story that they tell’ (Chamberlain 2006: 174). For I similarly used a familiar standpoint towards narratives as Fog Olwig and Besson (2005) who drew on Peacock and Holland to highlight how narratives bring out accounts of ‘lives lived’ and allow an understanding of the structure of the past, present, as well as the future (2005: 1–2). The narratives therefore present their historical and contemporary stories thereby providing unique, subjective information (Chamberlain 2006). This link of the past with the present allowed the contextualisation of my informants’ familial networks, connections, and disconnections, and I acknowledged the subjective material that I used to construct personal narratives and that they needed to be handled carefully to ensure validity of the stories, and consequently my outcomes, while understanding it is their interpretation of events. Indeed, the narratives also allowed me to compile genealogies that help to give insight into their elderly lives and engagement with ‘back home’, as well as highlight

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their varied trans-national links, containing outcomes from previous life experiences that influence their elderly lives. My use of research methods therefore complemented the theories and multifaceted approach to the assessment framework that I constructed to analyse and assess my data. As a result, the narratives enabled an understanding from four vantage points, namely place and placement, inclusion and exclusion, travel and home, and Caribbean identities, within the socio-economic and political contexts (Fog Olwig and Besson 2005: 8). Definitely, the life story experiences are vital to my data collections because my informants’ complex cultural backgrounds are reflected in the life story where their past, present, and future are brought together, revealing personal activities, relationships, and social life engagements. The narrative therefore encapsulates information about the social processes, and changes people experience through their unfolding stories, similar to that shown by Gardener (2002) in her research on Bengali elders in East London and Nare’s (2016) work on ageing Gujaratis in the UK. Through this method I also gained information about my own informants as individuals and as a group. The narrative therefore provides a useful data collection tool because it allows us to understand life experiences in various social contexts (Caplan 1997). I was thus able to assess my informants’ actions and the actions undertaken by others on their behalf that affect their sense of belonging. Indeed, my research subjects shared their individual stories that support an understanding of the migration experience. Certainly, Barnet’s (1993) insight into the life of a runaway slave in Cuban society places his subject at the centre of his research, as I placed mine, similarly utilising techniques from his autobiographical style to enable an understanding of experiences that occurred in the past that are unobservable in the present, and also to gain information regarding people now deceased. Through conversing with each of my informants and compiling information about their family of orientation, I gained information about the past that gave access to links they had to those now deceased who influenced their current lives. Similarly, I am influenced by Lewis’s (1983) Children of Sanchez, in which he presents multiple biographies allowing a panoramic view of each individual to emerge. I also gained a view of my informants’ world from many angles, such as inter-generational, lineal, trans-national, as well as the personal and inter-personal views concerning my informants’ lives, actions, and engagements. Overall, the narrative facilitated an understanding of the individual self and how the wider social structure affects it and the

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increasing individuality that develops (Fairhurst 1997), which consequently affected my informants’ sense of belonging. Although an important mode of investigation, I was cautious of my use of the narrative. I was aware that it is not possible to cross-check all the data, so I assumed some bias had entered from my subjects’ interpretation of their lives. However, I was able to see some of the experiences that they described, such as their isolation where they say they had loose kin ties, and through my conversations I could cross-check and thereby validate only some information. Though I was aware of my inability to cross-check the historical personal data used to compile their genealogies, the information proved powerful because the experiences were ‘real’ to my informants, and has shaped their lived lives. The narratives that contain memories of past events were transmitted through the informants’ words. Subsequently, I recognised that the language I used to convey their thoughts was important. So, influenced by Dwyer (1987), who was mindful of translating the Moroccan Arabic language, I thought about how I would represent my informants in order to be authentic to their voice. I therefore allowed my data to reflect their vernacular, so I enabled representation in the Creole language (patois) in addition to a more standard form of English, similar to Chevannes (1994), while recognising translating original sentiments can affect meaning (Oscar Lewis 1983). Accordingly, I am aware that my interpretations are compromised because of my position as ‘British born’ and my adapted vernacular and perspective.

Material Culture I am aware that in addition to the words within stories, stories are also embedded in the environment occupied by my informants. Memories are objectified in objects and are on display as part of everyday life, so the past paradoxically becomes part of the present (Fairhurst 1997). So, influenced by Bell (1987), who used household objects such as slippers, a purse, a clothesline, pictures, and a sewing machine to raise questions that provided her with information, I drew on the elders’ objects in the form of vinyl records, pictures, letters, furniture, dominoes, Bible, and foodstuffs in their homes that held a story and meaning to facilitate expressions of their experiences. I often used their household objects to start conversations, such as foodstuffs, cooking vessels, pictures, and letters shown to

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me. Therefore, interviewing the elders in their social field would enable the collection of ‘intimate, direct and reflective material’ (Bell 1987: 259).

Memory My use of narratives meant that I relied heavily on my informants’ memory, although information recall and recounting was often censored (Connerton 1989). Therefore, I encountered periods of silence while their self-censorship took place as they protected information that they found too personal or controversial to disclose (Poland and Pederson 1998), and the most private, so there are some gaps. Certainly, past experiences can also be viewed in a different way in the present moment to that which actually occurred. I was mindful of this and probed as far as possible for clarity, but I could not fully control this aspect either. Certainly, I also recognise that memory is both personal and cultural, being socially organised, passed on through generations (Connerton 1989), creating traditions that find themselves embedded in memory (Bloch cited in Connerton 1989). Therefore, I was able to enquire about my informants’ ideas on ageing, within a cultural perspective. It is also acknowledged that slavery, shame, denial, and amnesia are internalised and affect memory, creating problematic collective and individual memories of the past (Chamberlain 2009). Similarly, I encountered some things were hinted but not fully explained, and there were omissions regarding familial members that I term ‘dis-associating’ from kin, to indicate the omissions and loss, for varying reasons and for protection. Memories therefore provided access to the ‘mundane ways in which ordinary members of a culture produce and recognise intelligible courses of action’ (Kitsinger and Frith 1999: 299), as my informants continued with the West Indian cultural and social practices regarding information dissemination.

The Research Participants Various people were involved in my research group in 2008. The 26 elderly respondents were all of West Indian origin, aged between 60 and 86, predominantly of Jamaican origin, residing at the sheltered housing scheme. There were two scheme managers, the area manager, social worker, housing officers and carers, the handyman, and cleaner at the scheme providing direct front-line assistance that interface with the elders.

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I also included the manager at the agency overseeing carers. I interviewed the manager at the Brokerage department in Lambeth’s Social Services who administers the commissioning of the carers service, plus the workers within the housing directorate at Lambeth who administer the Supporting People contract3 and commissioned the Metropolitan Housing Trust (MHT) to provide the supported housing staff.4 In respect of the wider associations, church pastors, Day Centre managers, and other people from the local community whom my residents encountered socially were included, as well as some family members and visitors to the scheme. I utilised information from people in the cafes and public spaces that I visited with my informants and where I undertook participant observations, and held and heard conversations. In 2018, I returned to the sheltered housing scheme, talking with a few original and mainly new residents and workers, sharing aspects of the research that I intended to publish, that was met with excitement and encouragement, and gained new insights. The new scheme manager was thinking about imminently planning a celebration of the ‘Windrush’ era migration 70 years on and invited me to take part in it. We jointly planned the celebration and discussion event where I engaged with the residents in discussion about ‘Windrush era’ contributions, legacy, and the celebrations taking place. It was joyful to be remembered and welcomed back, and this information contributes to information in Chap. 6.

Creation of the Sheltered Housing Scheme Since the elders reside in a sheltered housing scheme, it is important to explain the origin of the supported housing complex. Many working-class West Indians in Brixton, like similar West Indians elsewhere, remained in poor-quality accommodation because of the low rate at which good-quality state housing was allocated to people from the West Indies (Peach and Byron 1994). Certainly, nearly half of the Afro-­ Caribbean5 households were living in the least desirable council housing, 3  The Supporting People contract governed the provision of services giving advice and support to residents at the scheme in 2008; the funding contract was renamed under the Care Act 2014. 4  The MHT provides the housing management services regarding the building alongside the advice and support work and co-ordinates the associated services at the scheme. 5  Although I have used the term West Indian to describe my informants’ cultural heritage, in this context I use the term Afro-Caribbean because this is used in the policies that govern

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and in less desirable areas, and the occupants of the council accommodation in the 1980s were mostly manual workers, those with a higher rate of unemployment, and single-headed households (Peach and Byron 1994). For sure, there were many social problems in the community that mirrored issues in other inner cities, such as unemployment, issues with policing, and racial discrimination and the after-effect that resulted from the emergence of discontent. Like many West Indian migrants in Britain, the local West Indian community in Brixton was disgruntled and frustrated, similar to dissatisfaction experienced elsewhere in the country regarding the state (Hall 2000). Such grievances grew and, along with other groups and ethnicities, culminated in the violent unrest and rioting that took place in Brixton at various times, the first important one taking place in 1981, that influenced the development of the scheme. Indeed, the development of the specialised sheltered housing scheme arose out of West Indian migrants’ subordinate and impoverished position in British society. During the middle of the 1980s, there was acknowledgement of the effects of racial discrimination and the barrier it caused regarding equal access to services. The Lord Scarman Enquiry (1981), concerning the social unrest and rioting in the early 1980s, highlighted issues of poverty and lack of appropriate service provision for the vulnerable black elderly population in Brixton. This contributed to the release of funding from the state to develop services. It was within this environment that this particular scheme was developed. At that time there were two prominent community leaders, the late Mr. Laws and his wife who managed a community drop-in centre and luncheon club on Railton Road, Brixton, that met the needs of the elderly. So, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Housing Trust (MHT), together the Laws developed the sheltered housing accommodation, that was opened by the Duchess of Gloucester, where this research took place. In addition, in opposition to the trend of access to poor-quality accommodation, the sheltered housing scheme was built to a high standard. Moreover, the sheltered housing scheme, unlike the general pool of state-assisted accommodation, emerged from a local community activist initiative in Brixton. Further, all of the elderly inhabitants at the scheme are defined by their racial and cultural identity, namely black African-Caribbean, as well as their age. So, as the 40-year mark approaches since the infamous Brixton riot of 1981, I reflected on the position of the elders found to be living in unsatisfactory the scheme and also used to define my informants’ cultural heritage and ethnicity.

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conditions and in need of support at that time, thereby assessing what happened to some of the elderly West Indians residing in Brixton when riots took place, who remained as residents, joined by others at a more matured stage in life. Sheltered housing is specialist housing, geared to elderly people, who can live independently with support. This sheltered housing scheme design hosts two building complexes with flats for sole occupancy. The scheme manager provides administrative help to the residents at the scheme regarding management of state benefits, reporting and facilitating elders input into developments at the scheme, and co-ordinating access to building improvements and repairs. The scheme manager also provides support, organises resident meetings, and encourages socialisation amongst the residents at the internal group events and involvement at events and groups in the local community. In addition, the scheme manager assists with general enquiries to support the day-to-day health and welfare for the elderly people as required. The resident might also have help from a carer who attends to their personal care or provides assistance to prepare meals or receive precooked meals. Therefore, this accommodation met many of the unresolved needs of some of the elderly population in Brixton. This ethnic group also generates codes and patterns of specific behaviour associated with being West Indian. Nevertheless, paradoxically their expected behaviour is also determined by the norms pertaining to the dominant culture, in which they live. This eclectic cultural fusion interfaces with the ethos of the scheme and with the associated service provisions governing regulations. Hence, it is in this mix that important dynamics are at play. I delved into the dynamics to understand how the elders engaged with the scheme provisions and the state regulations that retained a powerful governing effect on their ‘fitting into’ the community, that ultimately contributed to shaping their belonging. Certainly, the housing project set out to provide housing and support services for those more economically and socially marginalised, to mitigate social isolation, and to foster a community among the inhabitants. Hence, the governing mandate at the scheme contains policies and procedures to enable the elderly people to feel a sense of belonging to both the community at the scheme and the external local community. In order to provide assistance to the elderly, the scheme managers were also black and of West Indian origin/parentage. This cultural and racial similarity was a specific requirement of the scheme manager position during my research up to 2008, in order to attend to the specific needs of the

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Afro-Caribbean client group, complying with Section 5.2 (d) of the Race Relations Act 1976,6 that was attached to employment at the project. However, on my return in 2018 things had changed as such staffing requirement was no longer in place. Conversely, the cultural specificity for residency remained. Although the majority of my informants left the West Indies in the 1950s and 1960s, they retain a West Indian culture, and although some have travelled ‘back home’ or abroad elsewhere to visit family members and some have attempted return migration to Jamaica, their permanent residency remains in the London borough of Lambeth (except one elder/ with dual residency), within the Coldharbour Ward, in the local area of Brixton, London.

End of an Era I, like many, within the contemporary Caribbean community in Britain, acknowledge that we are witnessing an interesting point in modern British history. After the World War II, Britain was devastated and needed to be rebuilt but there was a shortage of labour. The state was also developing services for the population so it needed skilled labour, and those who could be trained to work in the transport, health, and building sectors, as well as in manufacturing and factory work. The ‘Windrush’ era of migration (1948–1971) is important because of those who migrated from the West Indies during that period and contributed to the development of Britain, after the devastation caused by World War II, during that time and beyond. They were the twentieth-century pioneers who endured much during the ‘ups and downs’ of life in Britain. Sadly, although many from the ‘Windrush’ era of migration grew into old age, many of them have now passed away. Definitely, this migratory period and beyond is a complex and dynamic one, and fortunately, I was able to capture some of their experiences as long-term migrants in Britain, while it was still possible to do so among the remaining elderly people. Therefore, from the 1940s and 1950s many migrants from the West Indies settled in Brixton, some staying initially in temporary lodging in the large underground bunkers at Clapham and Stockwell. Many moved on to rent accommodation in poor housing condition, such as on Somerleyton Road (where some of my research participants lived prior to moving into 6

 The Race Relations Act of 1976, that received further amendments in 1995 and 2000.

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the scheme); meanwhile others purchased or rented other accommodation that has since been demolished or re-modernised. Over time, the Caribbean population grew, firmly establishing a Caribbean community with the emergence of a distinct local social scene. The elders in this research reside in the iconic area of Brixton that became synonymous with a vibrant West Indian cultural community and lifestyle, and that grew into being an important location. Lambeth became infamous for having a large working-class migrant West Indian population. Indeed, the area is described as having ‘a complex social and ethnic mix…and is an important focus for the UK black Caribbean population’ (State of the borough report 2016). Interestingly, in 1996, Nelson Mandela visited Brixton, in recognition of its importance to Afro-­ Caribbean people (State of the borough report 2016). Surely, West Indian settlement in Brixton brought much change to the physical landscape, influencing social and cultural life in the area, while the ongoing developments through gentrification brought continued social change, reframing Brixton’s population and social and cultural life, which I suggest heralds the beginning of a new contemporary era. Indeed, I suggest the recent gentrification in the Brixton area, particularly in the last ten years (2008 onwards), signifies the emergence of a distinct new Brixton. As a result of noting the marked changes in Brixton since 2008, I realised that the migration period from 1948 to date is a ‘period of significance’ (Fig.  1.1). I acknowledge this period as significant because it brought British and Caribbean cultures together, created and left a distinct legacy to the local scene in Brixton, to Britain and also has been recognised worldwide as being a place showcasing influential experiences of the Caribbean culture. Consequently, I suggest there are distinctive phases forming the ‘period of significance’.7 The first phase (1948–1985) contains a period of movement into Brixton, settlement in the area, and the creation and establishment of the West Indian community and flavour in Brixton. That also included a marked unsettled period of political and social unrest as a response to issues of discrimination and disadvantage. This was followed by the second phase (1986 up to and during 2008) when plans for social development for the area ensued and the provision of services to the West Indian community were both put in place while some closures occurred. 7  The ‘ageing life course’ in the diagram represents the ageing stages of the elders in this research.

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Fig. 1.1  Period of significance

Lastly, the third phase (from 2009 to 2018) marks the current phase where rapid gentrification changed the local landscape, during which the West Indian community is reducing, and although the legacy of their culture has a dominant presence, it increasingly shares this with the influx of other cultures from worldwide that contributes to a more international milieu, amid a more affluent and younger transient population. It is within this changing environment that my elderly informants reside.

Locating the Research London is separated into two main areas, inner London and the surrounding area referred to as Greater London. The administrative area of Greater London contains 32 London boroughs and the City of London. Twelve of the boroughs, plus the City of London, constitute inner London, while the others constitute outer London. Brixton is located in inner London, in the borough of Lambeth. The London borough councils are responsible for governing the densely populated urban areas at the local level, operating under national guidelines, but only having partial responsibility because some areas of governance have been passed to joint bodies in

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order to improve co-ordination, such as the Greater London Authority (GLA) led by the Mayor of London (Local Government Association, Local Government Structure 2004, 2010).

Lambeth Lambeth, the second largest populated borough in inner London, is seven miles long and two and a half miles wide. There are five areas within Lambeth, namely Streatham, Clapham, Stockwell, Norwood, and Brixton. The River Thames provides the border at the north of the borough where the London Eye and Waterloo station are situated. The South Bank complex is located in the riverbank area with its expanding arts and leisure industry, with theatres such as the Young Vic, the National Theatre, the Royal Festival Hall, and the National Film Theatre. The central part of the borough is home to the Oval cricket ground. In addition, Clapham Common that is located centrally and Brockwell Park host events such as circus fairs, as well as the Lambeth Country Show. At the time of my research in 2008, Lambeth had a population of approximately 260,000 of which 34% were from ethnic minorities. The predominant language spoken was English with Yoruba and Portuguese following as the second and third widely used languages, of the 132 spoken in the borough. Black people from the Caribbean formed just over 10% of the population of Lambeth (London Statistics online—Census 2001: 1), whereas in 2015 it was 8.8%.8 By 2018, the population had increased to 327,600, Lambeth being the fifth most densely populated local authority in England and Wales, and the Coldharbour ward (where the sheltered housing scheme is located) became the second most densely populated ward in Lambeth with 17,695 residents. Similarly, in 2018 the borough remained ethnically diverse with three in five people describing their ethnicity as other than white British (Demography Factsheet, Lambeth 2017); however, the ethnic composition had changed. The most common main language after English was Portuguese (7% of pupils), but Spanish (5%) emerged as a new popular language, followed by Somali (4.5%) and French (3.7%), whilst there was a decline in Yoruba (3.4%) and Akan/TwiFante (2.7%). Polish (2.6%), Arabic (2.5%), and Bengali (1.6%) comprised the remaining popular languages in the borough (Demography Factsheet, Lambeth 2017). 8

 https://lginform.local.gov.uk/render/deferredcomponent/8397/text-32, 19.02.2020

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Alongside, there is a small South Asian population that remains in the area (Demography Factsheet, Lambeth 2017). There has been a significant increase in the non-English main languages in Lambeth (State of the Borough Report 2016), resulting from the shift in the global economy and economic migration patterns. While Britain’s imperial past enabled utilisation of a labour force from the new Commonwealth up until the 1980s, thereafter migration patterns changed. Migration shifted to reflect those displaced from conflict and countries affected by the Eurozone crisis, such as Spain, Italy, and Portugal, who migrated to take up the economic opportunities available in the UK.  Therefore, Lambeth is described as an escalator borough because poorer people migrate to it, become established, and then move on to other areas in Britain. Therefore, residency in Lambeth has a transient nature with a high turnover in population movement, such that 40,000 leave and over 40,000 enter annually, inclusive of many internal migrants (Lambeth State of the borough 2016). With regard to poverty, there has been a change in the composition of the local areas in Lambeth because although 31% of Lambeth’s residents live in areas with high levels of deprivation, between 2010 and 2015 more people who were not deprived were living in areas designated as deprived. Accordingly, those on low incomes continuously find it increasingly difficult to secure affordable accommodation, resulting in many poorer people continuing to leave the borough (Lambeth State of the borough 2016). Certainly, at the time of my research in 2008, Lambeth had become a place with a large population of young people with one in five residents under the age of 16 (Lambeth Community Strategy 2004: 14). In 2018, Lambeth remained largely populated by a young population that was comprised of 44% of the population aged 20–39 years, 14% aged 50–64, and 8% aged over 65 years (Demography Factsheet, Lambeth 2017). In relation to the population of Lambeth in 2008, the elderly people were represented as constituting 15.8% of Brixton’s population (the figures start at age 55 to reflect the age of early retirement [Lambeth’s Elderly Population Source: Lambeth Statistics Census 2001]). Interestingly, by 2018 even though there had been a reduction in the numbers of the black Caribbean community overall (from 10% in 2008 to 8.8% in 2015), the Caribbean community still held the highest number of elderly people, as an ethnic group, comprising 18% of the elders (State of Borough 2016).

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Lambeth is therefore predominantly a young place and an area in which my informants have a minority presence as an ethnic group, but constitute a larger share of the elderly population, therefore paradoxically and simultaneously occupying a place of being both a minority and majority. There are also health inequalities in Lambeth; the assessment of this situation in 2008 showed that the highest rates across the borough for deaths occurring in men under 75 years of age resulted from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke, which were all above both the national and London averages. There were high rates for suicide, malaria, and tuberculosis where life expectancy was 73 years for men, and 80 for women. Consequently, health and well-being service providers were mandated to ascertain the numbers and needs of older people, particularly as elderly people access and rely on health services to manage their lives. Consequently, the services required and purchased support the diverse needs of the elders in this research.

Brixton Brixton, once held in high esteem in the nineteenth century, became infamous for poverty and deprivation over the centuries and through the decades. Without a doubt, Brixton, like many inner-city localities, became aligned with pockets of poverty, high crime, and unemployment and is still often found rated high on the league tables for poor education achievement, housing need, recreation, and social welfare issues for some sections of the population. Indeed, Brixton had significant deprivation in 2008 and it was reported that, there is a high number of overcrowded council homes in Tulse Hill and Ferndale, Brixton has the highest number of unemployed single-parent families in Brixton Hill, Coldharbour and Tulse Hill…fear of crime is the area’s biggest problem. Street crime around Brixton tube and railway station is the highest of any transport interchange in Lambeth and nearly half the drug offences in the borough are committed in Brixton. This in turn encourages related crime such as robbery, vehicle crime, burglary and prostitution. (Lambeth Community Strategy 2004:16)

Consequently, during my fieldwork time and writing up the research in 2008 there was a murky side to the locality, beneath the surface, because a lot of crime, specifically drug trafficking, took place and sometimes

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people were stabbed or shot in street incidents. The elderly people at the centre of my research lived close to the centre of Brixton amid those social difficulties. However, by 2018 Lambeth remained an area with a high crime rate, although it has experienced a 24% reduction in some crimes since 2012 (State of Lambeth 2016). While Brixton has significantly developed with new housing and business regeneration schemes bringing new entrants, it is still affected by social inequalities and the associated social problems commonly found in many urban environments.

Walking Through Brixton In this section I provide a walking description of Brixton to locate the reader in the area where the sheltered housing scheme is situated and provide a sense of the changes that have taken place. The map in Fig.  1.2 provides a graphic image of the markers identified in the area. In 2008 and 2018, Brixton contained the borough’s largest shopping centre and the iconic O2 Academy Brixton9 music venue, the Ritzy cinema, and the borough Town Hall (Fig. 1.4) that accommodates offices that administer public services. The Town Hall Parade on Brixton Hill underwent major renovation and re-opened in 2018 with new offices and additional residential housing units nearby. The town centre acquired a new welcome sign highlighting ‘Peace’ and ‘love’ in the heart of Brixton with artwork by Farouk A. Agoro and Akil Scafe-Smith, commissioned by Lambeth Council in 2018 (Fig. 1.3). In 2008, I observed the Caribbean influence etched into the physical fabric of Lambeth that remains amid the changes. In Brixton, there are local street names such as Marcus Garvey Way and Bob Marley Way, buildings such as Olive Morris House,10 and the wider black influence evident in the naming of Max Roach Park.11 Other recognitions regarding the Caribbean migrant community continued to be added, such as the PRS for Music plaque mounted on the wall of the concert venue called Electric Brixton (formerly called the Fridge) on Brixton Hill in 2012, in recognition of the  This venue was called the Academy at the time of my research in 2008.  Olive Morris House is Lambeth’s customer centre, situated on Brixton Hill; it was named after Olive Morris who was born in Jamaica and was a local housing activist and community leader in Brixton, and it was renamed the ‘Civic Centre’ in 2020. 11  Max Roach Park was named to remember the contributions that people of African descent made in Britain, as well as marking the visit of black American jazz musician Max Roach to the park in 1986, alongside 26 other local sites that were named after black people, such as Mahalia Jackson. 9

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Fig. 1.2  Map of Brixton

first performance there in 1991 by the popular black musical group of Caribbean origin, called Soul II Soul. Near to the O2 Academy concert venue are the buildings where important developments for the migrant Caribbean community took place, such as the building where the Voice newspaper12 started and the local radio station dedicated to playing black music, called Choice FM, was located, 12  Britain’s first black newspaper that started in 1982, for people from the African Caribbean communities.

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Fig. 1.3  Mural ‘Stay in Peace’

Fig. 1.4  Lambeth Town Hall

in Trinity Gardens13 (the station moved to London Bridge but no longer exists because the station was sold to Capital Radio, a mainstream radio station in 2001).  The radio station was started in the early 1980s by Afro-Caribbean people.

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Fig. 1.5  Mural ‘Remain, Thriving’

Brixton is a commuter hub. The Brixton tube station, providing the underground rail connection, is located in the town centre, a short walk away from the sheltered housing scheme in central Brixton. In 2018, the mural ‘Remain, Thriving’ by Njideka Akinyili Cosby was placed at the entrance of Brixton tube depicting Windrush migrants at home (Fig. 1.5). The overland railway station is located near to the tube and provides the additional local and national travel links. In addition, there are numerous bus services that contribute to a network of transportation links, connecting commuters to all parts of London and beyond. Close to the town centre is the modernised ‘Windrush Square’ (Fig. 1.6) that has a few seats surrounded by some trees, in memory of the SS Windrush that brought West Indians to London, and docked at Tilbury in 1948, with some of the migrants who became part of the early West Indian community in Brixton. There are other new additions, such as the Black Cultural Archives that relocated in 2014, housing the collection from the Brixton Archives,14 in Raleigh Hall, a refurbished listed building on Windrush Square (see Fig. 1.7). In 2017, the commemorative monument designed by Dr. Jak Beula, honouring the personnel from Africa and the Caribbean who served in World War I and World War II, was also  The Brixton Archives was created in 1981 in a shop on Coldharbour Lane, Brixton.

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Fig. 1.6  Windrush Square

Fig. 1.7  Black Cultural Archives

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Fig. 1.8  African and Caribbean war memorial

erected in Windrush Square (Fig. 1.8), and it is maintained by the local Caribbean restaurant called Healthy Eaters. The Age Concern project in the Vida Walsh Centre that supports elders in the borough, and where Caribbean elders attend a lunch club, is situated at the edge of Windrush Square. Opposite is St. Matthews Church (Fig.  1.9) that hosted many Caribbean events and had been home to resident Reggae DJ, David Rodigan, during the 2000s. Moving along the road to Effra Parade there is the Hootannny Pub, formerly called ‘George Canning’, that was heavily frequented by the Caribbean community, and continues to host live Reggae performance artists including those from Jamaica amid a more culturally diverse crowd. Behind this area, on Coldharbour Road at the junction with Atlantic Road, is the Dog Star Pub that hosts live bands and is frequented by a younger urban mixed crowd, which was formerly called the ‘Atlantic’ pub that was heavily frequented by the West Indian Community. The infamous Reggae record shop on Coldharbour Road, with Blacker Dread as the proprietor, closed in 2014. Atlantic Road leads into Railton Road. Railton Road and the adjoining streets became diversely populated with both legal and illegal ventures in situ. Railton Road became known as the ‘front line’ with a thriving

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Fig. 1.9  St. Matthew’s Church

underground market and drug culture, where people with varied housing tenures and squatters lived. Consequently, this road became iconic as it symbolised the area as a site of camaraderie, with music and entertainment, providing opportunity for diverse cultural voices to air concerns on social issues such as poverty, race, discrimination and inequality, and unemployment, while serving the local inhabitants and the culturally diverse people that visited, as a place of home and socialisation. Sadly, social relations were not always peaceful, and tensions exploded in the two infamous riots in the 1980s, which highlighted a multitude of severe issues, including discrimination and exclusion. Thereafter, the government embarked on a long-term plan of social redevelopment. With further uprisings in the 1990s and early 2000s, the causes continue to be addressed. During this period, many old houses and streets were transformed through refurbishment or replaced by the erection of modern properties creating higher population density, and the emergence of new Brixton. The Methodist Church, on Railton Road, where one of my research subjects frequented, remains, as well as the Temple of Truth Church where another informant attended. Moving further along Railton Road there are restaurants and cafes but the food take-away shop that was also a gambling

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Fig. 1.10  Youth centre

club where another research subject frequented no longer exists. There was also a government-managed play centre for young children and teenagers on Railton Road (where I worked in the 1980s) but this had closed and in 2018 I observed it was seeking new management (Fig. 1.10). The 198 Gallery, at the other end of Railton Road close to Herne Hill, supports the development of local artists and includes a youth development programme. The longstanding 198 Gallery also showcases local histories such as the arts project created with multimedia contributions, called ‘Voices from the Frontline’, that highlighted the important events that occurred on Railton Road acknowledging the Caribbean experience, which I attended in 2018. Such familiarities and changes continue to exhibit the reconfiguration of the local scene, resulting from changed migration patterns and local gentrification. In 2008, in the streets in central Brixton surrounding the tube, there was a large street market with a mixture of stalls and commodities on sale selling fruits and vegetables, fish and poultry. There were shoe shops, clothes, bedding, lingerie, hair and beauty products, and fabrics. Wholesale shops and shops selling a variety of pots, pans, and goods for the home were visible. A variety of people from different ethnic backgrounds could be seen shopping here. The air was filled with a mixture of smells and a variety of colour could be seen from the foods on display from places

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within Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, alongside other delicacies from worldwide. There were numerous churches and diverse social facilities, such as pubs, nightclubs, wine bars, and Sushi bars. The social venues provided entertainment catering for the diverse needs of the eclectic cultural mix, drawn locally and from more widely in London. However, in 2018 the market area had changed immensely although the international flavour remained; the street market still attracted diverse cultures but became much smaller and the indoor areas of Brixton market had been renamed ‘Brixton Village’ (Fig. 1.11). In the Brixton Village, many of the old shops were transformed into new restaurants representing countries from around the globe, with new types of shops, such as a wine shop serving a new type of clientele, amongst a reduced number of longstanding stall holders and shops. Nevertheless, some longstanding businesses remain, such as the West Indian grocery store called ‘Esme’s Roots’ (a grocer that visited the scheme in my research in 2008), and Caribbean restaurants such as ‘Healthy Eaters’. There are also new Caribbean-style vegan restaurants inside Brixton Village (Fig. 1.12) called ‘Oracles’ and more recently ‘Eat of Eden’. In addition, outside of the village there is a thriving Caribbean take-­ away frequented by diverse communities just off Brixton Road, called ‘Refill’. As well, there is the ‘Tru Flavours Caribbean Cuisine’ take-away

Fig. 1.11  Brixton Village

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Fig. 1.12  Inside Brixton Village

on Acre Lane, with ‘The Blessed West Indian Take-Away’ shop on Coldharbour Lane and the restaurant called ‘Negril’ situated on the edge of Brixton on Brixton Hill. Further north into Streatham is the Afro-­ Caribbean Senior Citizen group, which some of the new resident elders at the scheme attend. The introduction of ‘Brixton Pop’ (Fig.  1.13), located in central Brixton, supports a zone, housing facilities for new enterprises and start­up businesses, as part of the newly reconfigured up and coming business enterprise area in Brixton. The emergence of the new and thriving business scene, alongside increasing business and residential rents, as well as a spike in the cost of accommodation have been met with a backlash from some local residents and business owners, regarding being priced out. Nevertheless, there is merger between the old and new, large and small businesses; for instance, the refurbishment of a local landmark by architectural firm Squire and Partners has re-created ‘The Department Store’, on

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Fig. 1.13  Brixton Pop

Ferndale Road, that rents space to local business, such as ‘Pure Vinyl’ and ‘Kaboola Kitchen’, in addition to welcoming diverse individuals, groups, and organisations to use the downstairs meeting and exhibition space that includes local community-based projects and diverse individuals showcasing art work and presenting workshops. Brixton is therefore continuously expanding and there are points of merger alongside the divisions that gentrification brings. Through expansion and change the local market area attracts continued interest from Brixton History Society’s guided tours as well as forming part of the tours provided by the London Tourist Board bringing international tourists into the local Brixton area. Alongside the formation of local history projects and a walking tour of Brixton, accessed through the Black Cultural Archives, Brixton is also integrated into the London Design Festival that showcases innovative design and artwork, delivered through the Brixton Design Trail project that included a focus on ‘belonging’ through an art installation in 2018. Over the years, I frequented the area amid the changes, met friends at new venues such as the Caribbean Social15 on Brixton Road, as well as 15  The Caribbean Social is a Caribbean inspired eatery food chain but not owned by Caribbean people.

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attended social events and topical discussions on health and other topics at the longstanding Karibu Centre16 in Gresham Road. The sheltered housing scheme is situated within this vicinity, where the buildings appear as two desirable complexes containing flats that are not obviously associated with the elderly, when looking at them from the outside. The scheme is also nested within the surrounding residential area where there are many buildings of mixed tenure, some provided by the government and others acquired through private purchase or rental.

Structure of the Book Following on from this chapter, the chapters in this book unfold as follows. Chapter 2 This chapter identifies the research themes and engages discussion on the theoretical perspectives pertinent to the main questions and focus of the research, regarding how elderly West Indian migrants in Britain negotiate their sense of belonging. It also identifies the theoretical perspectives and influences that assist the development of the research, while introducing the assessment framework used to collect and assess information. Chapter 3 This chapter introduces the sheltered housing scheme, where the elderly people in this research live, as a provision solely for occupancy by African Caribbean elders in need of housing and support. It also unpacks what elderhood means in the context of this research derived from government policy, and the elders’ views from their West Indian and British experiences, that show gender differences, while the different ideas highlight that the elders form a heterogeneous group. Also, information shows that the notion of elderly has different attributes, expressions, and meanings.

16  The Karibu Centre, an education centre on Gresham Road, caters to the black and Caribbean community and offers space for government and other groups and organisations to book for events, workshops, meetings, and other activities.

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Chapter 4 This chapter provides ethnographic data on the formative family form the elderly people were born into, in the West Indies, uncovering that their formative kinship and familial relatedness are powerful determinants regarding bonding, rooting, and belonging to a place. Alternatively, it shows how the migration path taken by them and other family members affects the connections and kin networks, which in turn determine those remaining available to them in elderly life. Insights from this chapter, identifying the members of their formative family and familial network, provides information towards the construction of their genealogy charts. Chapter 5 This chapter provides background information about the elders as they recount the reason behind their need for sheltered housing accommodation, and why they moved into the single housing units in the sheltered housing scheme. The female and male experiences open the opportunity to unpack the gender differences in the familial engagements from which important insights gained add to the notion of matrifocality. Through examining members of their family of procreation, sharing their stories of the experiences regarding kinship connections and support in elderly life, the continuities regarding their familial form come to light. Lastly, information from this chapter, together with information from Chap. 4, contributes to the construction of their genealogy charts. Chapter 6 This chapter examines the different aspects of socialisation within the scheme, affording socialisation and peer support, alongside the affiliations and social pathways where the elders participate in the local community. It draws on the notion of agency to expose how they act and subaltern theory to identify how they navigate differences to find their place of belonging. It also presents recent changes regarding the running of the sheltered housing scheme, and the impact of continued gentrification in Brixton that affects the elders and how they feel about where they live and the community around them.

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Chapter 7 This chapter explores the elders’ interface with state services through examining Gramsci’s (1990) ideas on agency and Bhabha’s (1994) notions on migrants’ position in society to provide theoretical vehicles through which examinations of the interactions between the elders, the state officials, policies, and procedures occur. It also unpacks how they all use their agency in accord and discord that assists the elders to find their subaltern place regarding belonging. Chapter 8 This concluding chapter provides my suggested research framework contribution to the study of migrants. I highlight that the working-class elders form a heterogeneous group, with different experiences and engagement with families in Britain, the Caribbean, and the Diaspora. It also highlights that the attachment to back home has changed, and their status moved to a more marginal place for most, or severed for a few, while suggesting their continued residency in Britain for most is by ‘default’. The elders live in sole occupancy units, and have different engagements with their children related to gender that contributes new insights to the discussion on matrifocality, where I suggest women engaged in ‘practical’ parenting. However, due to their differences to the host nation, in opposition to Bhabha, I suggest the elders find a marginal position in British society that is particular to them, in addition to highlighting the need for further areas of research regarding the effects of migration, gender, and family relations.

Conclusion This research project is focused on elderly West Indian migrants and their migration experiences, foremost examining how they negotiate their sense of belonging as residents of a sheltered housing scheme in Brixton, London. It captures the impact of movement on them as individuals, their relations with family, and the state. While using their voices and stories to unpack experiences at the elderly stage of life, they reflect on their avenues of socialisation, support, and personal care that also brings them into contact with the state as housing, health, and social care service provider to assist in the maintenance of their well-being. As migrants, with differing levels of contact in the Caribbean, this examination of belonging

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highlights the elders repositioning to the Caribbean and in Britain, as home is redefined. Brixton is also an important location that has entered modern British history as an iconic Caribbean space and a place having received a significant number of the migrants who arrived in the ‘Windrush’ era, and settled there. Consequently, Brixton retains the legacy of Caribbean migration that has influenced the local culture and urban space, through time amid social change. Through acknowledging the Caribbean presence and legacy in Brixton, population movement and gentrification, the elders’ experiences, connections, and repositioning within it can be understood. Truly, negotiating belonging involves complex influences, and the elderly people in this research are self-determining with decisions and choices being influenced by the state, personal and economic circumstances, and demographic change. It is through probing into all of the diverse avenues, and examination of how they use their agency, as well as how others use their agency on their behalf, that a picture emerges about what determines their position and their sense of belonging.

Bibliography Barnet, M. 1993. The Autobiography of a Runaway Slave. Esteban Montejo: Macmillan Press Ltd. Bell, D. 1987. Generations: Grandmothers, Mothers and Daughters. Fitzroy: McPhee Gubble/Penguin Books Ltd. Bernard, H. 1995. Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Walnutt Creek/London/New Delhi: Altimira Press. Besson, J. 2005. Sacred Sites, shifting histories: narratives of belonging, land and globalisation in the Cockpit country, Jamaica. In Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. Bhabha, H.K. 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge. Byron, M., and S. Condon. 2008. Migration in Comparative Perspective: Caribbean Communities in Britain and France. London: Routledge. Caplan, P. 1997. African Voices, African Lives: Personal Narratives from a Swahili Village. London: Routledge. Chamberlain, M. 1995. Family Narratives and Migration Dynamics: Barbadians to Britain. New West Indian Guide 69 (3 & 4): 253–275. ———. 2001. Migration, the Caribbean and the family. In Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World, ed. H. Goulbourne and M. Chamberlain. London/Oxford: Macmillan Education Ltd.

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———. 2009. Diasporic Memories: Community, individuality, and creativity – A life story perspective. The Oral History Review 36 (2): 177–187. Chevannes, B. 1994. Rastafari Roots and Ideology. New  York: Syracuse University Press. Connerton, P. 1989. How Societies Remember. New  York: Cambridge University Press. Craggs, R. 2018. The 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet the Windrush Scandal and the Legacies of Empire. https://www.tandfonline. com/doi/abs/10.1080/00358533.2018.1476110 Demography Lambeth Factsheet. 2017. https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/ default/files/ssh-demography-factsheet-2017.pdf. July 19, 2018. Dwyer, K. 1987. Moroccan Dialogues: Anthropology in Question. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press, Inc. Fairhurst, E. 1997. Recalling Life: Analytical Issues in the Use of ‘Memories’. In Critical Approaches to Ageing and Later Life, ed. Annie Jamieson, Sarah Harper, and Christina Victor. Buckingham: Open University Press. Gardener, K. 2002. Age, Narrative and Migration. In The Life Course and life Histories of Bengali Elders in London. Oxford/New York: Berg. Goulbourne, H. 2001. Trans-Atlantic Caribbean Futures. In Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World, ed. H.  Goulbourne and M. Chamberlain. London, Oxford: Macmillan Education Ltd. Gramsci, A. 1990. Selections from Political Writings (1921–1926). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Hall, S. 2000. The Multicultural Question. The Political Economy Research Centre Annual Lecture Delivered on 4th May 2000 in Firth Hall Sheffield. http://red. pucp.edu.pe/wp-content/uploads/biblioteca/Stuart_Hall_The_multicultural_question.pdf Hannerz, U. 1992. Cultural Complexity: Studies in the Organisation of Meaning. New York: Columbia University Press. Kitsinger, C., and H. Frith. 1999. Just Say No? The Use of Conversation Analysis in Developing a Feminist Perspective on Sexual Refusal. Discourse and Society 3: 293–316. Lambeth State of the Borough. 2016. https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/ default/files/State%20of%20Borough%202016%20-%20v3.pdf. September 19, 2018. Lambeth Statistics Census. 2001. www.lambeth.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres Lewis, O. 1983. The Children of Sanchez. Peregrine: Books. Local Government Association, Local Government Structure. 2004. www. politics.co.uk

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Local Government Structure Overview. October 2010. Produced by Local Government Association Analysis and Research. https://www.local.gov.uk/ sites/default/files/documents/local-government-str uctur-634.pdf. August 19, 2018. London Borough of Lambeth/about Lambeth. 2004:1. http://www.lambeth. gov.uk/about-Lambeth Marcus, G.E. 1999. Critical Anthropology Now, Unexpected contexts, Shifting Constituencies, Changing Agendas. Sante Fe: School of American Research Press. Nare, L. 2016. Home as Family: Narratives of Home Among Ageing Gujaratis in the UK. In Transnational Migration and Home in Older Age, eds. Walsh, K and Nare, L. Routledge: New York. Olwig, K.F. 2007. Caribbean Journeys: An Ethnography of Migration and Home in Three Family Networks. Durham/London: Duke University Press. ———. 2018. Back Handed Contribution to British Society. Female Immigration and the Ambivalence of Dirty Care Work: Caribbean Nurses in Imperial Britain. Ethnography 19 (1): 44–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138117697744. Olwig, K.F., and J.  Besson. 2005. Introduction, Caribbean Narratives of Belonging. In Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. Papastergaidis, N. 2000. The Turbulence of Migration: Globalisation, Deterriorialisation and Hybridity. Cambridge: Polity Press. Peach, C., and M. Byron. 1994. Council House Sales, Residualisation and Afro Caribbean Tenants. Journal of Social Policy 23 (3): 363–383. Cambridge University Press. Poland, B., and A.  Pederson. 1998. Reading Between the Lines: Interpreting Silences in Qualitative Research. Qualitative Inquiry 4: 293–297. Scarman. 1981. The Brixton Disorders 10–12 April: Report of an Enquiry by the Rt. Hon. The Lord Scarman, OBE, Her Majesty Stationery Office, London. Silverman, D. 1993. Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction. London: Sage Publications Ltd. The Race Relations Act. 1976. HMSO, London.

CHAPTER 2

The Complexity of Belonging: Theoretical Perspectives

Introduction This research provides an ethnographic account of the everyday life of residents in an elderly sheltered housing scheme, in Brixton, London. It is an examination of how West Indian elders negotiate their sense of belonging. This enquiry therefore seeks to answer the following questions. First, how does the local placement and transnational dispersal of the elderly migrants’ families affect belonging? Second, how is the elderly migrants’ sense of belonging influenced and negotiated because of their interface with state services? Therefore, this chapter sets out the themes and perspectives, introduces the notion of belonging, showing how the relevant theoretical considerations support and shape the research, and assists the development of the research framework used to compile and assess information in this ethnographic case study.

Themes One’s sense of belonging emerges out of the complex life experiences encountered, influenced by the important events and consequences through the life course. Therefore, the pertinent themes in this research rise out of many interrelated events encountered by the elders that impact on their elderly lives. Hence, the experience of migration that creates dispersed kin networks and fragmented family connections, affecting patterns © The Author(s) 2020 A. Allwood, Belonging in Brixton, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54598-7_2

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of relations differentiated by class and gender, is an important consideration. The elders are migrants so it is important to consider the response to migration, and resulting nuances and manoeuvring used to assert identity, manage loss, and re-align. In addition, as elders, facing the effects from life experiences and failing health, they require the assistance of state support. So, it is also pertinent to examine how they engage their agency in peer relations and mutual support through socialisation in the housing scheme and in the local community in and around Brixton, and collaboration with state services and workers, that contributes to the maintenance of their sense of belonging. Definitely, some issues pertaining to long-term residency were unaddressed, such as questions concerning family well-being, health, and disability (Goulbourne 2001: 242) and who cares for the elderly, that I sought to explore. Therefore, the following discussions in this chapter examine the ways that belonging manifests and the influencing components.

Understanding Belonging The notion of belonging is the central focus of this study, so I will introduce its application in this research. Certainly, the elderly people in this project were born in the West Indies, all remaining there through their formative years and some into young adulthood. Definitely, some of the elders had children in the West Indies before migrating. Therefore, they held a sense of identity and belonging to that society prior to leaving. After migrating, they became involved in forming a renewed sense of belonging to ‘back home’, family, as well as to Britain. Certainly, it is acknowledged that the term creolisation is used to express the process of cultural and social development in Caribbean society that creates a way of life to which belonging is established. Indeed, Caribbean society is formed from various influences in a process scholars refer to as creolisation; this describes the transition process where roots from the old world grew into the new world, with an emergent culture fashioned out of the slave ancestry, governed by unequal power relations (Price 2010). Indeed, changes within the creolisation process during enslavement fuelled property disputes and fractured the slave society (Thomas 2011), thereby creating a complex Caribbean society, as races and cultures forged together, manifesting a dynamic cultural and social entity (Price 2010). This also included the merger between private and public life, associated with land and place through time (MacLeod 2005).

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Caribbean culture is therefore formed from diverse influences that have adapted, wherein, the culture is made up of varied influences. Indeed, Hall describes West Indian cultural identity as the unique complex black experience that harbours oneness (cited in Skelton 2005: 69–70), on which the migrants act within their cultural form, as observed undoubtedly also shaped by their memory. It is this view of culture and associations to it that I adopt in its broadest sense, giving order to institutions and social relations in society and, in this case, shaping the way of being for the lower-class black West Indian. The elders in this research came from that class, so experienced particular cultural ways of living, providing a sense of identity and belonging. On migration, this sense of belonging is under consideration because the migration process affects the person and their connections to dispersed kin, and they face issues regarding settling into the new place. Certainly, we are aware that the meeting of the migrant with their cultural ways of being meant some manoeuvring would result, in a process of adaptation, creating cultural diversities, subcultures, race, and class differences. These differences enabled a particular form of British cultural identity to emerge, which also raised questions of ethnicity and nationalism (Hall 1995). Therefore, I examined the particular ways how the elders’ sense of self, social, and cultural ways of being fared, exploring their transition, agency, and idea of home, in order to unpack their sense of belonging as they used their agency to navigate their place in British society, amid the identified issues. For sure, the black British identity is part of the African Diaspora identity, with a diverse creolised mix, encompassing the processes of displacement, change, and transculturation, amid complexities involved with cultural identification, whereby, rather than identity solely being already formed in the past (Hall 2000), it awaits construction in the future in a structurally unequal society (Hall 1996). Therefore, I sought to uncover the elders’ migration experience, de-stabilisation, and re-establishment with regard to their engagement in Britain, living within British laws and customs, as residents in the sheltered housing scheme. Interestingly, Perry (2016) suggested Lord Kitchener claimed a sense of belonging on arrival to Britain in 1948, by using the words, ‘Britain is the Place for Me’, from Lord Kitchener’s song to substantiate this assertion. Perry therefore claims ‘…undoubtedly his decision to perform reflected a desire to publicly convey his sense of attachment to Britain and articulate that not only did he want “to know” London but perhaps, more

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importantly, that London was a place where he belonged, based on a historical claim to belonging and attachment to Britain’ (2016: 2–4). However, I question such immediacy regarding the belonging. Rather, I suggest migrants like Lord Kitchener and the elders in this study saw London as a place where they decided to live and where they intended to belong for their duration of stay. For, my interpretation is that belonging is something that emerges from a lived experience, where one feels happy and comfortable with attachment to a place, group, family, and nation that shapes their life and they feel valued and respected as part of it. However, Perry further states that race politics proved to be an impediment making it difficult for African Caribbean migrants to realise fully the right to belong in Britain. Thus, Perry highlights issues of inclusion that I also explore. Definitely, on arrival and through settlement in Britain, they faced conflicts and complex issues of racial discrimination, wherein Hall (1995, 2000) and Gilroy (1993) both highlight the problematic relationship of migrants in Britain, concerning issues of race and the state power, and exclusions they faced within the major institutions and other areas. Therefore, I sought to unpack the nuances solely and specifically concerned with the elders’ sense of belonging from the perspective of daily life, living in Brixton, London, seeking to understand how they manage to negotiate their place of belonging and deal with exclusions faced because of their race, by examining the ethos of inclusion. We all know that the elderly stage in life is dynamic, and it is no loss for elders from the West Indies, who engage in diverse changes that this stage in life brings. Indeed, how elderly life is lived out is also greatly influenced by past events that leave their legacy and impact on the well-being and quality of elderly life, particularly in relation to family connections.

Caribbean Kinship and Origins of the Lower-Class Black Family It is therefore important to understand the area of family connections and its impacts on socialisation, and available sources of support for the elders to maintain their well-being. So, I examined the family form they were born into to understand how it operates, and affects them and their available connections as youngsters and consequently as elders.

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Certainly, research in various Caribbean countries concerning the lower-class West Indian family form provides a benchmark for understanding that of the elders, born in the West Indies (Hoetink 1985). Indeed, the varied components regarding the family form include the slavery experience, and the church, the European, and the African influences. In fact, Clarke (1999), Henriques, and M.G. Smith thought that the ‘dominant influence has undoubtedly been that of slavery’ (cited in Barrow 1996: 7), an important catalyst in the development of the family form (R.T. Smith 1990, 2014). Particularly, as Beckles found, family patterns emerging on slave estates and between estates, with monogamous unions that were not co-residential,1 as well as co-residential and nuclear families in the rural areas (cited in Barrow 1995: 55–56), alongside influences from the church and religious beliefs (Barrow 1995, 1998). Although early scholars such as Frazier suggested that disorganised family units developed and disagreed that there was an African heritage (Mintz and Price 1992), others, such as Herskovits and Mintz, maintained there is specifically a West African polygamy influence, though diluted by the European influence (cited in Barrow 1996: 5), that helped to remodel culture, and the development of institutions and communities (Barrow 1996: 8), within the constraints of their physical socio-economic circumstances (Barrow 1995). Certainly, Besson and Chevannes (1996) stated the African retentions enabled the slaves to form a cosmology prior to Christianity, influencing culture and tradition. History also shows the African influence in Jamaica from the Coromantee, representing the Ashante link with Ghana (Long 1774), concerning military affairs detailing wars of resistance for freedom that took place in the eighteenth century, in Jamaica and across the Atlantic (Brown 2020). Interestingly, Ivan Van Sertima (1998) found the African presence in the Americas long before Columbus landed, when people arrived from the Malian empire. He proved this finding from the Olmec stone heads in Mexico dating back as far as c. 1200 BC and skeletal remains uncovered in the Caribbean, with the European influence emerging after 1492. No doubt, such African antiquity left a legacy in the Caribbean, prior to the enslavement period. Surely, the lower-class black family in the West Indies originates from the new Creole culture that appeared as resistance to the plantation system 1

 It was common for slaves to marry and live apart on different estates (Barrow 1995: 55).

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(Mintz cited in Besson 1979), wherein the family patterns are part of their cultural and ethnic identity (Chamberlain 2005: 182). Therefore, I explored the familial form and relationships that my elderly informants were born into, and the family units they created with their partners, so that I could understand family experiences in their life course and examine how migration affected their family form, relationships, and support available to them as elders. Indeed, the family form is varied and complex, for to be related in the West Indian context has a wide scope, wherein different fields of relatedness apply (Carsten 2000), because it includes relations that arise from blood ties between people, marriage, partnerships, as well as through social relations and friendships. Interestingly, Long (2014) conducted research on Palestinians in Britain in a similar diasporic context, examining the field of relatedness to understand how the community reworks and re-imagines family and constructed relationships across space, with households across the world. Therefore, Long (2014) examined the disjuncture of families that caused new emerging definitions of family. Here, the notion of family is not predetermined by notions of kinship and is more flexible, for people chose kin, and the idea of home and family life broadens, as people travel and connect to many homes, which expands the idea of family life with extended connections over a personalised mindset. Indeed, finding relationships with friends and neighbours could be as powerful as, or more so than, finding relationships with family. Truly, there are similarities with the way family emerges regarding the fields of relatedness concept that is applicable to the West Indian family, alongside more traditional ways of viewing kinship that together constitute its complexity. However, findings by Long (2014) in the diasporic context cause me to reflect on the elderly people in the sheltered housing scheme because of some obvious peculiarities and differences to Long’s findings. The elders live as sole occupants in the sheltered housing scheme, and have a strong engagement with state services. Therefore, I consider the impact of their dispersed and local family relations because in opposition to Long’s (2014) findings they appeared to have a more independent and individual aspect to their lifestyle. Therefore, I endeavoured to understand what led them into sole occupancy households and how familial engagement enabled it to happen. Following on, influenced by the notion that family develops through examining social relations between people, as well as blood ties and

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kinship, I am critical of some of the findings by early scholars researching the family form in the West Indies. This is because they applied the European model that I suggest blighted visions of family in the context of relatedness through social relations, while also failing to acknowledge influences from African retentions. Whereas, findings from proceeding scholars broadened and contextualised their analysis by closer examination of social relations, developing concepts about how people relate to each other in relation to family, influenced by African retentions that also extend notions of family to include creating belonging to place. Certainly, the elderly respondents were born into the family patterns that attracted academic interest in the first half of the twentieth century, where there were early claims of promiscuity, illegitimacy, and immorality. In the 1940s, research such as that by Simey, described the family structure as ‘loose’, ‘unstable’, and without form, creating ‘casual’, ‘promiscuous’, and ‘transitory’ relationships, with many ‘illegitimate’ children, although he found ‘faithful’ concubinage (cited in Barrow 1996). However, other scholars delved in to unpack what was occurring and found that a variety of arrangements were co-existing, thereby understanding wider dimensions affecting the family, and who held parenting roles, due to various reasons, such as ill health, death, movement, and migration, causing the separation of many children from their birth mothers and others. Indeed, Davenport (1961) highlighted that people left the family household to find work. As a result, many people moved from the rural areas to the city area of Kingston. Correspondingly, Simey (cited in Barrow 1996) found that parents left their children back in the rural areas where other family members cared for them, whilst they sent goods and money to provide for them, as well as making the occasional visits to their children. Sadly, such movements affected individuals in different ways, with some harmed by the situation they encountered.2 These scenarios ultimately have bearing on the maintenance of contact and provide reasons behind movements of parents and children, so underpinned my lines of enquiry with my informants about their links to their formative family. In addition, when Davenport (1961) examined the lower-class rural household in Jamaica from a different perspective, by focusing on the 2  Research shows that some children encountered psychological problems after separation from parents, as well as from re-uniting with parents after a long time, identified by scholars such as Kareem and Littlewood (1992) and others.

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household group, he found it to be ‘co-operative’, ‘loving’, sharing, and affectionate. Consequently, he uncovered a family form that adhered to the norms and laws of legal marriage but harboured specific features that he described as subcultural, because it lacked precise organisational shape, thereby being unable to be self-sufficient. However, Davenport’s benchmark was a European nuclear family structure. Therefore, he added the differentiation of kin members into ‘near’ and ‘far’ family on finding households comprised of co-resident features that he said had a skewed shape3 (Davenport 1961: 445). Similarly, R.T. Smith (1990) found kinship was wider than the nuclear or extended unit, extending outward to the ethnic group itself, with intra-village kinship ties. Also, M.G. Smith described families residing across households as diverse and brittle, which leads to extra-residential unions or visiting relations (cited in R.T. Smith 1996). Nonetheless, the family formation pattern uncovered has endured, remained complex, and undoubtedly contains strengths and weaknesses, responding to various pressures and influences affecting form and function. The enduring pattern of relationships for the lower-class family, with the trait of single-headed households, remains in the Caribbean and Diaspora communities, evidenced by Freeman’s (2014) recent study that confirmed the marriage rates in Jamaica have remained similar to that in the 1940s and 1950s, and illegitimacy remains high. Certainly, the complex traits in the Caribbean familial form continued on both sides of the Atlantic. However, some research carried out in Britain continued to reflect the notion of vulnerability in the West Indian family structure, finding that it contains a high percentage of households with only one adult, with nearly half of all households being sole occupancy (Owen 2001: 75). No doubt, this family form and occupancy configuration affect relations, as they grow old. Undoubtedly, all of my informants lived alone, reflecting the reality that people from the Caribbean, over 60 years old, formed the largest new elderly ethnic minority population in England, but they were seen as ‘one of the most vulnerable groups within the Caribbean communities’ (Plaza 2001: 219). That was explained by them occupying a weak position in retirement, where a sense of uselessness occurs for some, as they play a 3  The skewed shape occurs where a son remains in his household of orientation and brings in a spouse, or series of non-legal spouses, who may also bring children from previous partners into the household.

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limited role in their family as grandparents, although there are some ‘transnational flying grannies’ who visit relations abroad (Plaza 2001: 229). Indeed, there are also increasing numbers of elderly people entering care homes. Therefore, I wanted to find out about the family connections and relationships of the elders in my research, by looking at their personal relationship experiences, if they married, and if they had children, as well as probing into the roles they played in their family.

Class and the Family Structure It is also necessary to understand the relevance of class in relation to the development of the lower-class black family. When looking at class and how it affects the form of the West Indian family, M.G.  Smith’s views are interesting, for M.G.  Smith used J.S. Furnivall’s concept of the plural society from the Far East, where he found that different racial and cultural groups, economically and socially divided, were ruled under the imposing colonial power. A similarly structured society exists in the West Indies, and the lower-class position held by black people affects the familial form, and its operation. For sure, European moral and cultural superiority dominated the West Indies, creating an overarching governing system (R.T. Smith 1988), and hence, economically and politically marginalising the lower-class family (M.G. Smith 1965). However, M.G. Smith (1965) states the distinctive characteristics related to poverty that influence the structural components. In addition, Anderson-Levy (2001) suggested they appear, in part, to practice similar relationship patterns as the middle-class people in Jamaica. Ironically, more recent research took note of the lower-class influence on the middle-class family patterns through the process called ‘respectable feminism’, which Freeman (2014) suggests comes from ‘reworking the reputation and respectability concepts’ (2014: 107). For as the middle class revise the relationship between motherhood and entrepreneurialism (2014: 109), there is increasing ‘appeal for non-residential visiting relationships’ that are said to flexibly enable a working pattern that supports motherhood responsibilities after divorce or relationship breakdown (2014: 110). I therefore enquired about the status of the elderly women in this research as working mothers, single mothers, and after divorce to understand the relationships with children and partners. Conversely, I also wondered about the position of elderly men with regard to family ties. However, the lower-class people resisted the imposed subjugation, most pronounced through history, and seen in resilience, rebellions, and

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reconstructions in response to overbearing control. They become socially active and politically engaged in addressing their concerns and needs on noting their situation. This is also evidenced by them contesting their status, and the quest for political enfranchisement, for example, under Bustamante’s leadership in Jamaica, where the black lower class obtained recognition and adult suffrage (M.G. Smith 1965), as they continued to adapt to the changing economic and political scene. Indeed, looking back, research found freed slaves sought a more secure basis on which to develop family life, a sense of self, and secure belonging that entwined and influenced the family form.

Family Structure and Belonging As poor people, the freed slaves tried to develop a sense of self, family, and community, as well as secure better economic independence and stability. Therefore, a system developed whereby the lower-class family form and connection is often further solidified through ties to land. The land contains a house where the family lives and areas to plant provisions for use and sale, in plots near and far, called family land. Surely, the previous status of my informants’ ancestors as chattel slaves, then freed slaves at the bottom of the social class hierarchy, impacted on the development of family land—an institution that R.T. Smith (1996) accepted as harbouring complex patterns of relations that fostered a sense of belonging to kin through linkages to a place. I therefore looked at the different theories of family land and the binding and weakening powers of family land as important determinants regarding maintaining kinship ties through residency and attachment to a place and people, conversely assessing how detachment occurs when people move away from the original place. This provided me with an awareness of how to process my informants’ experiences regarding belonging in relation to ‘back home’ after migrating, staying away, and attempting return, or not, in elderly life. Certainly, scholars suggest that family land emerged through the creolisation process from the plantation system (Besson 1979, 2002; Olwig 1981). Indeed, Solien’s (1959) research among the black Caribs of Central America highlighted that non-unilineal descent created kinship belonging and determined residential rights to land. In addition to descent, Solien (1959) utilised Goodenough’s finding that land rights restrict and define membership of a group, based on the location of birth and area chosen for residency, and this bilateral kinship system featured a strong emphasis on

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the female side. Certainly, Davenport (1961) identified that plots of residential land determined family organisation in Jamaica, traceable to the slavery period, where slaves cultivated house yards, inherited through the eldest son. The concept of kinship and land holding was further developed, from poverty and economic exclusion, so ‘holding scarce land rights they developed a system of landholding including the African concept of landholding, but departed from African restricted unilineal descent’ and introduced gender equality (Besson 2002: 29–30), creating the institution of family land as an equalising family binding mechanism, where the family land holding structure sustains all of the original founder’s descendants through both genders in perpetuity; as a result one cannot be alienated from this freehold right, because it represents security and prestige (Besson 1988). Hence, through land inheritance flows from one generation to the next, family member’s link and root to a place of belonging (Besson 1979). Family land is therefore available to future generations as it flows through the unrestricted cognatic descent system (Besson 2002). Indeed, this family system also includes ‘ego-focused bilateral kinship networks with no specific boundaries, rather than formal kindreds; and an ancestor-­ focused unrestricted cognatic descent system that forges over-lapping and ever-increasing family lines that are most fully developed in dispersed family-­land corporations’ (Besson 2002: 281). Therefore, family ties provide support locally and outside to family members in other villages (Besson 2002: 282). In this description of the kinship structure there is an assertion that family ties connect through the institution of family land and that there is gender equality in inheritance and attachment, so that family members connect without any restrictions through generations. I therefore wanted to find out if the elders had family land connections, and how they connected to it, to find out how it affected their sense of belonging. Definitely, family land represents equality and freedom and plays a symbolic role in the formation of identity, providing the link between internationally dispersed families (Besson 2002: 292). Unquestionably, family land remains important, with 80% of households in Carriacou sharing a claim to it with relations living abroad (Mills 2007: 236). Therefore, I wanted to explore how movement and migration affected this connection, asking my informants questions about visiting home as elders, and this understanding of family land puts their responses into a frame of reasoning. I also wondered why the elders in this study had not returned home, and why they stayed in Britain.

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Lessening Connection to Family Land Overall, the institution of family land binds people together and roots belonging to a place. Alternatively, in reality connection to it might weaken. After migration, although rights to family land remain, actual engagement and sharing with kin can become affected by the long-term absence of family members, so the attachment becomes symbolic more than physical, thereby becoming restricted4 (Fox 1967: 156) and people excluded5 from it. Undoubtedly, such a restricting mechanism exists in the notion of family land, as highlighted by Solien (cited in Besson 1979) and Maurer (1997), because equal sharing of family land dwindles when relinquishments occur. In addition, although absent family members retained claims to family land (Besson 1979), ‘crab antics’6 sometimes caused contention and trickery during the quest to assert the right to the land (Besson, 1979, 1988, 2002). Certainly, foreclosure7 can be assumed, when the migrant stays away for a long period, unable economically and practically to contribute, and return to family land. I asked my informants about the nature of their relationship to their family land connections due to remaining as long-term residents in Britain. I also sought to uncover whether they tried returning home as elders and 4  The term ‘restricted’ applies to the process through which family members lose their connection to family land. Land can become restricted to a family member if they no longer live on it. It can become pragmatically restricted if they have access to more than one area of family land but cannot practically reside on all of them, so they choose which one to affiliate with (Fox 1967). 5  Davenport and Murdoch highlighted that land rights can be exclusive and irreversible, for the land rights taken up by parents or children determine affiliation for life. Indeed, Clarke, in Jamaica, found family members were excluded from family land, where there was a high demand for land with land shortage; therefore once they left, return became difficult for them and their children (Otterbein 1964). Perhaps this is because as Greenfield found in Barbados, family land offered a home and economic protection (Otterbein 1964). 6  A situation where family members do not work together in harmony, where competition creeps in and they try to outwit each other. Likened to crabs in a barrel that hinder each other from climbing out by continually pulling the one closer to the exit back. 7  When family members leave family land and do not return at all to visit, or make a permanent home elsewhere without making plans to return to family land, other family members expect they will not return. The person who left also accepts this situation. They assume they have relinquished their rights to the family land and other members take up residency; the avenue to return to it is therefore closed to the traveller in real terms as it becomes occupied by others. Many of my informants stayed away from their family land so could not return to it as the connection became too weak, as well as due to their economic inability to return; for others they never returned at all since migrating to England, so in the end, in reality, left their family land. I discuss these issues in Chap. 4.

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asked them what happened to find out whether family land had become less prevalent (Olwig 1997) for them, or if it remained a symbolic cultural attachment, as a place of identification and an ‘important socio-cultural site’ (Olwig 1999: 448) rather than having the ability to take up residency. Furthermore, I wanted to explore the migrants’ status, and whether, in order to feel belonging ‘back home’, those left ‘back home’ need to feel that they belong ‘back home’ with them (Olwig 1999). For sure, the negotiation with ‘back home’ needs to be continuously nurtured, and definitely the kinship ties of returnees require ongoing negotiations to develop and strengthen supportive social capital relationships, although conflict can cause a loss of solidarity (Reynolds 2011). As a result, I was keen to explore the intricate nature of any re-connection back home for my informants, and ascertain the important determinants involved in maintaining or lessening their attachment and sense of belonging through family land. Consequently, I looked at how the family form influenced citizenship, as a concept of attachment (Crichlow 1995) and sense of belonging, and how the elders assert themselves as West Indian migrants, and residents in Britain, whilst external influences, such as the interventions from the British state, also affect their identity and citizenship. I therefore, not only examined external forces, but also enquired on continued aspects of self-­ determination to assert self and find out about belonging.

Gender Equality Previous research identified distinct and varied gender patterns operating within the West Indian family, through examining the concept of matrifocality. Certainly, during the period when my informants were younger, Clarke’s (1999) research suggested that fathers were predominantly absent, whereas R.T. Smith (1990) used the term matrifocality to propose women as the leading figures in the family and the head of the family, where the father was absent from the household, thereby demarking distinct gender roles and suggesting weak conjugal unions existed in which the father played out minimal functions. However, Barrow (1998) challenged the existence of male marginality by asserting that men self-define their masculinity and fatherhood, by playing their specific supporting roles as brothers and uncles. Likewise, Lazarus-Black (1999) utilised Maurer’s concept of the ‘kinship event’ to criticise Clarke’s marginalisation of the male by suggesting that men play a specific role within their families that is highly regarded

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and complements the female role and consequently proposing that men contribute to supporting their children through actions such as paying school fees and giving gifts on important occasions. In addition, Chevannes (2001) suggested the existence of a father–son bond in Dominica, whereby men provided strict discipline and were seen as role models of manhood for boys. Furthermore, Goulbourne (2001), Bauer and Thompson (2006), and Reynolds (2001, 2006) found strong male ties were more widely enduring in Britain. Interestingly, Reynolds (2006) found some men supported their wives and partners, maintain connections with their children, and financially supported their upbringing, even if they did not live with them, and at times held power at the head of the family. However, their research included a wider social class mixture in their sample, whereas my focus is solely on people from the working-class elders group. Therefore, with these varied findings in mind, I wanted to explore the role the elderly men and women played in their family and if there were similarities, and differences to that which they experienced in their formative households. This enquiry gaze serves to provide an understanding of what their specific family relations and patterns of relatedness meant for them as elders. I also reflected on recent research by Philogene Heron (2016) whose research in Dominica found that the behaviour patterns of some men shifted through their life course influenced by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, which ignited the male response regarding caring for and protecting their children and family—where men become more active in the family and are more than appendages to matrifocal roles, recognising the importance of the male lineage and their role as son, father, and grandfather within it. Similarly, I sought to uncover if there were changes during the life course of the elderly men in this research regarding relations and connections with children, to find out how this played a part in maintaining their status and well-being as elders. I sought clarity into this important aspect of gendered familial relations. However, I raise the question, is the increasing involvement of men with their family and children reflecting wider society influences that encourage males to take central roles in the family, or whether it has more to do with a welcomed cultural shift in behaviour among the recent generations? I certainly find the notion of family land as an institution useful, and it has helped me to understand the connections between my elderly informants, place, and kinship ties, and afforded a focus to examine how the bond between attachment and belonging develop and change, in relation to residency and migration.

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Migration and Belonging Certainly, migration causes the break-up of families (Dauguard-Hanson 2005), social disruption, and change in kinship structures, but they can recompose (Sagalem 2001). Therefore, I examined the ways in which migration caused fractures in connections, opening the way for my elderly informants to become reliant on the state and other sources for support. Therefore, I turn to focus on migration and the impact on belonging. So, in order to contextualise migration, I reflect on the general importance of migration and how it affects connections and bonds between people and place. Thereafter, I examine ideas of connections, loss, and refocusing after migration occurs, which affects the process of change and re-alignment. The fact that migrating is well established amongst people from the Caribbean is highlighted by scholars such as Philpott (1973), Thomas-­ Hope (1986, 1992, 1995, 1998), Goulbourne (1999, 2001, 2006), Olwig (1993, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007), Chamberlain (1995, 2005), and Bauer and Thompson (2006). Certainly, the structural development of the Caribbean, with the push factors of poverty and pull factors of work opportunities, influences migration, rather than solely responding to calls from overseas (Chamberlain 1995). Migration is therefore part of Caribbean life, a trend shaped by movement, absenteeism, and return. It is also marked by three distinct phases, from the nineteenth century to the World War II period, the postwar era to the 1960s, and from the 1960s to the present (Chamberlain 1998). It was in the second and early third phases that the elderly people in my research migrated to England, creating great impact, taking the strongest from villages and towns, thwarting the development of the places they left, with most embarking on a five-year plan to return (Nobrega 2019: 32). Indeed, they travelled for a ‘short term visit’ (Henry 2007: 17), thus staying long-term brought a change and refocus to their belonging. The migration to Britain during the 1950s and 1960s increased after the restriction placed on migration to the United States, under the Walter McCarran Act in 1952. However, Britain’s doors started to close when immigration control began in 1962 (Foner 1979). Thereafter, West Indian migration shifted again to the United States and Canada. West Indian migrants in Britain could continue to bring over dependents up to 1971; thereafter one needed a work permit to enter, and this undeniably affected the entry of children. This restriction also limited rights of other kin members to join family members in Britain, and I wonder if these changes in the law affected my respondents and their connections with family

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members, fuelling dispersal, which ultimately affects connections. So, I asked, did the elders leave children behind, if so, how does this affect relationships, and how does this impact on their elderly life? No doubt, the extensive external migration affected internal structures in the Caribbean that created an increased dependency on family members abroad (Thomas-Hope 1992). Yet, family ties require maintenance in order to remain meaningful (Rapport and Dawson 1998). Therefore, I wanted to find out about the impact of separations on the welfare of the elders, compiling genealogies as a social map, to gain an understanding about the nature of transnational placement of the family and engagement.

Globalisation and Migration Indeed, economic power drives the continual movement of people (Sheller 2003), in order to meet the needs of capitalist expansion under colonisation and decolonisation, through which people migrate into different nation states and the influx affects the host nation that adapts accordingly, while containing fractions from the meeting of different races and cultures. Therefore, Caribbean culture meets up with British culture through migration of people, and the meeting of the cultures. Certainly, the elderly West Indian migrants in this project arrived in Britain within the iconic ‘Windrush’ era of migration between 1948 and 1971—most moving for economic reasons due to the high unemployment rate and concerns of civil unrest in the Caribbean, as well as due to the labour shortage across Europe and in Britain after World War II (Byron and Condon 1996). The movement, supported by legislation after World War II, that opened up freedom of movement for people from the Caribbean meant that Commonwealth citizens could migrate and acquire British nationality status (Byron and Condon 1996). Due to the increasing global economy, migration expands, and I endeavoured to unpack the impact the movements had on the family, connections, and relations. I also wanted to examine the impact of movement on the migrant from their personal perspectives. Of course, the movement of people can lead to separation, loss, and interruptions to existing kinship practice, and with the influxes of people into new countries, questions arise regarding power relations, equality, exclusion, and inclusion (Franklin and McKinnon 2001). Hence, migration greatly influences the individual (Strathern 1995) and it is evident that incorporation contains inequality (King 1990). Further, although identity is located in particular places that provide order and a symbolic

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significance for the performance of the identity, paradoxical uncertainties arise from movement from one place to another (Hetherington 1998). Thus, scholars suggest that dispersed and fragmented identities must be included in an understanding of a social space because travel is associated with the notions of resistance and transgression (Hetherington 1998: 106). To undertake this task in my research, I examined anthropological insights regarding movement to provide a basis to process my enquiry. Indeed, scholars had explored the relationship between identity and fixity, by using a stationary point to perceive and construct the social world (cited in Rapport and Dawson 1998), that I find useful. Keen to explore the impact of movement on family ties, I drew on Sahlins, Leach, and Levi-Strauss, and I utilised the idea of using time and space as markers of movement, so I used my informants’ ego similar to Leach, as the centre of their social space and social relations (cited in Rapport and Dawson 1998). Influenced by Levi-Strauss, I remained mindful of the idea that myths (cited in Rapport and Dawson 1998), or continued shared stories that give continued meaning to a group in a place, can be used to explore how movement away from a place interrupts the storyline and affects narratives of being and belonging. Thereafter, I creatively engaged these aspects to collect narratives from the elders about attachment to back home after movement away, to understand the real experiences and consequences of the elders’ sojourn on their sense of belonging. Undeniably, Nettleford states that Caribbean migrants engage in ‘simultaneous acts of negating and affirming, demolishing and constructing, rejecting and reshaping … in continual conflict’ (cited in Sheller 2003: 280), while being engulfed in a world without fixity (Geertz cited in Rapport and Dawson 1998), since there are no longer any traditionally fixed, spatially and temporally bounded cultural worlds (Rapport and Dawson 1998: 23). Accordingly, I similarly employ a point of view in keeping with the reality that people continually move due to modernisation, political, economic and social change, in what I suggest is perhaps a kind of ‘silently enforced’ migration, a kind of ‘Hobson’s choice’ scenario for many. Movements, therefore, give rise to transnationalism, and the transnational lens becomes a vital consideration when researching older people as migrants, and their ways of being and belonging (Zonitini 2015), that I applied. However, one point of view suggests that culture accompanies migrants as they travel and gives rise to social identities that are created heterogeneously, from multiple, diverse interrelationships, whereby each ‘local’

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point makes a ‘global’ point (Geertz cited in Rapport and Dawson 1998: 25) and we see social and cultural compression in action (Hannerz 1992). For it is through this process that people and cultures are brought together, merging socio-cultural differences within the same ‘time’ and ‘space’ without socio-cultural boundaries. Hence, the house is mobile, individualised, privatised, and ‘no longer a dwelling but the untold story of a life being lived’ (Berger cited in Rapport and Dawson 1998: 25). Subsequently, I pose an alternative question, asking whether the merger of the socio-­ cultural boundaries is so straightforward? I wanted to understand how cultural compression occurred through the experiences of the elderly migrants, examining the individualised nature of their household and unpacking the causes of residency, identifying how the socio-cultural mix ensures the boundaries and how the elders navigate them. Sure, those who migrated to Britain from the West Indies faced issues of interrelationships and integration, and I surmise the Caribbean community remained to some extent in, what Hannerz (1992) calls, a state of confusion and flux, arising from the experiences of cultural compression. Consequently, I wanted to examine how the elders contested and navigated their incorporation as they sought to appropriately meet their needs and maintain their well-being, and if their negotiation was characterised by uncertainty and turbulent destabilisation (Papastergaidis 2000), with points of merger (Anwar 1979). Subsequently, I probed into how my elderly informants merged and departed from fitting into mainstream British society and looked at the ways state social policy affected them. Certainly, being a migrant involves the notion of exile, journeying, and loss that compound time and space, wherein themes of escape, suffering, memory, fear, and vulnerability arise, creating psychological traumas, compounded by the need to fit into a new community comprising of complex cultures and varied Diaspora inputs (Gilroy 1993). Indeed, migration is a traumatic and complex experience with dilemmas that call for complex negotiations that I endeavoured to unpack in this research case study.

Migration, Separation, and Re-localisation On migration, the West Indian migrants met with difficulties; I therefore wanted to question the elders about being in an unfamiliar culture and with unfamiliar people and ways of being and doing, and how they navigate their identity as elders away from home and among unfamiliar people. Therefore, I looked for a way to process these matters, and the theories on

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the concept of movement through time and across space proved useful and influenced the development of my research and assessment framework. The time–space concepts8 by Thrift (cited in Gell 2001) and Serres (1999) suggest people shape actor networks across the globe and can also overcome state boundaries, assisted by new technologies (Meyrowitz 1998), so people, stay connected. On the other hand, modern kinship systems are also affected by globalisation and although people can stay connected globalisation can bring uncertainty and contradictory implications to people, and the transnational way of living affects social, cultural, and economic life (Collier and Ong 2005). Subsequently, I explored both these points of view so that I could examine the connections and separations between the elders and others in their network as a consequence of mass migration, and understand how it affects them. Caribbean people are used to managing changes arising from movements. Indeed, Besson (2005: 17) affirmed that ‘the Caribbean oikoumenê’9 reflects extreme experiences of disjuncture through time and space, from early globalisation, intense colonisation, trans-Atlantic indenture, and enslavement, as well as transnational migration. Therefore, in keeping with the idea that globalisation creates restratification and a new socio-cultural hierarchy (Latham 2002), through which displacement and re-intervention occurs (Papastergaidis 2000), I wanted to understand the power of separation while establishing links in Britain that migration caused. I also wanted to ascertain how the elderly informants participated within Linda Basch’s suggestion of a ‘deterrorialised nation state’ (Foner, 2001: 8), and find their status in relation to maintaining connections back home (Olwig 2005), alongside questioning assimilation into England (Philpott 1973). I also wanted to find out if the elders engaged in developing a cultural space that emerged in their global encounter (Olwig 1993: 9) and participated in the creation of ‘a site of significance in the wider movement in the Caribbean Diaspora’ (Olwig 2001: 124), where, as migrants, they felt at 8  Thrift (Gell 2001) based his ideas on Haggerstrand’s time-map that links space and time with environmental influences. He suggests that social relations have spatio-temporal implications. Serres (1999: 2–8) highlights that humans look at unity and scorn groupings of things as separate units. Therefore, things are meaningful when they come together, so we search for relationships and look for networks of connections where there are no boundaries between people located in different places. In this respect, migration does not sever links with people at a distance for people continue to stay connected. 9  A reference to Mintz (1996) who showed the Caribbean oikoumenê to be a culturally diverse region, created through the forces of European expansion.

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home (Olwig 2001). I sought to understand how they adjusted to the change emotionally and psychologically to find meaningful order to their lives as a sense of cohesion rather than discord that challenged the fragmentation encountered in their everyday life (Hetherington 1998). In doing so, I also questioned whether ‘being grounded is not necessarily about being fixed and alternatively whether being mobile is not necessarily about being detached’ (Ahmed et al. 2003). Being working class, I wondered if they followed class lines found by Olwig (2002), who showed her middle-class West Indian informant in Chapel Town, Leeds, integrated into wider British culture better than her working-class informant who was more comfortable in the West Indian community in Leeds. Consequently, I asked what affinity had my elderly respondents found in Brixton, as residents in the local West Indian community, and in the sheltered housing scheme? (housing specifically black African/Afro-Caribbean people). Were they engaging in ethnic redefinition, similar to Bangladeshi migrant elders, by creating ‘a new cultural tradition that only has meaning in the British context’ (Gardener 2002: 6) while operating in an ‘ethnically diverse, global city’ (Devadason 2010), manoeuvring to find their unique position in it? Had my elderly respondents’ views of home been re-invented, and imagined, and how has their experience as elders differed to that of Nare’s (2016) Gujarati elders, with the notion of home, shaped by the importance of family and intergenerational care?

Agency I drew on an interesting suggestion proposed by Wardle (1999) to explore the process of manoeuvring employed by the elders to find a place in society. Wardle (1999), influenced by Simmel’s link between agency and migration, suggested migration involves fleeing the constraints of hardship and oppression in the West Indies, proposing migration is a powerful cultural ideal and a route to seeking freedom, through adventurous travel (Wardle 1999: 525), whereby the migrant moves by flight into the imaginative realm and into extra-territoriality, while also engaging in circular-­ transmigration (Wardle 1999: 525). Through this process he suggested that the migrants sought to move to an adventure rather than being solely moved by their past, and became ahistorical because they displace their ‘self’ into the fascination of ‘others’ (Wardle 1999: 525). I therefore investigated the factors influencing the elders’ decisions to migrate to understand their migration journey and to see how their past decisions

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affect them as elders, and how they realistically asserted their ‘self’ in the real situations encountered. I therefore question whether the elders simply lost themselves in the fascination of others (Wardle 1999), by examining their sense of being West Indian as they interact with the state services, and with British customs and traditions at the sheltered housing scheme. Although Miller (2008) suggested that rupture of the migrant experiences caused the objectification in house possessions, I was more interested in aspects of cultural continuities and re-inventions, such as the front room invention as an important social, cultural, and material space (McMillan 2019) in Britain. Therefore, I explored ways of being West Indian in Britain and looked at the elders’ social and cultural lifestyles that developed in Britain. Miller (2008) suggested the values that exist in the Caribbean were less likely to be appropriate for the conditions faced in London. I endeavoured to find out whether this idea was true, given the elderly people are actors in their world, and others advocate on their behalf with regard to asserting Caribbean-based culture. Consequently, I observed their agency in operation, and that of the state administrators. I also wanted to examine how the elderly informants, as ordinary people, engage in negotiating their needs assisted by liberal initiatives to develop appropriate services that they can use. I explored how they illuminate and activate Marcus Garvey’s suggestion that the Caribbean’s revolutionary tradition seeks to re-create social processes, both individually and collectively (Clarke 1971), and here I looked at changes they affected in the global encounter. I found Gramsci’s (1990) ideas about social change a useful ideological concept to process the actions of the elders. For, he was concerned with how people in a subordinate position in society use their agency to affect social change for their benefit. For sure, Gramsci (1990), a Marxist concerned with social change, saw society governed by ‘ideological hegemony’, where beliefs, values, cultural traditions, and myths functioned on a mass level to perpetuate the existing order. Thereby, change could happen through a revolution, with rational-cognitive activity, as well as passionate, emotional commitment (Gramsci 1990: 17). Liberation would therefore produce a ‘counter-hegemonic’ worldview within a new ‘integrated culture’ (Gramsci 1990: 17) that would arise from a crisis. My parallel is made here, for contemporary society is in a crisis situation concerning the meaning of ‘Britishness’, and the issues concerning avenues for valuing diversity that includes various ethnicities and cultures that are constantly evolving.

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There are other issues such as those regarding the economy and various legal entanglements. Indeed the ‘Brexit’10 vote also showed up the dividing thoughts on Britain and its relatedness to Europe and the world, with an evolving crisis scenario exposing deep-seated divisions, as Britain seeks to unite and reposition itself in the world. Correspondingly, the concepts of inclusion and diversity also carry important issues affecting the elderly respondents, for being invited, the West Indians came for the employment opportunities, but on arrival they were not welcomed and thereafter race riots ensued. They continually encountered problems concerning housing, and social exclusion and integration from the churches and other social institutions. These problems continued even after significant residency, whereby their children also encountered difficulties regarding unfair treatment from institutions, such as the police that is acknowledged as institutionally racist (The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry 1999). This adds to the reality that Amin-Addo (1995) emphasised, finding mistrust of white British people, the British legal system, and other institutions. Additionally, unlike many of the early arrivals who persevered to gain employment, the children of the ‘Windrush’ migrants suffered great unemployment and there remains concerns about under-achievement in many forms, and their over-representation in the mental health and criminal justice systems. Therefore, although a counter-hegemonic revolution has not occurred, a challenge to the structure and governance of British society remains throughout the period since migration, with a political lobby including ordinary people, professionals, Councillors, Borough Mayor, MPs, and sympathisers that remains within the community challenging the law and policy. As a result, as members of the West Indian community, my informants benefited from the wider struggle to be recognised and the fight for change to enable equality and inclusion. Thus, I find the Gramsci (1990) notion of making changes from the subordinate position, involving ordinary people and intellectuals in continual operation, useful. Indeed, Gramsci (1990) recognised the subaltern position of marginalised groups and the lower class, whose social status affects them. However, they exert their power nonetheless. My informants as part of the lower class in society exert their power assisted by others. For 10  In 2016, the British nation voted to remove the United Kingdom from the European Union. The government were embroiled in negotiating agreements to achieve this, extending deadlines, and it was finally achieved in 2020.

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sure, individuals use their will to affect the structure that governs them (Kraidy 2005), and certainly, Gramsci (1990: 30) asserted that, ‘only the man who wills something strongly can identify the elements which are necessary to the realisation of his will’. Consequently, I explore how the elders and others use their agency in interactions with the state, and how the state administration responds, as the elders struggle to understand how to fine-tune their place in British society. Nonetheless, a critique of Gramsci is useful, for Williams (1977) questioned Gramsci’s proposal of social change, suggesting that his notion of change is problematic, being conceptual and abstract ideology rather than recognised as a complete actual social process, requiring understanding of the alternative meanings, values, opinions, and attitudes accommodated within society. I acknowledge this concern, and utilise Gramsci’s abstract construct, so I apply it to the day-to-day life experiences of my migrant informers. In doing so, I examine values, opinions, and attitudes in lived reality, looking at social processes within a site of empowerment and marginalisation (Kraidy 2005: 154), with membership marked by ‘absorptions’ (Benedict 1983: 3), while unpacking the polarities of inside and outside, transitional and resistant.

Outsiders? If the fact that ‘migration as wealth creation remains firmly rooted in the minds of the Caribbean people in the islands of origin’ (Byron 2005: 216) and that the desire to attain economic power flows from the act of migration, I wondered what not meeting expectations caused on the lives of the elders and how this affected their belonging. What impact did the state provisions have on their well-being and sense of belonging? Some migrants were ‘rather negative’ about their lives in England (Olwig 1998: 70), feeling let down by the ‘colonial institutions of the church and the school’ (Olwig 1998: 73) and employment, feeling as though they did not belong to Great Britain. I wondered if my elderly respondents had similar thoughts; did they face discrimination from state services, isolation, and alienation from kin members (Blakemore and Boneham (1994), and how secure did they feel? What did the elders retain and what was replaced, rejected, or marginalised (Clifford 1994), during my informants’ negotiation of their identity and culture, while creating a place of belonging. According to Bhabha (1994), the migrants become hybrid persons as they fuse their former and new cultural influences, like a bridge

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reconciling between two cultural forces, but was that true here? In addition, Hall comments that, ‘world views interact with each other and are reworked, until the old ones are displaced’ (Stuart Hall cited in Papastergaidis 2000: 189). I wondered if it is so clear-cut with my informants, and wondered what else was involved. Consequently, Bhabha’s (1994) concept of the ‘third space’, the term used to describe the ‘inbetween’ space created by the migrant, resulting from the interface with the society they migrate to, proved useful to aid my probing, and understanding of the migration and settlement process, and consequently the location, identity, and placement of the elders. It also facilitated enquiry into what happened to identification with back home, and underpinned questions and conversations regarding the elders’ transitions. Of course, Britain’s black communities have ‘forged a compound culture from disparate sources’ (Gilroy 1993: 15), so loyalty and identity are constantly being negotiated, creating issues around belonging and identity, especially as black culture is ‘made and re-made adapting to local experiences’ (Gilroy 1987: 154). This is an interesting truism and prompted enquiry into how the elders adapted to their changing local and global circumstances, where I could ask about shifting perspectives. How did Gilroy’s suggestion that black people are part of England and Englishness (1987, 1993) but racism caused problems, give insight into notions of incorporation, played out among the elders? For although having contributed to English culture they have been afforded ‘ambiguous assimilation…and specific forms of exclusion’ (Gilroy 1987: 155). What happened when engaging with the changing discourse and policy applications concerning the broad area of multiculturalism as a management tool regarding inclusion? In respect of looking at personal agency within the Caribbean community, I engage with looking over the sense of solidarity that affected developments in Brixton, and by reflecting on what was happening in the West Indian community over the decades, and share some of my experiences that also serve to contextualise the research. Definitely, critical thinking scholars and their ideas were influential in Britain and locally in Brixton, and the influential ideas were supported. Local activists in Brixton such as Olive Morris and the black Panthers shared their experiences of discrimination and spoke about the social condition, treatment, and needs of the West Indian community. Therefore, in the period following the infamous uprisings in the 1980s, there was a quest from the grassroots in communities across Britain and in Brixton,

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for an understanding of the plight faced by West Indian migrants and descendants. Indeed, many people from the Caribbean felt outcast, questioning arrival and the position they faced. During this time, literature, particularly from scholars involved in the Black Power Movement in the USA, grew further and influenced those feeling disenfranchised, who looked for productive ways to develop and channel their agency to effect change and improve their circumstances locally. The thirst for African-centred knowledge within Britain also grew, and people looked to their past to understand their present and wonder about the future. I remember partaking in community-based courses within the expanding access to education materials and thoughts. I recall attending a West Indian Sociology course in Hackney, run by Dame Jocelyn Barrow in the mid-1980s, alongside listening to popular poets such as Linton Kwesi Johnson who widened an understanding and broadened listenership of the issues faced by the migrant Caribbean population in England. In the 1990s, I also attended a Black Therapy course hosted by a local community organisation supporting those with alcohol misuse, in Brixton, engaging with wider thoughts and theories on the psychological development and status of black people, their social experience, and well-being that also served to better understand the effects of discrimination and exclusion in Britain. Within the growing access to the body of critical thought regarding black people in Britain, whose plight shared similarities in the American, African, and Caribbean Diasporas, there was an emerging sector of confidence regarding a sense of self and understanding regarding notions of belonging to a shared past. The works of Chiek Anta Diop on African civilisation before the enslavement period, Ivan Van Sertima on the historical origins of African culture, and John Henrik Clarke on the teaching of history concerning the Diasporic black cultures served to provide some sense of existence beyond that of the enslavement history, and solely being descendants of slaves. The opportunities for wide discussion influenced the Caribbean community in London and Brixton was a focal meeting place for many activities that took place. The diverse literature served to shape the development of self within the local informal networks of some people in the Caribbean community, who examined and explored their contemporary experiences, using personal agency in diverse ways seeking to rise out, by understanding the discriminatory and impoverished conditions many faced.

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The rising popularity of Reggae music that originated in Jamaica in the 1960s and the philosophy of the Rastafarian religion that strongly emerged globally and locally in Brixton underpinned ideas contextualising the black experience, which was shared by many migrants in Britain, their descendants, and beyond by other people, providing sympathetic support and affiliation. Certainly, many people visited Brixton to experience the Caribbean affair, to gather and discuss black scholars’ thoughts. The previous works of Marcus Garvey, W.E.B.  Du Bois from the early twentieth century, spurred on by Walter Rodney who influenced thoughts on the economic development of Africa, and Kwame Nkumah achieving groundbreaking Premiership of Ghana, all served to uplift many people of African ancestry in Britain, at grassroots and other levels. There were many activists and community leaders in the Caribbean population, strengthened by the critical philosophies, who supported the development of a strong sense of self, contesting ideas of belonging and the affinity between the Caribbean, Africa, and Britain. The notion of Sankofa, looking back to learn and then go forward, became popular and I embraced this term personally and academically, as it facilitated learning and the development of pride, and strength of self. What followed in the 1990s was the understanding of trauma, on those whose lineage included people who experienced slavery, from scholars such as Joy De Gruy Leary. Joy De Gruy Leary (2005) stated that trauma transferred unresolved through the generations, which resonated with local critical thinkers, who sought understanding of their plight, in the local Caribbean communities in Britain, because there were many vulnerable and unwell people experiencing mental health issues, divisions, and fractures as well as camaraderie. The understanding and shared predicament of enslaved people and their descendants therefore influenced the community workers and leaders in Britain, assisting to influence and contextualise the current local experiences that permeated into Brixton and other communities to varying degrees. Indeed, there was the appointment of a black Mayor in Lambeth in the 1980s. Within the arena of longstanding local political and social unrest, there was engagement with the political process and lobby groups. The working-­ class community had become very aware and politically engaged, seeking remedies to problems in diverse ways. Indeed, attack and unrest occurred from early arrival within the ‘Windrush’ era of migration, creating unease amid the continuous intergenerational movement and loss, with people seeking a sense of peace, acceptance, and settlement. Therefore, I explored

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how experiencing discrimination and receiving assistance from the state affected the elders’ sense of belonging. The development of the sheltered housing scheme, a housing provision solely for black elderly people, in Brixton is a product of local black solidarity. The scheme developed in a period of unrest that challenged racism, discrimination, poverty, and disenfranchisement, which also fostered black solidarity and wider associations with disempowered groups, cultures, and ethnicities in England. I therefore sought to ascertain how the elderly people felt since moving into the scheme to find out how they fare in their local community. Useful here is Daugaard-Hanson’s (2005) assessment of the influx of Chinese people into Belize regarding their incorporation and belonging, stating ‘belonging to a community is framed as a matter of “dwelling”; their groundedness and their sense of a shared common and local history … markers that make them belong there’ (Dauguard-Hanson 2005: 127). Therefore, I also wondered how the elders shared experiences that affected them and their sense of belonging. I explored how the elderly respondents connect to their host community as residents at the sheltered housing scheme, and in the local area where their dwelling is situated. I also explored how they navigated connection to back home, considering their status in respect of Foner’s (2001) notion of an equally balanced connection, from her research amongst Caribbean migrants in New York. I also gave consideration to the remark that ‘home is where one’s family is’ (Norbrega 2019) and sought explanation regarding what this meant for the elders in this research against the backdrop of the current government’s ‘hostile environment’ policies towards immigration, pushing definitions of citizenship, that fragments the meaning of nationality (Wardle and Obermuller 2019) and that no doubt affects the thoughts of the elders regarding their belonging. Definitely, a sense of belonging that universally feels secure is challenging, and Olwig (2005) highlights an interesting set of contrasts between three different approaches applied to home and belonging that is important to my research; they are the integrationalist, transnational, and diasporic. In the integrationalist approach, migrants integrate to the new place; however, the transnationals view migrants as at home everywhere and those in the Diaspora as at home nowhere (2005: 191). Therefore, I sought to locate the elderly informants, embroiled in negotiating their belonging that involves aspects of the three different approaches.

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My Assessment Framework I developed a seven-point assessment framework, influenced by the diverse theories concerning the complexities of working-class West Indian society, family and belonging, globalisation and West Indian migrants in Britain, simultaneously influenced by the historical, economic, and social perspectives. Indeed, I am examining elders, whose life experiences influence their present (Kendall and Wickham 1999: 4) ways of being. I therefore utilise historical information similar to Foucault’s (1991) application of history, as a diagnostic tool, rather than solely seeing how the present has emerged from the past. Also influential is Crichlow’s (1994) suggestion to further probe into the idea of citizen as a concept of attachment and this gaze helped to contextualise my research focus, for I am concerned with the elders amid the current concerns of migrants as citizens and their sense of belonging, looking at relations with family and the state. Likewise, Maurer’s (1997) suggestion that Besson created a romanticisation and hybridisation of the family structure by suggesting law rather than the peasantry was instrumental in determining landholding caught my attention. Certainly, Besson (1999) upholds her view, citing peasantry action influenced landholding legislation,11 by showing that the peasantry actively influenced their kinship using their agency. I therefore wanted to look at the agency of the lower-class black West Indian as active participants in creating and shaping the family form, so I could uncover how acts of migration affected it, and how it impacted on elderly lives, affecting their sense of belonging. Trouillot (1998) also raised concerns of interest to the development of my research framework. For, Trouillot (1998) advocated a new framework and paradigm to examine the family that reflects economic power relations, with historical analysis and the changing contexts of the creolisation process using time, space, and power as markers, amid the ever-present movement and migration of people affecting familial relationships and settlement. In response, I included my informants’ family structures that resulted from their class and economic position, to compare their families of orientation and procreation to understand the structural patterns of their kinship formation, enabling a comprehensive assessment of their kin 11  Besson (1999) notes that the legislative changes in Jamaica were influenced by the Creole culture that developed, as local people influenced the structure of their family form and landholding patterns.

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Assessment Framework

Geographical distance/ locality and spatial (1) connections Regional and Personal histories (4)

Effects of globalisation (2)

Economic Factors (5) State authority/ ethnicity and personal agency (6)

Psychological Factors (3)

(7) AGEING

Elderly (life course) (experiences are compounded in their present)

Fig. 2.1  Assessment framework

ties, gender differentiation, loss, and the personal agency they engaged to contest their sense of belonging in Britain. By using time and space concepts, to investigate how people interact at a distance, I could assess the impact on the elders’ lives, while similarly using the life-course focus, employed by Zonitini (2015) and Nare (2016), as a vital component to studying elders, I drew social maps of their family networks and their narratives to create genealogy charts. Figure 2.1 depicts my integrated assessment framework. The seven categories of my framework provide a process through which I organised the research and that I used to synthesise my data. These seven components are (1) geographical distance/locality and spatial connections, (2) effects of globalisation, (3) psychological and emotional factors regarding individualisation, (4) regional and personal histories, (5) economic factors, (6) state authority/ethnicity and personal agency, and finally (7) the ageing life-course focus, a spatial dynamic.

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Conclusion In this chapter, I explored pertinent ideas, concepts, and theories that influenced the development of this research project and that assisted to fine-tune the design, identify pertinent themes for exploration, develop lines of enquiry, and develop the seven-point assessment framework to explore how West Indian elders negotiate a sense of belonging, as long-­ term migrants in Britain. Certainly, Caribbean society harbours a culture of migration, in response to increasing globalisation, and limited opportunities because of the structure of Caribbean society. Consequently, on migration to Britain people adapt to life in Britain, and continue the creolisation process, while negotiating a new sense of belonging with a renewed relationship to their former home. Indeed, this research looks at the elders’ relationship with family, within the transnational network of relations, seeking out their connections and sources of support in elderly life. While the concept of the institution of family land provides a source of family bonding and belonging to a place in the West Indies, movements from it, with infrequent return visits, or remaining away, reshapes ties and notions of belonging. Theoretical ideas concerned the impact of migration on the individual, and the development of a more personal and individualistic outlook raises questions about the elders residing in sole occupancy households and enmeshed with state services for support. I engaged the concept of agency, exploring how the elders continually adapt to their migration experience amid the difficult encounters with policies of inclusion. I sought to uncover the ways they asserted personal power to influence their life circumstances while interfacing with the state. Here, Gramsci’s (1990) notion of counter-hegemonic challenges to the state system, by individuals and intellectuals affecting power relations in society through their collective personal agency, provided a frame of reference and assisted lines of enquiry through which to ask questions and process responses. In addition, the concept of the subaltern position Bhabha (1994) proposed proved useful to unpack where the elders find their position in response to asserting their race and cultural identity.

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Bibliography Ahmed, S., C.  Castaneda, A.  Fortier, and M.  Sheller, eds. 2003. Uprootings/ Regroundings, Questions of Home and Migration. Oxford/New York: Berg. Amin-Addo, J. 1995. The Longest Journey: A History of Black Lewisham. London: Deptford Forum Publishing. Anderson-Levy, L.M. 2001. Colliding/Colluding Identities: Race, Class, and Gender in Jamaican Family Systems. In New Directions in Anthropological Kinship, ed. L. Stone. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Anwar, M. 1979. The Myth of Return, Pakistanis in Britain. London: Heinemann. Barrow, C. 1995. ‘Living in Sin’: Church and the Common-Law Union in Barbados. Journal of Caribbean History 29 (2): 47–70. ———. 1996. Family in the Caribbean: Themes and Perspectives. Oxford: James Currey. ———. 1998. Caribbean Masculinity and Family: Revisiting ‘Marginality’ and ‘reputation. In Caribbean Portraits, Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities, ed. C. Barrow. Kingston: Ian Randle publishers. Bauer, E., and P. Thompson. 2006. Jamaican Hands Across the Atlantic. Kingston: Ian Randle. Benedict, A. 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the origin and Spread of Nationalism. London/New York: Verso. Besson, J. 1979. Symbolic Aspects of Land in The Caribbean: The Tenure and Transmission of Land Rights Among Caribbean Peasantries. In Peasants, Plantations and Rural Communities IN The Caribbean, ed. M.  Cross and M. Arnaud. Leiden: Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology. ———. 1988. Agrarian Relations and Perceptions of Land in a Jamaican Peasant Village. In Small Farming and Peasant Resources in The Caribbean, ed. J.S. Brierley and H. Rubenstein. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba. ———. 1999. Review of B Maurer, Recharting the Caribbean. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 5 (3): 506–507. ———. 2002. Martha Brae’s Two Histories, European Expansion and Caribbean Culture Building in Jamaica. Chapel Hill/London: The University of North Carolina Press. ———. 2005. Sacred Sites, shifting histories: narratives of belonging, land and globalisation in the Cockpit country, Jamaica. In Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. Besson, J., and B. Chevannes. 1996. The Continuity-Creativity Debate: The case of Revival. NWIG: New West Indian Guide 70 (3/4): 209–228. Bhabha, H.K. 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge. Blakemore, K., and M.  Boneham. 1994. Age, Race and Ethnicity: Comparative Approach. Buckingham: Open University Press. Brown, V. 2020. Tacky’s Revolt, The Story of an Atlantic Slave War. Cambridge, MA/UK: Belknap Press of Harvard University.

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Byron, M. 2005. Expanding Narratives of Emigration and Return. In Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity, ed. J. Besson and K. Olwig. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. Byron, M., and S.  Condon. 1996. A Comparative Study of Caribbean Return Migration from Britain and France: Towards a Context-Dependent Explanation. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 21 (1): 91–104. Carsten, J., ed. 2000. Cultures of Relatedness: New Approaches to the Study of Kinship. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Chamberlain, M. 1995. Family Narratives and Migration Dynamics: Barbadians to Britain. New West Indian Guide 69 (3 & 4): 253–275. ———. 2005. Language, Identity and Caribbean Families: Transnational Narratives. In Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity, ed. J. Besson and K. Olwig. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. Chevannes, B. 2001. Learning To Be A Man. Barbados/Jamaica/Trinidad/ Tobago: The University of the West Indies Press. Clarke, J.H., ed. 1971. Marcus Garvey and the Visions of Africa. New  York: Collier Books. Clarke, E. 1999 [1957]. My Mother Who Fathered Me: A Study of the Family in Three Selected Communities in Jamaica. Kingston/Jamaica: University of West Indies Press. Clifford, J. 1994. Diasporas. Cultural Anthropology 9 (3): 322–338. Collier, S.J., and A. Ong. 2005. Global Assemblages, Anthropological Problems. In Global Assemblages: Technology, Politics, and Ethics as Anthropological Problems, ed. S.J. Collier and A. Ong. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Crichlow, M.A. 1994. An Alternative Approach to Family Land Tenure in the Anglophone Caribbean: The Case of St. Lucia. New West Indian Guide 68 (1 & 2): 77–99. Crichlow, M. 1995. Reply To Jean Besson. New West Indian Guide 69 (3 & 4): 299–308. Dauguard-Hanson, F. 2005. Staying and Contributing: Narratives of Belonging in Belize. In Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity, ed. J. Besson and K. Olwig. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. Davenport, W. 1961. ‘Introduction’ & ‘The Family System of Jamaica’. Social and Economic Studies 10 (4): 380–385. DeGruy Leary, J. 2005. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing. Milwaukie: Uptone Press. Devadason, R. 2010. Cosmopolitanism, Geographical Imaginaries and Belonging in North London. https://doi.org/0.1177/0042098009360228 Foner, N. 1979. Jamaica Farewell. London: Routledge Kegan Paul Ltd. ———. 2001. Introduction: West Indian Migration to New York. In Islands in the City. Berkeley: University of California Press.

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Foucault, M. 1991 [1979]. Discipline and Prison: The Birth of the Prison. London: Penguin Books. Fox, R. 1967. Kinship and Marriage. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd. Franklin, S., and S.  McKinnon, eds. 2001. Positive Values. Durham/London: Duke University Press. Freeman, C. 2014. Entrepreneurial Selves: Neoliberal Respectability and the Making of a Caribbean Middle Class. Durham: Duke Press. Gardener, K. 2002. Age, Narrative and Migration. In The Life Course and life Histories of Bengali Elders in London. Oxford/New York: Berg. Gell, A. 2001. The Anthropology of Time, Cultural Constructions of temporal Maps and Images. Oxford: Berg. Gilroy, P. 1987. There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack. London: Unwin Hyman Ltd. ———. 1993. The Black Atlantic. London: Verso. Goulbourne, H. 2001. Trans-Atlantic Caribbean Futures. In Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World, ed. H.  Goulbourne and M. Chamberlain. London, Oxford: Macmillan Education Ltd. Gramsci, A. 1990. Selections from Political Writings (1921–1926). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Hall, S. 1995. Negotiating Caribbean Identities. New Left Review, NLR1/209, Jan–Feb 1995. ———. 1996. You Can Go Home Again, You Just Can’t Stay: Stuart Hall and the Caribbean Disapora. Research in African Literatures, Bloomington 27 (4, Winter): 28–48. ———. 2000. The Multicultural Question. The Political Economy Research Centre Annual Lecture Delivered on 4th May 2000 in Firth Hall Sheffield. http://red.pucp.edu.pe/wp-content/uploads/biblioteca/Stuart_Hall_The_ multicultural_question.pdf Hannerz, U. 1992. Cultural Complexity: Studies in the Organisation of Meaning. New York: Columbia University Press. Hawthorne, W. 2008. “Being Now, as it were, One Family”: Shipmate Bonding on the Slave Vessel Emilia, in Rio de Janeiro and Throughout the Atlantic World. Luso-Brazilian Rev 45 (1): 53–77. Accessed October 19, 2020. http:// www.jstor.org/stable/30219059. Henry, W. L. 2007. Whiteness Made Simple, Nu-Beyond Ltd. London: Blackheath. Hetherington, K. 1998. Expressions of Identity, Space, Performance, Politics. London: Sage. Hoetink, H. 1985. Race and Colour in the Caribbean. In Caribbean Contours, ed. S.W. Mintz and S. Price. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Kareem, J., and R.  Littlewood, eds. 1992. Intercultural Therapy: Themes, Interpretations and Practice. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. Kendall, G., and Gary Wickham. 1999. Using Foucault’s Methods. London: Sage.

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King, A.D. 1990. Urbanisation, Colonisation and the World Economy, Cultural and Spatial Foundations of the World Urban System. London/New York: Routledge. Kraidy, N.M. 2005. Hybridity Without Guarantees: Toward Critical Transculturalism. In in Hybridity and the Cultural logic of Globalisation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Latham, Alan. 2002. Retheorizing the Scale of Globalisation: Topologies, Actor-­ Networks, and Cosmopolitanism. In Geographies of Power, Placing Scale, ed. A. Herod and Melissa W. Wright. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Lazarus-Black, M. 1999 [1957]. My Mother Never Fathered Me: Rethinking Kinship and the Governing of families. In My Mother Who Fathered Me: A Study of the Family in three Selected Communities in Jamaica, ed. Clarke, E (Revised Ed.). Kingston/Jamaica: University of West Indies Press. Long, E. 1774. The History of Jamaica, or General Survey of the Ancient and Modern State of the Island with Reflections on Its Situation, Settlements, Inhabitants, Climate, Products, Commerce, Laws and Government in Three Volumes Illustrated with Copper Plates. Vol. 11. Printed for T. Lowndes in Fleet Street London. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QLw_AAAAcAAJ&pri ntsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Long Johanna, C. 2014. Diasporic Families: Cultures of Relatedness in Migration. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 104 (2): 243–252. https:// doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2013.857545. Macleod, D. 2005. Narratives of Belonging and Identity in the Dominican Republic. In Caribbean Narratives, Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity, ed. J. Besson and K. Fog Olwig. Oxford: Macmillan. Maurer, B. 1997. Fractions of Blood on Fragments of Soil: Capitalism, The Commons, and Kinship in The Caribbean. Plantation Society in the Americas 1, 2 & 3, 159 (71). McMillan, M. 2019. Dub in the Front Room: Migrant Aesthetics of the Sacred and the Secular in Open Cultural Studies 2019 3: 184–194. https://doi. org/10.1515/culture-2019-0017 Meyrowitz, J. 1989. Media and Community. Critical Studies in Mass Communication 6 (3): 326–334. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295038909366757. Miller, D. 2008. Migration, Material Culture and Tragedy: Four Moments. Caribbean Migration Mobilities 3: 397–413. https://doi. org/10.1080/17450100802376712. Mills, B. 2007. “Leave to Come Back”: The Importance of Family Land in a Transnational Caribbean Community. In Caribbean Land and Development Revisited, ed. J. Besson and J. Momsen. New York: Palgrave. Mintz, S.W., and R.  Price. 1992 [l976]. The Birth of Afro-American Culture. Boston: Beacon Press.

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Nare, L. 2016. Home as Family: Narratives of Home Among Ageing Gujaratis in the UK. In Transnational Migration and Home in Older Age, ed. K. Katie Walsh and L. Lena Nare. New York: Routledge. Norbrega, B.M. 2019. Why Did We Come? In Memory, Migration and (De)colonisation in the Caribbean and Beyond, ed. J.D. Webb, R. Westmaas, M. del Pilar Kaladeen and W. Tantam, pp. 31–5. London: University of London Press. Olwig, K.F. 1981. Women, “Matrifocality” and Systems of Exchange: An Ethnohistorical Study of the Afro-American Family on St. John, Danish West Indies. Ethnohistory 28/1 (Winter): 59–78. ———. 1993. Global Culture, Island Identity, Continuity and Change in the Afro-­ Caribbean community of Nevis. Chur: Harwood Academic Publishers. ———. 1997. Caribbean Family Land: A Modern Commons. Plantation Society in The Americas 1 (2 & 3): 135–158. ———. 1998. Constructing Lives, Migration Narratives and Life Stories Among Nevisians. In Caribbean Migration: Globalised Identities, ed. M. Chamberlain. London: Routledge. ———. 1999. Caribbean Place Identity, From Family Land to Region and Beyond. Identities – Global Studies in Culture and Power 5 (4): 435–467. ———. 2001. New York as a Locality in a Global Family Network. In Islands in the City, ed. N. Foner. University of California Press, Berkeley. ———. 2002. The Ethnographic Field Revisited, Towards a Study of Common and Not so Common Fields of Belonging. In Realizing Community, Concepts, Social Relationships and Sentiments, ed. V.  Amit. London/New York: Routledge. ———. 2005. Narratives of Home: Visions of ‘Betterment’ and Belonging in a Dispersed Caribbean Family. In Caribbean Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. ———. 2007. Caribbean Journeys: An Ethnography of Migration and Home in Three Family Networks. Durham/London: Duke University Press. Otterbein, K.F. 1964. A Comparison of the Land Tenure Systems of the Bahamas, Jamaica and Barbados: The Implications it has for the Study of Social Systems from Bilateral to Ambilineal Descent. International Archives of Ethnology, 50, 31–42. Owen, D. 2001. The Profile of Caribbean households and families in Great Britain. In Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World, ed. H. Goulbourne and M. Chamberlain. London: Macmillan Education Ltd. Papastergaidis, N. 2000. The Turbulence of Migration: Globalisation, Deterriorialisation and Hybridity. Cambridge: Polity Press. Perry, K.H. 2016. London Is the Place for Me: Black Britons, Citizenship and the Politics of Race. Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2015. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190240202.001.0001.

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Philogene Heron, A. (2016). Becoming Papa: Kinship, Senescence and the Ambivalent Inward Journeys of Ageing Men in the Antilles. In Parenthood Between Generations: Transforming Reproductive Cultures, ed. S. Pooley and K. Qureshi. New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books. Philpott, S.B. 1973. West Indian Migration: The Montserrat Case. London/ Athlone, (Print. Monographs on Social Anthropology (London School of Economics; No. 47). Plaza, D. 2001. Ageing in Babylon: Elderly Caribbeans in Britain. In Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World, ed. H.  Goulbourne and M. Chamberlain. London: Macmillan Education Ltd. Price, R. 2010. Travels with Tooy: History, Memory, and the African American Imagination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Rapport, N., and A.  Dawson. 1998. Home and Movement. In Migrants of Identity, Perceptions of Home in a World of Movement. Oxford/New York: Berg. Reynolds, T. 2001. Caribbean Fathers in Family Lives in Britain. In Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World, ed. M.  Chamberlain and H. Goulbourne. London, Oxford: Macmillan Education Ltd. ———. 2006. Volume One: Families, Social Capital and Ethnic Identities of Caribbeans, South Asians and South Europeans. Edited by H. Goulbourne with contributions from Tracy Reynolds and Elizabeth Zontini. London South Bank University, Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group Working Paper No. 20. August. ———. 2011. Caribbean Second-Generation Return Migration: Transnational Family Relations with ‘Left-Behind’ Kin in Britain, 535–551. https://doi. org/10.1080/1740101.2011.603946 Sagalem, M. 2001. Shift in Kinship Studies in France, the Case of Grandparenting. In Positive Values, ed. S. Franklin and S. McKinnon. Durham/London: Duke University Press. Serres, M. 1999. Genesis. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press. Sheller, M. 2003. Creolisation in Discourses of Global Culture. In Uprootings/ Regroundings, Questions of Home and Migration, ed. S. Ahmed, C. Castaneda, A. Fortier, and M. Sheller. Oxford/New York: Berg. Skelton, T. 2005. Montserratian Narratives of Belonging in the Midst of Disaster and Relocation. In Caribbean Narratives, Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity, ed. J. Besson and K. Fog Olwig. Oxford: Macmillan. Smith, M.G. 1965. The Plural Society in the British West Indies. Los Angeles/ London: University of California Press. ———. 1990. Social/Cultural Anthropology: Kinship and Class in the West Indies: A Genealogical Study of Jamaica and Guyana. Raymond T. Smith. American Anthropologist 92 (1): 237–38. Smith, R.T. 1988. What Is Kinship in the West Indies. In Kinship and Class in the West Indies. New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. ———. 1996. The Matrifocal Family. London: Routledge.

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———. 2014. The Matrifocal Family: Power, Pluralism and Politics. New  York: Routledge. Solien, N.L. 1959. The Nonunilineal Descent Group in the Caribbean and Central America. American Ethnologist 61: 578–583. Strathern, M., ed. 1995. Shifting Contexts: Transformations in Anthropological Knowledge. London: Routledge. The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, Report of an Inquiry by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny advised by Tom Cook, The Right Reverend Dr John Sentamu, Dr Richard Stone Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of Her Majesty. February 1999 Cm. Thomas, D. 2011. Exceptional Violence: Embodied Citizenship in Transnational Jamaica. Durham: Duke University Press. Thomas-Hope, E.M. 1992. Three Islands: Jamaica, Barbados and St. Vincent. In Explanation in Caribbean Migration. Perception and the image: Jamaica, Barbados, St. Vincent. London: Macmillan Press Ltd. ———. 1998. Globalisation and the Development of a Caribbean Migration Culture. In Caribbean Migration: Globalised Identities, ed. M.  Chamberlain. London: Routledge. Trouillot, M. 1998. Culture on the Edges: Creolization in The Plantation Context. Plantation Society in the Americas V (1): 8–28. Van Sertima, I. 1998. Early America Revisited. New Brunswick, N.J Transaction Press. Wardle, H. 1999. Jamaican Adventures Simmel, Subjectivity and extraterritoriality in the Caribbean. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 5 (4): 523–539. Wardle, H., and L, Obermuller. (2019). Symbols and Lived Experiences in Caribbean Migration to the UK. Migration and Society 81–89. https://doi. org/10.3167/arms.2019.020108 Williams, R. 1977. Marxism and Literature. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Zonitini, Elizabeth. 2015. Growing Old in a Transnational Social Field: Belonging, Mobility and Identity Among Italian Migrants. Ethnic and Racial Studies 38 (2): 326–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2014.885543.

CHAPTER 3

Elderhood and Black Sheltered Housing

Introduction I wish I was elderly sooner.

The above quote from Mr. Smith shows his welcoming attitude towards being an older person. He says he is not offended by the term ‘elderly’ but welcomed this stage in life because it brought retirement from work. He is still active and asserts, ‘I am healthy and strong and can still have sex’. Mr. Smith is in his 60s and the concept of being elderly does not affect his overall view of himself, rather he enjoyed the freedom to pursue his desires. Indeed, this chapter looks at the varied opinions and experiences regarding ageing. First, it explores how West Indian elderly people are conceptualised at home and in British society in the context of general elderhood, and being elderly residents in the sheltered housing scheme. Secondly, through probing into views of ageism, and assessing the elder’s interaction with their families, the local community, and the state, interesting themes emerge that expose the heterogeneous nature of this group.

The Complexities of Old Age The elderly status is complex, often marked by the retirement age, although different opinions exist regarding this stage in life (Anthea Tinker 1984). Nevertheless, the retirement age is a useful benchmark at the end of the migrants’ working life, signifying movement into receiving © The Author(s) 2020 A. Allwood, Belonging in Brixton, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54598-7_3

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the benefits of their labour, as they settle into another part of the life cycle that brings forth new meanings, adaptations, and relationships. Indeed, the sheltered housing scheme accepts people at the age of 55 which becomes a transitional marker into elderhood for the residents. The social construction of ageing disguises the undercurrent of fear and anxiety surrounding the process (Hazan 1994), especially as the concept of old age is categorised, and associated with life and death. While the cultural conception held by elderly people harbours paradoxical images, inconsistencies, and incongruities (Hazan 1994). Indeed, Age UK Lambeth’s ‘MySocial1’ initiative that began in 2017, states, ‘We’re here to bring people together to try new things, connect with their neighbours, develop friendships and feel part of a community’, in recognition of the changing views, needs, and interactions of the ageing population. Therefore, a unified theoretical approach becomes problematic because of the multiple realities that are experienced by elderly people and the diversity of socio-cultural lifestyles they lead. It is therefore best to accept the multifaceted views of being elderly, with differing beliefs, attitudes, and conceptions, reflecting changes in personal needs (Hazan 1994). Indeed, older people continue to shape the elderly role, acting as carers for both other elderly folk and younger members of the community, and they are active in a range of leisure and educational activities (Thompson 1995). Certainly, my informants were active to varying degrees and engaged in lifelong interests such as playing dominoes, church going, or taking education courses as well helping others through childminding. Alongside engagement in pursuits organised by the state specifically for the black elderly, such as attending Day Centres (further explored in Chaps. 5 and 6). However, although Caribbean tradition meant that elders would be cared for in the community and not in state institutions, changes have ensued (Guardian 2006) and increasing numbers of elders are entering state services.

The African Caribbean Sheltered Housing Scheme In truth, the rising numbers of black elders were not generally considered, or the impact of racism, ageism, and marginalisation on them (Chakrabarti cited in Thompson 1995), neither the difficulties encountered when 1

 https://www.ageuk.org.uk/lambeth/; http://mysocial.london/

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trying to access support services (Thompson and Page 1999). Therefore, this sheltered housing service fills the gap and helps the elderly inhabitants cope with the ageing process (Thompson and Page 1999) and obtain support to maintain their well-being. It is a specialist scheme, designated for African Caribbean black elders, initially set up with policy mandating that staff reflected similar ethnicity and culture. It operates under similar regulations to mainstream schemes (see Chap. 1, regarding the background to the development of the scheme), with support service provisions strengthened by the 1990 National Service and Community Care Act, and the Care Act of 2014 reinforcing co-ordination and integration of care provisions. Metropolitan already provided housing to ex-servicemen from the West Indies and became involved in wider social housing provision in the 1980s. Consequently, Metropolitan Housing Trust (MHT)2 developed this sheltered housing scheme with the Brixton Neighbourhood Community Association (BNCA), opening it in 1986. Certainly, Metropolitan continues to manage the buildings and the services, through co-ordination with other statutory service providers and local organisations. The scheme is comprised of two buildings, each with gardens, individual flats, communal catering and socialising facilities, on-site scheme managers,3 and access to the integrated support and care services. Figures 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 show the communal facilities and areas. Indeed, in 2018, I noticed the local Age Concern services evolved as a prominent organisation serving the elderly population, providing support that includes this group of elders. There were other similar specialist black schemes, such as the Midlands schemes run by Nehemiah, but with a merger in 2007 with United Churches Housing Association, it provides mainstream sheltered housing services to a multicultural clientele. Nevertheless, the scheme in Brixton remained specialist, although operational policies prove to be challenging (explored in Chaps. 6 and 7). Indeed, at the time of my research in 2008, the 1990 National Service and Community Care Act greatly impacted state services for the elderly by creating the co-ordination of integrated care provision. Services remained 2  At the time the scheme was developed and during my doctoral research, the housing organisation was called Metropolitan Housing Association (MHT). It later merged with another organisation in 2018. 3  There were two residential Scheme managers in 2008, but this changed to one part-time, non-residential Scheme Manager at the time of my return in 2018, see Chaps. 1 and 6.

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Fig. 3.1  The communal laundry in the sheltered housing scheme

Fig. 3.2  The communal kitchen at the sheltered housing scheme

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Fig. 3.3  A rose representing the shared garden space

available to people in their homes in the community and in sheltered housing schemes that is a specialised built environment reflecting age and identity (Laws 1997). Therefore, according to Roberts (1993), the purpose and design of sheltered housing, sometimes referred to as housing with care, are to give the occupants secure independence and to develop a community spirit.4 Clearly, there is an expectation that residents will live in their individual flats and also form part of the community in the housing complex. The design mirrors that of the ‘panoptican’ metaphor, linking space and power relations (Lyon 1993: 656). This metaphorical description of state institutions, created by Jeremy Bentham, is concerned with the assessment of surveillance in social spaces (Foucault cited in Lyon 1993). Therefore, I assert that the residents of this sheltered housing scheme are under positive surveillance, in order to manage and administer social care, rather than solely being a means to control. Indeed, as Lyon states, ‘too few social theorists take us beyond the fears, threats, suspicion and constraints of the panoptican to consider the place of love, care, trust, and enabling within surveillance systems’ (1993: 675). Central to the running of the scheme in 2008, there were the two residential scheme managers who worked closely with the residents, 4  This refers to ensuring people engage in social interactions with each other that are cordial and inviting, so that people feel included in their social environment. I discuss social gatherings and interactions in the scheme and in the community in Chap. 6.

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co-­ordinated some of the communal social events, and ensured that the building maintenance requirements were met. The scheme managers were key figures, ensuring that the support service provided met current operating policy determinants under the Supporting People programme.5 On my return to the scheme in 2018, the supporting People programme had been replaced by another, similar funding regime.6 Figure 3.4 provides a graphic view of how the scheme’s housing service integrates with other services available to the elderly informants. The flow diagram shows service options from the point of moving into the scheme. Indeed, some elderly informants received a variety of services because of their complex diverse health and social needs. Hence, social workers, occupational therapists, community psychiatric nurse, doctors, consultants, and care workers provide joined-up service assistance regarding the multiple needs, addressing mental disability and physical health problems while ensuring that housing and social needs are met. Figure 3.5, therefore, depicts the variety of professionals and services involved in their lives. The sheltered housing scheme is located in Brixton, in an area that has changed significantly since 2008. It is quite close to Windrush Square that harboured open drug dealers in the centre of Brixton, and was also a popular gathering point for alcoholics. Now, there are a few new chairs positioned on Windrush Square where a few ‘drinkers’ linger in the day, which are occupied by a more diverse sitter. By 2018, the same area had changed enormously and the open drug dealing dwindled, so it is no longer openly visible. There are many young people from diverse cultures frequenting the clubs, bars, and eateries by day and by night, passing and stopping in the Square. Overall, the area has evolved into a much more approachable environment. Nonetheless, some gains exist out of other losses and the Turkish cafe, frequented by an 5  Supporting people is a government strategy that provided funding and regulates the provision of services to people in a supported housing environment, at the time of the doctoral research. 6  The Care Act 2014 closed the Supporting People programme, replacing it with the Housing Related Support and Preventative Services, provided by way of contract. The contracts enable the support at the scheme through the provision of Scheme Manager who provides administrative help to the residents at the scheme regarding management of state benefits, reporting and facilitating elders input into developments at the scheme and coordinating access to building improvements and repairs. As well as organising resident meetings, and encouraging socialisation amongst the residents, with the setting up of internal group events and going out to events and groups in the local community. In addition, assisting with general enquiries to support the day-to-day health and welfare for the elderly people as required.

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The integration of services at the sheltered housing scheme Step

1

Referral

Avenues to the scheme Move-in Social Services Area offices Residential homes Step 2 Day Centres Statutory services available Domiciliary home to the residents at the help Meals on wheels scheme (Social Workers, Occupational therapists, Care Worker) Step

3

Voluntary sector services available to the residents at the scheme

Step

4

Private Sector services available to the residents as move-on from the scheme

Sheltered Housing Scheme

Community Services Carer Support Schemes Advocacy Advice agencies Age concern

Private business Residential Nursing Homes Home Care Nursing Services

Fig. 3.4  The integration of services at the sheltered housing scheme

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The professional services provided at the sheltered housing scheme

Social workers

Health Visitors

Tenant Committees Forums and focus Groups

Sheltered Housing Scheme with Housing

Friends

Professionals

Hospital Nurses and Doctors Local Grocer Home Care Workers Access to Residential Care Homes

Cleaner Relatives

Community Services Handyman

Fig. 3.5  The professional services provided at the sheltered housing scheme

informant, with staff that understood his needs, no longer exists, neither does he.

Mitigating the Exclusion of Black Elders The prevalence of social exclusion is also linked to the global market (Percy-Smith 2000), because new people enter Britain and face long-term disadvantage, due to their differences, so they are included in integrative policies. Certainly, the social inclusion ethos was developed to prevent social exclusion, so it seeks to ensure a more inclusive society by providing integrated services to people who suffer from a combination of linked problems, such as low incomes, poor housing, ill health, and family breakdown, and ‘where people have been excluded from the “normal” practices of modern society’ (Percy-Smith 2000: 3). Therefore, by providing

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‘joined-up solutions to joined-up problems’ (Social Exclusion Unit 2001), the government aims to ‘develop integrated and sustainable approaches’ (Percy-Smith 2000: 2), whilst providing the ‘opportunity for all’ in need to be supported (Percy-Smith 2000: 3). Through making structural changes, the aim is to ensure that people are included in mainstream society and not marginalised due to being disadvantaged, from poverty, age, ill health, drug addiction, vulnerability, and other areas of exclusion. Certainly, the elderly migrants had been socially excluded, and they are recipients of state services that seek to address their personal and social needs while striving to include them into mainstream society.

Elderhood in the West Indian Context My informant’s heritage and social environment also influences the conceptualisation of their elderly status. It is, therefore, important to understand how the West Indian notion of elderhood has an impact on them. Of course, Stevenson, citing McCullough, argues that psychological changes in old people can be best understood by ‘reference to social rather than developmental forces’, for they are influenced by external factors that affect them (1989: 6). In this respect, I propose that social interactions, memory and beliefs also affect my informants and influence their elderly ageing process, in addition to the physical aspects. Thus, the cumulative effect of life-course events through the various experiences they encountered affects their views of elderhood as well as their elderly quality of life, social engagement, familial reciprocity, and the help received from others. Further, in agreement with Amoss and Harrell (1981), I found their elderly status also assigned by class and gender, and through a process of adjustments. They share a West Indian heritage and embody notions of elderliness that they experienced whilst living in the West Indies, where the social position of elders in society determined their elderhood. Clarke’s (1999) inquiry into family relations in the 1950s among the working class provides an insight into the notion of elderhood that some of the elderly respondents experienced in their family through their parents and grandparents, and in their communities, that affect their current views and expectations. Clarke (1999) and Davenport (1961) found an established role where the grandmother was influential in bringing up her daughter’s children, often playing the role as mother. In fact, over time, Chevannes

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(2001) in Jamaica, Barrow (1998) in Barbados, and Reynolds (2005) in Britain, found similar roles played out by elderly women as stated above. Clarke (1999) also found that elderly women often possessed land that could be inherited, so they were a source of security to mitigate homelessness that bound generational kinship. However, things are very different now because the elderly informants do not own the home they live in, are residentially separated from kin and, in the main, even those with family land connections are unable to return to it for practical reasons which are uncovered in Chap. 4. As a result, they cannot continue the culture of passing homes on to younger family members. Instead, they reside in England and live in accommodation owned by the state in the form of flats within the sheltered housing complex which cannot be inherited by family members. Therefore, they do not possess the powerful status to pass on land or a home and keep kinship bonds rooted to a place, for this is dispersed. In addition, Davenport (1961) uncovered that men usually married later in life after achieving both economic and relationship stability, enabling them and look after ageing parents or other close relatives within their household. As a result, the marriage and kinship responsibilities created reciprocal obligations towards dependent old men. My informants also showed different responses to ageing in relation to their relationships with their children and other people that served to highlight the gender differences that are outlined in Chap. 5. Nevertheless, I found a woman and man actively engaged in helping with childcare and maintaining ties with children and grandchildren. For sure, some elderly people held the view that as elders they would receive more help in Jamaica than in England, influenced by their earlier life experiences. This is a speculative thought because it is unknown what their actual experience would be if they had remained in the West Indies. Nevertheless, Mrs. Jarvis says that in Jamaica ‘the family help you, not over here, they help themselves, dem no business wid you’.7 She remarks of her children that they ‘ask from me, dem no give me, all a dem bad’.8 This is a bit of a dubious statement because I witnessed her daughter and grandchildren as supportive, loving, and helpful to her. Perhaps, some fragility in her mental health affects some of these statements and perhaps both aspects are true. Moreover, perhaps she feels uncertain about her 7 8

 They are not interested or bothered with me.  Her children ask her for things but do not give her things, so she says that they are all bad.

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status and this makes her dubious of others, thereby the help and positive reciprocity offered by others is difficult to receive. Indeed, Rawlins (2006) states that research on ageing in the Caribbean is limited, nevertheless her research in Jamaica on women in midlife, regarding family, work and health, found that women were perceived as having very little power and worked within the gendered division of labour that automatically allocated female jobs to them, such as childrearing. Women were viewed as non-sexual and dependent, amid suggestions that the government should improve health services and pay conditions to benefit them. Certainly, widowhood was an enabling experience and women were more resourceful regarding finances and using leisure time. Nevertheless, most women experienced loneliness, although remarrying was not an option for women who felt more independent than most of the men. Rawlins’ (2006) findings are different to the findings by earlier scholars who examined a period when the elders were residing in the West Indies, so it appears that changes have occurred regarding elderly women in the Caribbean since the research undertaken in the 1950s and 1960s. However, Rawlins’ (2006) summations serve to highlight some similarities of elders being alone, and requiring services to help them maintain their well-being which elders in this research also face. Other analysis by Cloos et al. (2010), who looked at health and social services access and use, social support, and economic circumstances, mostly among the lower social economic group of Caribbean elders, where home care services in Jamaica was provided by the church or privately, found differences in perceptions and experiences ranging from those with family support and others fearing isolation and food insecurity, alongside insufficient financial support from the state although some benefit from the public assistance programme. Where there was an emphasis on curative care more so than overall wel-lbeing, and the authors state, in some circumstances, ‘children have to leave the island to make their life, so they are not here to help their parents and care for them’ (Cloos et al. 2010: 90). In summation of the first part of this chapter regarding how my informants, as West Indian elderly migrants are conceptualised in British society, I propose that overall they share a heterogeneous conceptualisation similar to other elders in British society. Undeniably, their conceptualisation determined by their ethnicity, places them as different. However, this difference is accepted, whilst attempts are made to integrate them within society through the policies concerned with valuing diversity and their ethnic identity. Nonetheless, I suggest that a paradox develops because

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although they desire inclusion into British society, successful integration remains problematic as their differences set them aside. I further explore this aspect in Chaps. 6 and 7. Nevertheless, heritage affects their identity and status as citizens. Consequently, what unfolds shows that my informants occupy an elderly status affected by class, gender, West Indian cultural influences, and their British experience. This fusion is evident in their personal views towards their elderly status and other elders, through their engagement and relationships with younger people, their family, community, and the state.

Ageism and a Preference for Younger People Paradoxically, some elders are prejudiced towards other elders and practice ageism towards them. Interestingly, those who held such views were elders denied firm status as important and powerful people in their families. Similarly, fellow elders in the scheme queried their status. Such elders, marginalised in their families found respect and firmer elderhood status among younger friends in the community. Interestingly, Mr. Bailey, a man who is quite isolated from his locally based family and has loose connections to his children who live overseas, told me, I recognise that I am an elderly man but life goes on. We have to accommodate ourselves to the movements. I would like the company of a female partner but I would not want a woman of my age because she would be no use to me. A younger woman is best because she would also look after me and if I had a younger woman it would be natural, and inevitable, that she would have younger male lovers but I would accept this as long as she was discreet. I would make this allowance because I know that she could be with a younger man, and I would be lucky to find a younger woman to take an interest in me.

Mr. Bailey took a second-class view of himself in relation to women and younger men. Perhaps this positioning rises out of his marginal position construed from many factors. Even when health is failing and mobility is poor, an elderly man in his 70s holds ambivalence towards ageing and continued relationships with much younger women, further extending his family by having more children. Mr. Earles told me of his preference.

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I am 75 years old and I am sick. I am very ill. I can’t walk very well and I use the Zimmer frame to help me walk and my back is giving me hell because I have chronic arthritis that struck me down a year ago. So my movements are restricted. I cannot move very fast nor go out without help because I need to sit in the wheelchair. I use to be strong when I was younger, working on building sites. Now I can hardly walk. But I still want a woman, I am still a man. I have been married three times so I am in my third marriage now. My recent wife is still in Jamaica, she is in her early 40s now. I only like younger women and I prefer them.

He spends a lot of time in hospital receiving medical treatment and is often drowsy due to the medication he takes. Yet, he tells me that he is ‘looking someone’ because he would like to have a relationship with a woman, although he is married but estranged from his wife. Alternatively, although Mr. James seeks the company of younger people he told me that he does not ‘fool around with women’. He says that he has more in common with young people than people of his own age. Importantly, Davenport (1961) also demonstrated the developmental traits of maturation and ageing between young and old males that I find useful here. He highlighted that full adult status was greatly determined where men had the economic ability to head their own household otherwise, others assumed some of their obligations. Older men and those in their early 20s, therefore, received equal economic status if they were economically sound, although younger men retained respect for the older men. Similarly, I found a bond between older and younger men, but conversely it did not solely depend on economic security but more so on similar social status and interests. For, although four elderly respondents had married, most were divorced and separated. Subsequently, most men became estranged from their children and families, and as older men they grew closer to younger men similarly socially positioned, who respected them. I reflected on Mr. James’ position. Mr. James boasted his independence and individuality, as a result of being self-reliant for most of his life. So, as an elderly man his independence compounded. He maintained his established style of socialising that fixed him in the companionship of younger people who frequented the social spaces he also occupied. Mr. James, a slender man, of medium height, balding with a trendy ponytail, told me,

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I am 86  years old and I am very independent. I like to be independent because I do not want to be a bother to anyone. Though I am independent, it is a safeguard. I am a crab because I am a loner who moves around, sits quiet and watches. When chased the crab runs and hides until it finds solace and I am like that. I was bought up by friends of my mother because she died when I was very young. I went to Cuba with them for a few years but on return to Jamaica, at 12 years old, I left them and started to fend for myself. I became very street-wise. I married my wife in Jamaica when I was a young man. We met in Kingston and we lived in her parent’s house for a short while then travelled to England together. She died in 1962 from cancer. I am ‘proud’ to be as old as I am, and I have learnt a lot from my life experiences. Still, I keep my mobile phone close to me because I have the contact numbers for my children in it, in case I have any problems and need them in an emergency. I have experienced a lot of loss and pain in my life but I struggle through and give God thanks all the same. I am still very able and I have passed my recent driving test, so I have a valid driving licence that I kept going after I retired from work as a school bus driver. I also get a work pension as well as a state pension, so I am fine. I make sure I practice living good9 as a way of life because living this way has helped me to survive this long. I have had strength and reasonably good health throughout my life until lately because I am now having severe back pains and some problems breathing, so I am having a lot of tests at the hospital. I am a quiet and private person and I am also a thoughtful man, for example, my health improved after receiving medication. I felt that my doctor had listened to me and helped me, so I went back to see my doctor to thank him and gave him a small gift. He did a good deed so I gave him the gift to say thanks, and I know the doctor will feel good hearing the thanks and receiving the gift. I know how nice I feel when I hear nice things about me, and wanted to give the doctor this experience and to show my gratitude. I move around with young people,10 because I prefer their company and they respect me. I have gained a sense of friendship, love, and belonging from such friends. I go to a local café where I gamble downstairs with the other men who go there. There are people of all ages. Food is served upstairs and there is a bar. Downstairs we play card games, dominoes and watch television together. I gamble my money but I also save some money. I sometimes gamble £600,

9

 I like to live in harmony with others.  I socialise with young people.

10

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£400 etcetera in card games. Recently after a stabbing, a man died so the café closed down for a few months so I did not go out much as a result. I also enjoy smoking marijuana and I struggle to give up smoking although the doctor tells me that I must give it up. My weed11 supplier was raided so he is unable to supply weed to me. I am now concerned where to get good trustworthy weed. I describe myself as a ‘rude boy’.12 But, I feel unsafe about walking home late at night because anything could happen to me because someone may pick on me as an easy target. I am concerned for my safety at night when I leave the café so I get a cab home or one of my friends will take me home in their car. In order to protect myself I carry a small pocket file and knife in case I am attacked or anyone bothers me. I am ready for them though,13 see my knife here.14 I am more concerned for my safety now because Brixton has changed much over the years. Many new people have moved into the area including ‘yardies’,15 who have newly arrived from Jamaica, some are horrible people and I have to consider that I am on my own.

Mr. James made it clear that he has gained a sense of ‘friendship, love, respect and belonging from his friends’. He says that they refer to him as ‘big man’ even some of the yardies that go to the café refer to him using this term. He is called ‘Dad’ and ‘Pops’ by the younger men that he takes as a mark of respect, honouring his elderhood. He tells me a story of a time when he was in the café and whilst socialising a younger man with dreadlocks approached him and took his tam16 off his head, flashed his dreadlocks and said, ‘I respect you’, to Mr. James. He said that he felt good because his age was respected and he was welcomed and felt that he belonged with them. However, he remarks that his relationship with his own children distanced because of experiences in the past when they were younger, as a result, he does not experience such feelings with them. I found Mr. James to be very friendly and he admitted to me that I was fortunate to engage him in my research, for he said to me, ‘I don’t usually  The drug marijuana.  A man who is streetwise. 13  As he was telling me this, he produced his pocket knife and gesticulated to me through his actions, his readiness to retaliate if attacked. 14  Mr. James shows me how he would defend himself by flicking open the knife he takes out with him. 15  The term used to describe criminals from Jamaica. 16  A woven hat made from wool. 11 12

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tell people my business, you are lucky’. (I was also aware that he would not tell me his whole business but a censored part of it). He also said he wanted to write a book about his life. Whenever I went to see Mr. James, he would be very hospitable and welcoming to me. When we first met, mid-afternoon, he offered me a large drink of rum. After he became more used to me, he said to me, ‘help yourself to a drink, you are not a stranger here’. He is warm, charming, and witty. He reiterated that he is a faithful man and since his wife died he has not set up home with another woman but remained living alone. Interestingly, Csordas (2003: 179) suggested that ageing is fluid rather than bound by fixed stages so elderly people created their own meaning of their elderhood. Wherein, one’s look and feel may conflict with one’s biological and chronological age (Csordas 2003: 179). Certainly, the elderly people made personal choices about their elderly identity, and I similarly uncovered that the elderly people often acted as they felt, and desired, rather than their chronological age setting specific boundaries to their courses of action.

Different Approaches to Elderhood The respondents presented varied responses to elderliness. Some who experience ill health and suffer from various ailments were conscious that their bodies are changing and slowing down, so they made allowances for this in their activities. For example, Mr. Baker states that he respects age and is aware of his body and the limitations that this poses on him. Consequently, he says that he does not ‘push his body beyond its boundaries’ as he listens to his tiredness, aches and pains, and rests accordingly. Whilst others, like Mr. Smith, in my opening quotation to this chapter, show they respond to their life challenges with similar vigour to when younger because they are still physically and mentally able to do so, and feeling fit takes away a negative focus on ageing. Conversely, as highlighted above, ill-health does not necessarily curtail their expectations and social behaviours. Truly, the family is an important institution that gives insight into the status and position of elders in a society, and my elderly informants have differing engagements with their family. Some of these experiences are supportive whilst others are quite painful. Thus, views of elderhood are intertwined into their reflections on relationships with family members

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and the reciprocity encountered. (In Chap. 5, I explore gender and kinship and provide fuller details of their kin relationships.) Here, I acknowledge that while elderliness heralds a final life stage, it is not just about the demise of life, for my informants embrace life whilst they still have it. The elderly stage in life is not necessarily seen as an inactive stage but one in which they continue to grow and acknowledge their worth to society. Still, there are differing views differentiated by personal outlook and gender as highlighted by Mrs. Evans and Mr. Taylor below. Mrs. Evans captures the essence of firm placement at the head and central in her immediate family, telling me, I acknowledge that I am still in a stage of growth I believe that elderly people are still in the learning process ... as we advance in age.

Yet, she observes a sense of urgency to get things done and states that she ‘is not dependent on anyone’, further expanding, it does not help calling children because I am there for them.

Mrs. Evans also adds, There is work to be done so I prioritise the things that I identify as needing attention. I also put myself out to help others because I am very able and independent.

Her esteem elevates her feelings of self-worth, as she learns new things from her grandchildren. Describing herself as enterprising, she remarked that the elders of her generation broke down social barriers in England and engaged in many areas, such as education. She, therefore, believes that it is important to steer the younger generation in appropriate ways by encouraging them to contribute to the community and to society. Indeed, she clearly recognised her role as a leader and teacher. In opposition to this central figure of leadership, Mr. Taylor’s thoughts present an alternative mindset as he comments on his elderly life saying, ‘I ‘didn’t know I would reach so far’. He told me that he feels proud of his longevity and recognises the process of ageing is cyclical, for he states we are, ‘once a man, twice a child’. He looks at death as a reality that will take place so he takes one day at a time. He also says that he tries to make himself happy, enjoy life, and he thanks God every day for his life, health and

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strength and embraces the changes that he has made throughout his life. His acknowledgement that it is important to live for others and not just for himself underpins his actions for he tries to help others as much as possible. Reflecting on his younger years in life he informed me that he was carefree, saying, ‘I float around a lot, wasn’t thinking about old age, ‘till it catch up on me’. Now, he adopts a philosophical approach to life and its inevitable end. He recognises his lack of planning or consciously recognising that he would grow old and would need a secure home, income, family and social contact, when he was younger. Instead, he says that his ‘elderliness just arrived’ rather than him acknowledging it as a progressive and important stage in his life course. Mr. Taylor did not have a role in his family, but realised his need to find an appropriate position as an elderly man. So he joined the church and stopped his former drinking habits, sharing his story, and helped others in the community. Mr. Taylor’s lifestyle also reflects the elderly gender differences identified by Davenport (1961). Davenport found that women developed bonds with their children and other family members who looked after them, and she continued to be useful in the kitchen. Alternatively, a feeble old man with limited values often resulted in his hanging around younger men for handouts or resorting to begging. Maturation alone in the Jamaican context did not confer any status and role for the poor man who did not engage in kinship bonds. It is apparent that in the West Indian context, and as well as in my findings, earning respect and old age are related, the former enabling inclusion rather than conferred solely by old age. Therefore, it appears that for the West Indian elderly woman and man, their ability to be useful determines their status. Wherein the elderly man also needs to find a physical, practical, or economic role that he can play, in order to remain influential to his family and therefore receive help when older. Indeed, Barrow (1998) found men played multiple roles in their families in Barbados and were protective of their older sisters who looked after them when they were young. Indeed, my findings are aligned with Chevannes (2001) who undertook research into the role of fathers in Jamaica and found men had a multifaceted engagement in society, being both supportive and disengaged from their families. Indeed, one of my elderly male informants held a firm and influential central position in his family, and helped with childcare responsibilities for his grandchildren, similar to findings by Reynolds (2005) who uncovered some men in England held powerful central positions in their family and helped with childcare. Nonetheless, some of my elderly male informants

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engaged in drinking because they had become marginal and separated from children and kin, and the limited incorporation into their families was a strong contributory factor behind the separations the elderly men had regarding familial engagement that enabled a connection with younger people in the community. Issues of centrality and respect or the lack of these, alongside marginality, describe the diverse responses I found regarding the elderhood status of the informants.

Respect for the Elderly in the Community Without doubt, elderly people are individually different and have different personalities, needs, strengths, and weaknesses, which also apply to my research group. Although many of the informants remained mobile, and involved in the community, and were encouraged to participate in social activities, ageing proved problematic. They recognised their difference and expressed views calling for different treatment to honour their elderliness, but this was not always forthcoming, thereby personifying the notion that ageing is ambiguous in society. Further, ageing is associated with anxious feelings, it is feared, and often treated as evil in British society (Stevenson 1989: 7). Such fears and anxieties are complex and deep rooted, perhaps arising from bygone myths and legend bound with prejudice and stereotyping. As a result, a unified respectful response to the aged continues to evolve. Therefore, the fact is old age remains problematic, and the treatment of old age is arbitrary (Stevenson 1989: 9). Although Thompson’s (1995) critique of ageism suggests that having a uniform approach to age will have little regard for dignity, rights, and empowerment of the aged. Further suggesting the discrimination and oppression under ageism should be challenged, as the aim should be to combine old age with dignity and combat the stereotypes that marginalise elderly people in mainstream society. Indeed, elderly people are often subject to dismissive and demeaning language towards them; physical, emotional, and financial abuse; economic disadvantage; and restricted opportunities or ‘life changes’ (Thompson 1995: 5–6). These disadvantages, Thompson suggests, are rooted in the way that society is organised and express negative ageism through personal, cultural, and structural social processes. Indeed, there are still issues of age discrimination in the workplace, alongside increasing developments to enhance the dignity of elders. Still, elder abuse occurs and organisations have been developed to

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provide help and support to victims, such as Action on Elder Abuse17 that works with families, carers, and practitioners to combat issues. Certainly, the elderly people in my research formed a small minority of the black population that this sets them apart, and gives rise to issues pertaining to their difference. Indeed, I found that my informants experienced issues that are specifically a product of age (Thompson 1995). Still, as vulnerable people, often frail and needing support, encountering hostility in the local community was not unique. Nevertheless, I also found that they were quite well equipped in dealing with being termed a minority and existing in a marginal space that their elderliness compounds. Indeed, they faced victimisation in the local community, where they become vulnerable targets as elders, and responded to the attacks. I sat with a group, consisting of my elderly informants and other elderly people at a Day Centre they attended. I asked them about how they felt being elderly amongst younger people in the local community. Their responses reflected that they generally felt a lack of appreciation towards them as elderly people and that this lack of appreciation caused anxiety, particularly when they went out to their local shopping area in central Brixton. This area is convenient for shopping because it is nearby and the shops and market stalls sold the products they need.18 The market area is familiar, but with a growing predominance of younger people residing there, and changes in their circumstances, such as lessened mobility and strength, they exhibit some fear of this environment. Boldly, not inhibited from going out of their homes, they entered the external local area, but sadly questions of respect and trust surfaced between them and some of the younger generation. One informant remarked, ‘when you walking down a Brixton, some a dem just push you’.19 The group generally agreed with the sentiment that some young people do not move out of their way but expect them, as elderly people, to do the manoeuvring, even if they are obviously laden with shopping and much older and frailer. They told me that instead of helping them some of the youngsters make them feel intimidated, vulnerable, and they feel distant from the younger generation. The younger generation have some 17  https://www.elderabuse.org.uk/Pages/Category/what-is-it?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8J 3cpZLM5wIVksjeCh1_LwGuEAAYASAAEgLDi_D_BwE. Jan 2020. 18  This refers mostly to the period of fieldwork and completion of the doctorate in 2008. See Chap. 1 for comments reflecting continued change and gentrification and how this shifted perceptions of Brixton. 19  When I am walking in Brixton some people push me.

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behaviour patterns the elders do not fully understand, and they think youngsters, in the main, do not understand them. Whereby, the earlier sentiment was qualified by a further comment by another informer who remarked, ‘some a dem don’t even ‘ave no manners’,20 ‘some is ok but some of dem is terrible man. I don’t know if is upbringing or what they are taking or whatever it is’.21 It is fair to say they are not tarnishing all of the young people with the same brush because there are instances where younger people have been very helpful to them. In this respect, they said, ‘some a dem they see you coming pass, they say mama you want to cross, and just go inna de road an’ stop de traffic,’.22 Unfortunately, as much as some are so kind, others are very unkind, specifically when they meet them in dangerous situations on the road, as another informant remarked, ‘when the light signal stop, these bicycle don’t want to stop, and if you don’t mind dem kill you man. Dem will knock you down’,23 remarked another elder. The elderly people are very aware of their environment and the issues they face within it. There is a fear of the younger generation, especially when they have experienced violence, crime, and disrespect. For example, Mr. Griffiths’ story puts this concern and their elderly plight into context because it highlights his and others’ vulnerabilities and unmet expectations. Unfortunately, his obvious vulnerability does not ensure that young criminals will leave him alone. Similarly, despite the dangers, Mr. Griffiths’ feisty spirit keeps him active and engaged with his neighbours in the scheme and in the local community. Mr. Griffiths is of small build, approximately five feet four inches tall, with a slight physique. However, he told me was he used to be stocky but has lost a lot of weight. Indeed, his roomy suits show his former size. He sometimes walks with the aid of a walking stick but carries himself confidently as he walks with determination in the street. However, I observed from walking with him that he meanders rather than walks in a straight line down the road. He is prone to crossing the road without paying

 Looking at all the young people, some of them do not have manners.  Some of them are ok but some are terrible, I do not know if it is their upbringing or whatever it is that they are taking. 22  Some of them see you walking past, ask if you want to cross the road, they then go in the road and stop the traffic for you. 23  When the traffic light signals to stop some of the bicycles do not want to stop, if you do not look they will kill you, they will knock you down. 20 21

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sufficient attention to on-coming cars that is risky because the car driver must move out of his way, or injure him. Sadly, he is intermittently lucid and incoherent, which mirrors his mental condition in an early onset of dementia. In talkative lucid mood, he told me of his thoughts relating to his needs. He drew together a connection with younger family members and other younger people that highlight the polarities between him as an old man and others. He also expressed that his early experience and thoughts of elderliness were different to his current experiences. There were disappointments and although he found kindness in the community, the fears and actual violence he experienced exacerbate his isolation and vulnerability as an elderly man. To fully appreciate his vulnerability, and that of similar frail elders in my research group, I have included some personal details he shared about his experiences and thoughts. They serve to contextualise his treatment as a lonesome elderly man, in relation to his expectations. Interestingly, his engagement with other elders in the scheme proved paradoxical because he also found respect from some younger strangers and disrespect from some fellow elders. He began, I am 85 years old. I have been married and widowed twice. I worked as a chef and for many years and for Lambeth Council as a Park Keeper in Brockwell Park. So I have a state pension and one from my work. They diagnosed me with dementia but I am not a cripple, I still go out. When I go out, you know I like to dress smart. I like to dress in suits and put on my hat. I was born in Jamaica, where I spent my early childhood with my parents, brothers and sisters and grandparents, we all lived as one family.24 I am one of ten children and I remember my early life in Jamaica as warm and loving but my life now is cold and lonely. My father was a Preacher and a strict disciplinarian that bought guidance, respectability, stability, and happiness to us. It was from him that I learnt to respect my elders. In the past, I sang in the church choir and went to church services but I have not been to church for a while. I sometimes see church brethren when I go to Brixton. They remember me from church and ask me how I am. None of them come to see me at home though. I used to visit the local pubs

24  His use of ‘one family’ refers to his extended family unit living as one family recognising their interactive closeness.

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for a drink in the evenings, but I do not drink any alcohol anymore because of the medication I take. I take painkillers for my arthritis. I do not have much family around me now. Most of my family live in Jamaica. My niece, a younger woman, who lives up the hill used to come and see me, and I use to go and have dinner with her on Sundays. I do not see her anymore because she is rude to me, so I stopped all contact with her. She grew different to me so she does not have the respect for older people that I expect. Instead of helping me, she wants something from me, so I don’t trust her.

My field notes also highlight Mr. Griffiths’ insecurity that arises from his isolated position with his local family. This loneliness also seemingly encouraged him to seek friendship and security with me because I presented as someone trustworthy. My field notes state, On one occasion Mr. Griffiths lost his savings book and searched his flat frantically because he saved some money from his two pensions, the work pension as well as his state pension. Eventually, he found it and he showed me his savings of over £1,000.00. Mr. Griffiths hinted that I should look after his savings book, and look after him when the time came to use it on funeral arrangements. I felt this inappropriate (in my role as researcher), and made a polite excuse, encouraging him to put it away safely.

Mr. Griffiths was constantly worried about money and losing the cash that he kept in either his jacket or trouser pocket. As a consequence, when outside, he walked holding his pockets that he constantly checked, being fearful thieves might attack him because he had previously been the victim of street crime. Yet, he still ventured out, and allowed me to accompany him to his favourite café, telling me, I go out every day walking to Brixton, to a café owned by younger Turkish people in the Brixton market area. In there, I eat my dinner. I get a big dinner and they treat me well and make me feel welcome. All kinds of people come into this café, the market traders, shoppers, the young and old from every part of the world. When I come in here they always say hello ‘Pops’. I like the way they greet me. It makes me feel like somebody.25 They always find a table for me to sit by, they clear it first then I sit. Then they ask me if I would like my regular meal or choose another. They bring a plate, full to the brim, a lot of food. They are always polite when they give it to me.  I feel noticed, recognised as a father figure and an elder in the community.

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My field notes continue, Whilst with Mr. Griffiths I saw him eat this hearty meal on several occasions. He seemed glad to have my company with him, he especially enjoyed the speculation he saw in others concerning who I might be. He ate his main meal of the day in the cafe. He sat quite comfortably in the café with the other diners. I also observed the dinner that he always spoke so well of. It was always an English style dinner, consisting of roast potatoes with roast beef, carrots and cabbage or other vegetables.

He returned to the sheltered housing scheme after lunch and sat in the lounge area, usually on a wooden chair. The wooden chair was easy to clean so designated to him due to his incontinence. Nevertheless, sometimes he sat in a fabric armchair and this action received much disapproval, and strong interchange of words between him and some of the other residents, harbouring quiet discomfort when this happened, although some are sympathetic. Despite such treatment, he often engaged in pleasant conversation with a few of the residents but many ignore and seem quite dismissive of him. Nonetheless, one resident, Girlie,26 provided him with occasional meals. Mr. Griffiths invited me into his home on several occasions to talk and keep his company. I observed that he had basic furniture in his home. The furnishings in his bedroom consist of a bed, old wardrobe, one old chest of drawers that is broken down, and an old bedside table. He has a bible that many of his conversations were about, and many suits, shirts, and ties from bygone years. Though not in holes, they were obviously aged and much worn. There is an old settee suite, old display cabinet, and small table in his living room. His kitchen has very basic equipment such as, wall cupboards, a kettle, a few cups and saucers, a couple of plates and minor cutlery, but no sharp knives to keep him safe. He has carers and cannot really look after himself so tells me that he wants a wife to look after him. The scheme manager says that she looks out for him, more like a daughter than a worker; however, there is still a professional boundary because he is not integrated into her social world, neither is she into his. Mr. Griffiths’ scenario shows his vulnerability, he is stuck in an environment that cannot adequately meet his increasing basic needs, because he is 26  Girlie is a resident who chose not to be a part of my research group but did participate in some of my participant observation encounters.

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not as independent and able bodied as the scheme criteria suggest. Nevertheless, he coped, although he was lonely and confused, closed yet seeking company and afraid but courageous. He used his inner strength to cope in an environment that was quite difficult to negotiate and sometimes subtly hostile. He was quite astute and somehow knew those who he could trust in order to survive, but mostly relied on himself. This challenged professional boundaries, as the scheme manager gave him more assistance over her employed remit, whilst Mr. Griffiths tried to find a place in the community that he seemed to be getting too old and frail to fit into. With much concern and disappointment, Mr. Griffiths told me that young people often spoke to him and other old people as though they ‘know nothing’, but says, ‘they should respect us’. Indeed, Thompson (1995) states that there is a tendency to dehumanise older people who face oppression. So cities de Beauvoir who stated, ‘old age is particularly difficult to assume because we have often regarded it as something alien, a foreign species’ (1995: 11). This alienation is expressed through mockery, humour or treating them as children. Respect was a big issue because Mr. Griffiths recognises his triumph in maintaining longevity. However, he clearly knows many others do not respect elders, especially some teenagers. Mr. Griffiths has been the subject of crime on a few occasions. He described this experience one day as he said to me, Recently I was walking down the street in central Brixton near the tube station. A group of young youths attacked me. Young boys and girls together, they were teenagers. They pushed me to the ground and kicked me. They stole money that I had on me. I told the scheme manager and other residents. I still go out but I make sure I put my money deep in my inside the pocket on my jacket. They were wicked, they don’t have any respect.

Further, he told me that he did not want to report this incident to the police or the Victim Support service.27 He remained independent and ambivalent to crime prevention services, for his assailants already got away with the crime. Yet, he experiences anxiety and concern for his safety and well-being when he goes out. Incidents like these do not make him a recluse, for the burden of loneliness inside his home is worse than the fear to go outside. Although he is elderly and somewhat confused, he defied  Victim Support is the name of an organisation set up to help victims of crime.

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his oppressors and his ailment. He is not the only one to be the victim of youth street crime and to overcome it. Mrs. Scott, another victim of crime whilst amongst young people, told me, ...I went out one day shopping in Brixton market. I was sure that I put my pension money in my bag. When I found something that I wanted to buy I looked in my bag for my purse and it was gone. I think someone pushed their hand into my bag and took it. It was a terrible shock and I felt used because they will use my money and not me. Many of the young people out there cannot be trusted because they are dishonest. This experience makes me more worried when I go out, I do go out all the same.

In addition, Mr. Melvin, another elderly informant who uses a wheelchair so consequently has a disabled parking badge in his car, told me that he was frequently the victim of crime. He often found his car window broken as criminals frequently stole his disabled parking badge, giving entitlement to free parking. Local people believe that youngsters or other vulnerable young adults commit these crimes. Mr. Melvin also told me, I think the people who are doing this to me are wicked. They know the badge belongs to someone old, or a sick person. There are so many people who are on drugs and steal my badge to sell it. I have to pay to fix my car window. They do not care about stealing from a disabled man or the money I have to spend to put things right.

My elderly informants are surely not strangers to crime occurring in their community, being close to it, knowing victims of crime or being victims themselves. They share a common cautiousness, fear, and mistrust of teenagers and younger adults in the community. This is a genuine concern for all of my elderly informants although some have a good rapport with younger people, with a minority preferring younger company. Paradoxically, even within the elderly group, some people were not always kind to those more vulnerable, as Mr. Griffiths’ situation shows.

Elders and the State Definitely, my elderly informants have experienced enhancements to their well-being as a result of state intervention. Nonetheless, there are points of conflict that arise as they seek to adjust to the shifting boundaries (Hannerz 1992), determining their position as elders in society. Subtly,

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cultural notions about the responsibility to take care of frail and vulnerable old people changed with increasing help from outside kinship circles occurring, accepting workers who were strangers in the caring role. Nevertheless, while understanding their needs is straightforward, a response to them proved more difficult due to the ambiguities surrounding elderhood. The state, as a symbol of regulation, often received unfavourable attention by my informants rather than accepting it as the protector of elders that it purports to be. Although the state is an influential force in Mr. Griffiths’ life, he is ambivalent towards it. He comments, ‘Sometime de way ‘ow de government treat you, mek you feel like you are taking liberties.’28 This comment arises because he finds the social welfare system difficult to negotiate, due to the built in control mechanisms designed to prevent fraud. However, the safety mechanisms result in cumbersome administrative systems that do not pay sufficient attention to the needs of the elderly. Mr. Griffiths explained, I went to a government office to obtain my state benefit, and at first I went to the office without any documentation to prove my identity. The worker I saw sent me back home to look for a passport or other proof of my identity (in document form). I felt that I had to prove who I was although they could have checked on the computer with the personal information I gave them. I felt treated no different to a younger person. I was expecting to be treated differently because I am an elderly person. I thought they would show me more care and attention and make allowances for me without sending me on an extra journey.

Similarly, Mr. James has a longstanding problem with state officials regarding his housing benefit.29 It appears that his rent account had been credited with too much money from the housing benefit payment and the housing benefit department requested repayment of the over payment. This issue is over a year old and remained unresolved. Mr. James told me of his frustration, Everyone has become involved, the scheme manager, the housing officer, and the local housing benefit office workers but the problem is still there.  I feel as though I am taking liberties because of the way the state system treats me.  The state benefit that provides cash help towards the rent payments. It is a means tested benefit for people on low incomes with savings less than £16,000 and this savings and income have to be verified in document form at that time. 28 29

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Lots of letters have been sent to explain the problem and the plan to sort it out. But it still cannot get sorted. See my file (he said as he picked up a large collection of letters and waved them angrily at me). This problem is driving me crazy and making me angry. They are making a simple problem hard to solve by their contradictions that causes confusions. I am tired of the constant going and coming from the housing benefit office and receiving the numerous letters that they send to me. It is tormenting me and has become a tiresome burden on me. They already know my details, I am not working and my circumstances are unchanging because I am old and retired.

This raises an interesting point because whilst he thought his elderliness brought continuity, for his circumstances had not changed greatly, in reality he met uncertainty. Instead of the state assuming responsibility and taking pressures away from him as an elderly man, it placed them on him. This experience was also encountered by my other informants. Nevertheless, a minority such as Mrs. Evans actively engaged with challenging such difficult situations with the state. She recognised her political power so excels in engagement with such difficulties. She is the only one who has engaged in adult education at university, so she has developed a different level of confidence and ability to engage in the challenges. She explained to me, ‘I believe that as an elderly person I need to challenge things in order to assert my rights. For instance, I was sent a council tax bill but I disputed that I owed the money. I went straight to the local council tax office and asked for the details of my local MP. I wrote to the MP and asked for assistance because they are more powerful than me and can get the problem resolved on my behalf’.

However, she was a bit less sympathetic towards her fellow elders in the scheme because she thinks they are not active enough in this area. I detect some ‘desire for them to improve’ because she also suggests it is tied in with their ambivalence towards self-improvement. Quite comically, Mrs. Evans explains her other plights with some humour and great enthusiasm as she continued, I want to lobby the government because I do not think that pensioners should pay water rates. I am looking for other people to join my campaign, we have to levy our complaint to the top so that it can filter down to the identified problem.

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She obviously enjoys the challenge of problem solving and exerting her power as an elder, but for others it is too much and a crushing burden. She is thoughtful and extends some kindness, remarking poignantly, ‘I speak up for others who cannot speak up for themselves’. Nevertheless, some of her fellow residents, whom she observes, comment on her zest with humorous dissatisfaction comically suggesting, ‘she is mad. Older people tend to experience the loss of economic power, particularly in a society motivated primarily by the production of wealth (Thompson 1995: 7–9). Indeed, society places value on people based on their economic status. With the growing dominance of New Right ideology that promotes an emphasis on personal responsibility, particularly in relation to preparations for retirement, there are expectations that one should have both a private pension and the state pension. This places an emphasis on individualism that amplifies class differences. Certainly, elderly people, considered in terms of economic worth, are placed in an individual competitive relationship to other elders. My informants’ elderly status continues the relationship regarding the inequalities found in society that exclude and stigmatise people according to their class and status position. As beneficiaries of state benefit and some having modest work pensions, and some have savings, my informants find their position in society determined by their economic ability and class status, as working-­class. However, differences surface between them in respect of education and the abilities that it affords to assist with their circumstances.

Concerns About the Position of the Black Elderly Central to one’s well-being is the ability to take care of ourselves, and the elderly people in this research also face this challenge. My informants have suffered discrimination and they still face discriminatory circumstances. Stevenson (1989) highlights Norman’s notion of their ‘triple jeopardy’, stating that the elderly ethnic minorities are at risk because they are old, due to the physical conditions, and face hostility. Many opportunities are not available to them because they reside in society that is economically determined and they often do not have material wealth to win within it. This is because the financial consequences of past and present policies have resulted in the ‘two worlds’ (Stevenson 1989: 17) of old people. There are those with financial security and those who need state supplements due to restricted financial circumstances, so they develop a structured

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dependency with the state. Stevenson (1989) asserts that black elders are over-represented in the latter group, where my informants are located. Although Caribbean black elders represented a significant number of people aged 65–74 at 13%, and the largest number from the ethnic minorities, it was argued by Butt and Mirza that ‘black elderly people experience discrimination in ways that rarely differentiate between age or race’, as all ages face similar discrimination in society (1996: 55). Certainly, there are issues regarding integrating into the wider society that are generally recognised. Wherein Moriarty (2001) asserts that a minority of black elderly people attend Day Centres, and with an expected increase in ethnic minority elders, services should be more culturally diverse to include all sectors of the population to combat social exclusion. Indeed, some of my informants attended Day Centres specifically available to black West Indian people because it was most appropriate for them to do so, so they could socialise with others of a similar culture with similar interests. Yet, this positions them in a separate group that influences their position and sense of belonging (I discuss these interactions in Chaps. 6 and 7). Nevertheless, the assumption that services for black elders are easy to provide is problematic and a false assumption, due to the differentiations found among the black elderly resulting in differing social needs. Undoubtedly, the elders had different needs, such that some expressed, even some of the Day Centres run by black people were not attractive to some of the elders in this research. One female elder a Day Centre operating in a church, said to me, …there used to be a Day Centre where we went in which they smoke and carry on bad. There was one on Railton Road that closed down. When you go past there you smell the drink, you smell it up the street. You can also smell the cigarette. I think they had a pub downstairs. I did not feel comfortable in there.

This comment referred to a particular Day Centre that was popular with older West Indians within the local area, which has been closed, but ironically it was also the one where many of the first occupants of the sheltered housing scheme attended and found out about accommodation at the scheme. I conversed with a group who attend church who reported a dislike of environments with noisy people or drinking places filled with smoke. Fortunately, another Day Centre is available locally, located in a church,

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frequented by elders in this research. (Differences exist within my elderly research group that I investigated in Chap. 6.) However, though recognised, race dynamics often remain silent, and there has been a tendency to push difficult issues aside, with a shift from the politics of race relations to the management of race (Sullivan 1996). Whereby the liberal equal opportunities management of the 1980s became entwined with the ‘new managerialism’ or ‘ethnic managerialism’ and is now encapsulated in the current term referred to as managing diversity. The contemporary strategies, therefore, seek to reflect cultural diversity rather than look at the existing issues of racism (1996: ix–xii). Nonetheless, there has been recognition of the failure of the 1970s race relation’s legislation in tackling discrimination, and the failure of the 1980s municipal anti-racism in tackling racial inequalities; Sullivan (1996), therefore, asserts that social and racial inequalities have increased and there have been poor policy developments in response. Definitely, my elderly informants experienced these changes and the issues they cause. Perhaps, these issues contribute to them asserting themselves as black West Indian elders with the help of others acting on their behalf that I found in operation (in Chaps. 6 and 7). A dual outcome therefore results, because I recognise the elderly people do get much needed help from the state, and also face discrimination and inequalities. In fact, help from the state becomes a vital part of life sustenance for my informants, but this is also paradoxical in regard to their cultural heritage and ethnicity, which proves problematic to address. Situated within this predicament my informants represent an interesting and unique group, and this research fills an important gap and highlights some of the inadequacies within the race relations industry. In summation, the elders are working class black West Indian migrants in British society, and I propose they form a diverse group, with differences regarding gender as well as the relationships held with their family. Indeed, the men most marginal in their families found an elderly status secured by their relationship to women, particularly younger women and also friends, particularly younger men. Whereas, the elderly women, mostly found their elderly status conferred by their centralised position in the family and through church activities. In Chap. 5, I explore these gender differences further and comment on matrifocality. Overall, as elders they share a vulnerability, by sometimes being victims of criminals who do not respect them as elders. Likewise, although the state provides much help they still feel ambivalent towards it, as it struggles to provide an inclusive place for them as older people and as black elders.

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Conclusion Indeed, the elders form a heterogeneous group, with a mixed response to their elderliness, which is greatly affected by their personal, past, and contemporary experiences. Their elderly status is paradoxical, loosely and often uncertainly assigned through their social interactions. They also present supportive and unsupportive views and actions towards fellow elders. The state defines the concept of elderly in society and provides services accordingly to vulnerable elders. However, although independent and individually focused, the elder’s working class status increased their reliance on the state that in turn, contributes to how their elderhood is conceptualised, which consequently affects their position in society. Certainly, notions on elderhood have been transformed through cross-­ cultural influences, as the elders in this research engage in a more locally derived notion of their elderhood as well as continuing historical patterns (and desires) found in the West Indies. However, their engagement has modified due to residency within British culture, latterly into the sheltered housing scheme, and engagement with the state. Indeed, their position in England, as landless elders, renders the pattern of engagement with family through family land associations, inapplicable. Health becomes another determinant of elderhood status and affects their views, actions, and roles. They are obviously elderly by virtue of their age; however, some men act to embolden their elderliness, and seek younger partners, paradoxically practising ageism by not taking women of their own age as partners. This link with younger women also adds another dimension to the stage of elderhood because some are simultaneously fathers and grandfathers, thus bringing a multidimensional reality to their elderly male status. Although some of the elders found respect from younger people, all fear the unknown in their external environments, even some services set up to help them are met with ambivalence. Respect, although varied according to gender, shapes elderly status and relationships with family and others. In turn, respect also influences where my informants fit in or belong. They form part of British society, however, the specialist black housing provisions and services separate them apart from others in mainstream elderly housing. Overall, acknowledged as different, they occupy a separate place, as black elders, in British society.

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Bibliography Amoss, P.T., and S.  Harrell. 1981. Other Ways of Growing Old: Anthropological Perspectives. California: Stanford University Press. Barrow, C. 1998. Caribbean Masculinity and Family: Revisiting ‘Marginality’ and ‘reputation. In Caribbean Portraits, Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities, ed. C. Barrow. Kingston: Ian Randle publishers. Butt, J., and K. Mirza. 1996. Social Care and Black Communities. London: HMSO. Chevannes, B. 2001. Learning To Be A Man. Barbados/Jamaica/Trinidad/ Tobago: The University of the West Indies Press. Clarke, E. 1999 [1957]. My Mother Who Fathered Me: A Study of the Family in Three Selected Communities in Jamaica. Kingston/Jamaica: University of West Indies Press. Cloos, P., Allen, C., Alvarado, B., Zunzunegui, M., Simeon, D., and EldemireShearer, D. 2010. ‘Active Ageing’: A Qualitative Study in Six Caribbean Countries. Ageing and Society 30(1), 79–101. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S0144686X09990286. Csordas, T.J. 2003. The Body’s Career in Anthropology. In Anthropological Theory Today, ed. Henrietta L. Moore. Cambridge, Oxford, MA: Polity Press. Davenport, W. 1961. ‘Introduction’ & ‘The Family System of Jamaica’. Social and Economic Studies 10 (4): 380–385. Hannerz, U. 1992. Cultural Complexity: Studies in the Organisation of Meaning. New York: Columbia University Press. Hazan, H. 1994. Old Age Constructions and Deconstructions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Laws, G. 1997. Spatiality and Age Relations. In Critical Approaches to Ageing and Later Life, ed. Annie Jamieson, Sarah Harper, and Christina Victor. Buckingham: Open University Press. Lyon, D. 1993. The Electronic Panoptican? A Sociological Critique of Surveillance Theory. The Sociological Review 41 (4): 653–678. Moriarty, J. 2001. Day Care for Older Adults, Developing Services for Diversity. In Adult Day Services and Social Inclusion, Better Days, ed. C. Clark. London/ Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Percy-Smith, J., ed. 2000. Policy Responses to Social Exclusion: Towards Inclusion? Buckingham: Open University Press. Rawlins, J. 2006. Midlife and Older Women Family Life, Work and Health in Jamaica. Kingston: University Press of the West Indies. Reynolds, T. 2005. Caribbean Mothers, Identity and Experience in the U.K. London: The Tufnell Press. Richards, M. 2006. Uncertain Age. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian. com/society/2006/aug/23/longtermcare.guardiansocietysupplement Roberts, A. 1993. A Warden’s Guide to Health Care in Sheltered Housing. London: Age Concern.

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Social Exclusion Unit. 2001. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk Stevenson, O. 1989. Age and Vulnerability, A Guide to Better Care. London: Edward Arnold. Sullivan, M. 1996. Racism, Ethnicity and Social Policy. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall Harvester Wheatsheaf. Thompson, N. 1995. Age and Dignity, Working with Older People. Aldershot/ Hants: Arena Books. Thompson, L., and D. Page. 1999. Effective Sheltered Housing: A Good Practice Guide. Coventry, UK: Chartered Institute of Housing. Tinker, A., ed. 1984. The Elderly in Modern Society, Social Policy in Modern Britain. New York: Longman.

CHAPTER 4

The Experience of Migration: Planting Roots

Introduction We were not on bad terms but I knew it would be better for me to live in England.

The quote above taken from my informant, Mr. Truman reflects his desire to return to Jamaica permanently to live, and suggests there are difficulties that inhibit him achieving it. Embedded in this predicament are issues concerning movement and re-attachment. This chapter is therefore titled, ‘The Experience of Migration: Planting Roots’, where I explore the elder’s relations with family members as a result of their migration experience. An experience that shapes their connections to the place they left and in Britain. I therefore examine my informants connection to their formative family members and wider kinship connections in the West Indies amid internal and out migration. I also investigate how new associations to their place of origin occurred that changes their sense of belonging. Separations and loss are central to understanding the changes within this examination of the role that local proximity played in creating family bonds and how far distance affects it roots. This underpins understanding of how and why the state is involved in meeting the needs of the elders, and not being solely met my family members at this stage in their lives, that affects how their sense of belonging is negotiated. My approach here is historical as I examine the changes that occurred through the elder’s life course, so there are three areas of exploration. The © The Author(s) 2020 A. Allwood, Belonging in Brixton, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54598-7_4

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first looks at the effect of their parents’ movements on the formative family structure. The second examines the effect of my informant’s movement and migration and that of other family members on the family network. The third uncovers the resulting structures and connections between my informants and dispersed family of orientation. I draw upon relevant theory concerning the process of travelling to ascertain the resulting consequences. Therefore, I compiled narratives and create genealogy charts (Appendix) from 161 of my informants, that serve as a social map highlighting the placement of the elderly informants and their family members, that assist the discussions about interrelationship between distance, family connection, and disconnection. Resulting in an understanding of why their needs are met by the state and not primarily by kin in elderly life.

Local Connections In Chap. 2, I highlighted that anthropologists have made an important correlation between the family structure, locality, and the connectivity of family members, suggesting the West Indian family structure contains multiple traits including the binding power of localised family land. Consequently, family relations shaped by residency are affected by the proximity of habitation. Therefore, I looked into how the elderly people engaged in this familial structure and departed from it. Consequently, I sought to ascertain how the fragmentations and estrangement from their family land (Solien 1959; Fox 1967) occurred, as long-term migrants. Therefore, in response to the first area of exploration concerning the family form and fields of relations in my informants’ formative years, key features emerged. The Table 4.1 shows the family of orientation links for my elderly informants.2 The total, in column two, shows three-quarters of their parents married, almost a quarter resulted from extra-marital affairs and less than one-quarter were born in partnerships. One informant did not know his parents or family, being raised by his parents’ friends. However, less than one-quarter knew their paternal grandfather whereas one-quarter knew their maternal grandmother, and one-eighth knew both 1  Information from this data source is expressed in this chapter in the form of percentage representation. Although the sample is small the percentages are used to express the significance of particular points. Genealogy charts are in Appendix. Although there were 26 informants, 16 participated in the construction of charts. 2  I draw out the comparison between these early relational formations with the similarities found in their family of procreation in Chap. 5.

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Table 4.1  Family of orientation patterns and connections Informant

Informant’s parents’ child-bearing Informant’s parental link & status grandparental link

Male Mr. Bailey

Extra-marital

Mr. Baker

Partner

Mr. Earles

Married

Mr. Griffiths

Married

Mr. Harvey

Extra-marital

Mr. James Mr. Melvin Mr. Truman

Partner Extra-marital Married

Mr. Smith Mr. Baker Female Mrs. Baker (a) Mrs. Baxter Mrs. Evans Mrs. Harris

Extra-marital Married

Mrs. Coleman Mrs. Parker Mrs. Scott

Extra-marital

Paternal Uncle & Paternal Grandparents Parents & Maternal Grandparents Parents & Maternal Grandparents Parents, Maternal & Paternal Grandparents Father & Paternal Aunt Neither (Friends) Father Maternal Grandparents Mother Parents

Married Married Married Partner

Married Married Summary Total Married  9 Extra-marital  5 Partner  3 Pat. Gran  3 Mat. Gran  6 Both gran  2 Friends  1

Parents Parents Parents & Paternal Grandparents Mother & Maternal Uncle, Aunt Father Both

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their maternal and paternal families. Indeed, two-quarters knew neither grandparent. Overall, this information suggests that although the marriage rate was quite substantial, some were born of extra-marital relationships, and partnership arrangements, and the grandparental link was quite low. With this familial configuration in mind, I engaged in unpacking the effect of residency on familial connectivity. Four main patterns3 emerged from the group. These patterns highlighted their formative familial structure was formed locally but was affected by spatial separations. First, it transpires that in this early period in their lives most of my informants had contact with both sides of their grandparents, if their parents were living together and the grandparents resided in the same locality. For example, the genealogy chart of Mr. Griffiths (Appendix, Fig. G) expressed who he knew, He said, I know my grandparents. We were all living close, in St. Thomas, Jamaica. My father’s parents were living in the house with us. We were all one big happy family. I loved my grandparents they were very kind. I remember that we would all sit and eat together. My father was a preacher so he mek4 sure that he bring us up together in a loving home, with strict discipline. My grandfather was also a preacher and he mek sure we didn’t get up to no trouble. My grandparents by my mother side lived not far away in the same district as us. So I see them regularly. My father sent us down to look for them.5

This contact was also enjoyed by Mr. Baker (Appendix, Fig. C), who told me that, We all lived in Clarendon, so I got to know both of my grandparents. I had nuff6 brothers and sisters, aunty, uncle, and cousins in the district. My father was not married to my mother and I was the only child between my mother and father. My mother had 7 of us. My father had 10 children. We kinda scatter in the district because we lived in different houses. I lived with my mother and brothers and sisters that she have with other men. My mother’s

3  Pattern refers to emerging trends from the group, although some individuals re-created their formative kin structure. 4  The word ‘mek’ means made in this context. 5  ‘To look for them’ refers to going to visit someone. 6  The term ‘nuff’ means ‘a lot of’ in this context.

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grandparents were the ones who looked after me mostly because my mother died when I was 12 years old.

The second pattern that arises shows that although there are circumstances where extended family members resided close together, as above, it was uncommon that such residency existed, or that they knew both maternal and paternal grandparents. If grandparents were known it was most likely that only one set would be known, either on their paternal or maternal side. Therefore, contact with a wider family network only occurred with the family residing in the same district in which they lived. This means that when their parents relocated to their partner’s district they lost contact with the kin left behind. However, if they remained connected this contact may extend to their grand aunt and uncle and other relations if they lived relatively close by as expressed by Mr. Earles (Appendix, Fig. E). He says that, I born and grow in St. Ann, Jamaica. I didn’t know all a me grandparents dem.7 For I only know my mother parents. They lived in St. Ann. I know my mother sister and brothers. There were four of dem8, one sister and three brothers. My Father’s people dem live in another Parish so I never know dem at all.

Grandparents on one side were also lost where previous out-migration had occurred. Continued movements led to circumstances where the parent of my elderly informant was born in a different country in the West Indies to the one my elderly informant was born in. For example, Mrs. Evans (Appendix, Figure E) explained, My father was born in Trinidad but his family went to live in Guyana. My mother was born in Panama and went to live in Canada. My parents then came to live in England where they met. My father and mother then went to live in Guyana where I was born. So I got to know my father’s parents only. My father worked for the British Government so travelled with his job and went to live in Canada. My brothers and sisters were born in Canada. When I was 9 years old we came to live in England.

7 8

 I did not know all of my grandparents.  ‘Dem’ means ‘them’ in this context.

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This common experience was also highlighted by Mr. Truman (Appendix, Fig. Q), who told me that, I never know my grandfather on my father’s side because he lived in South America. My grandparents on my mother’s side lived in Jamaica so I know dem. We all live inna9 Kingston. But I never really know de rest of dem.

These experiences provide interesting information about the familial connections of my elderly respondents. They illustrate the different configurations found in their familial structure, a structure that is multidimensional and affected by spatial separations. As a result, I would agree that their family structure harbours fragmentation and loss that was highlighted in Chap. 2. My third pattern highlights scenarios where my informants’ fathers engaged in a new relationship with their mother while already in a relationship. Therefore, some of my informants’ parents and siblings lived in different households. Mrs. Coleman (Appendix, Fig. K) was born into such a cross-household configuration. Her father engaged in a relationship whilst married to another woman, her mother being his mistress. Mrs. Coleman was born as a result of her father’s extra-marital affair. Mrs. Coleman and the other elderly people with a similar experience moved from one household to another. They experienced the loss of their mother and movement into their father’s household and lived with their stepmother and stepsiblings. This caused unhappy situations and further movement that eventually resulted in escape and loss of kin ties. Mrs. Coleman and Mr. Harvey (Appendix, Figs. K and I) told me their stories. Mrs. Coleman says, I had a very hard childhood, tough. I was so unlucky my mother died when I was young, I think I was 2 years old. So my father took me to live with his family in another district. I lived with my father, stepmother and their two children. They were very cruel to me and I hated living with them. My stepmother was wicked and used to mock me and my skin colour. None of them made me feel welcome. I was treated like an outsider and I felt like one. When I was 14 years old I ran away from them. I went to another area and I got a job working for a family and I lived in their household. I was not

9

 ‘Inna’ means ‘in’ in this context.

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comfortable there nor being around the male company so I ran away again. I was alone. As soon as I could I arranged to come to England. I came here to get away from my horrible life in Jamaica.

Similarly, Mr. Harvey (Appendix, Fig. I) experienced household movements and highlighted the trauma involved in moving between maternal and paternal kin and eventually severing contact with most of them. Mr. Harvey, a man of medium build, with severe knee injuries once served in the army, stationed in Kingston in his youth. He told me that he used to be addicted to working out and weight training but now walking is becoming difficult for him due to weakness in his knees. He describes himself as a quiet person who no longer likes too much ‘excitement’. His tidy wellpresented flat shows his domestic skills. A picture of his son and grandson hints to his family connections. As we sat in his living room, he cautiously spoke about his childhood. He began, I had a difficult time growing up in Jamaica. My father had relations with my mother in St. Ann, Jamaica, but he was not married to her. He was married to someone else and had a family. So my mother looked after me. I lived with her and my grandmother. This was a very loving home and I enjoyed being with her. It was tough so my mother and grandmother worked hard. Other people would look after me when they were working. I use to get up very early, clean up the yard10, look after the pigs, collect the water from the standpipe and bring it home before school. I did not always go to school though and I was often late for school or missed school. When I did go to school I had a long journey so I was tired but afterwards I still had to walk back home. The hard work my mother and grandmother did, did not mean we had money, we were poor and I remember feeling hungry a lot of the time and I was anaemic. I often walked barefoot or wore a ‘crepe’11 on my feet rather than shoes because my mother could not afford shoes because we were poor. I was often left alone as I got older, and sometimes I was left on my own for up to a week when my mother and grandmother were away working. I had to take responsibility for myself and I had to take care of myself. I learnt to cook and look after myself at a young age. I do remember feeling very lonely. 10  I woke up and undertook household cleaning chores and also cleaned the area outside the house. 11  ‘Crepe’ refers to a plimsoll.

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I am ‘mixed race’, my father is a white man from Scottish ancestry but he never looked after me. He worked in a chemist store and had many women, although he was married, so some of my brothers and sisters are unknown to me, He moved around, was widowed, remarried and divorced. He moved to Canada but I do not have any connections with anyone there. My mother took my father to court to provide maintenance for me but he did not want to pay the maintenance so he sent me to stay with his sister, my aunt who lived in another Parish. She was married to a policeman who had more money than us, a nicer house and more food. I recall wearing shoes, having food to eat and the luxury of cakes but I was unhappy. As a result, I returned to live with my mother. Unfortunately, my mother died when I was eight years old and she was 28 years old. My grandmother, a higgler12, looked after me. She was a black Jamaican woman who used to work as domestic in Cuba for an American family. I stayed with her until I joined the army. I knew two sisters on my father’s side, but not very well and I do not have contact with their families now. One has died but lived in Wolverhampton with her husband, she had 5 children, one moved to Florida. I did not know the other sister much and she lives in America.

In addition, the example from Mr. Melvin (Appendix, Fig. L) highlights the outcome of the separations leaving small opportunity for kinship connections to influences elderly life. I had made an appointment to visit Mr. Melvin to discuss his family connections. On my arrival at his flat, he invited me in and offered me a seat in his living room. A room that mirrored his sentiments concerning his family connections, for like his weakened ties and his sentiments of a desire for more, the rooms needed more attention to the decorations and furnishings that he could obviously not undertake himself. The furnishings were aged and, though presentable, were well travelled and reminiscent of the 1970s. Mr. Melvin was preparing food in his specially adapted kitchen that catered for his mobility problems. As we spoke, I moved closer to him to engage in conversation. He told me, My mother died when I was just a month old. My father and mother were not married. He was married already. He met his wife when he went to Cuba and they returned to Jamaica together. However, they did not have any children so I do not have any brothers and sisters.

 ‘Higgler’ means market trader in this context.

12

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I was brought up by my father but I never saw my grandfather on my father’s side because my father was afraid that he would take me away from him. My mother’s family visited me occasionally but we were not close.

My informants’ movement as youngsters were related to the maintenance of their welfare, as fathers attempted to take ‘responsibility’ by taking them out of their mother’s impoverished household. Nevertheless, the long-term consequences are less favourable in terms of kinship ties. These examples indicate the difficulty, for children born of extra-marital affairs, to integrate into the receiving kin network. Consequently, as elderly people, they may not have extended kin from their family of orientation, or very little, so they become estranged from both the West Indies and their family. Indeed, such child-shifting has serious consequences that are now recognised as having a negative impact on children (Reynolds 2006). Nonetheless, this background is shared by some people in my research and ultimately affects familial connections and relationships. Thinly connected kin ties means the elderly person locates themselves in their current place of residency and localised systems of support, mainly from their children, friends or the state services. My fourth pattern serves to illustrate a more positive economic aspect of such household movement that also paradoxically produced limited kin ties. Mr. Bailey (Appendix, Fig. A) was taken as a child from his mother’s household to another. This move distanced him from having strong contact with his mother’s side of the family and his siblings when he was growing up. He became more integrated into his receiving kin network. Mr. Bailey’s story also highlights the role that economic stability played as a deciding factor of with whom and where he lived. He sat in a chair facing me, next to the small table in his flat as he recounted his early life experience. He told me, I started life from a very humble place. My fortunes soon changed when I was taken from my mother to live with my father’s brother. He took me in because I could not go and live with my father. When I was born my father was already married but he ‘fool’13 around with my mother. My mother was the maid who worked for my father. I lived in Falmouth with my uncle who was rich and able to take me in. With his money and business, he could afford to bring me up with privi-

 His father had an intimate relationship with his mother.

13

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leges. I have other brothers and sisters on my mother’s side but I don’t really know them. I know my brothers on my father’s side of the family. My uncle made his money from buying land and selling the lumber from trees that grew on the land. He allowed other people to plant crops on the land as long as they left the trees and lumber alone. He was also a money-­ lender and had a bar. He was a benevolent man and would help people with small court fines knowing that they could not pay the money back. At other times he lent money to the poor and did not receive any repayment. He had maids helping him in the house and I always wondered how the maids at the house devote themselves to a family, as my mother did for my father, although she was not able to look after me.

So here, through this less frequent occurrence, my informant is in contact with his paternal kin ties, having lost his maternal kin ties. It appears, from the above stories, that the formative ‘known’ kin network of my elderly respondents was strongly determined by proximity because family members at a distance or in another locality usually became separated and unknown to them. The reasons for the geographical separations and ensuing closure to relationship formations were varied and included movements that were affected by poverty, extra-marital affairs, abuse, and death that caused separation from one line or both lines of kinship. However, there was a very slight tendency for children to be more connected to their maternal kin. Although, where practical, paternal and maternal kin looked after children, and movement between maternal and paternal households resulted in a loss of some kin ties, where paternal kin ties were mostly not enduring. Or, friends could also care for children, thereby including a wider spectrum of social networks that provide a source of family formation. I therefore acknowledge that the households of my elderly informants were of varying shape and form, and few remained connected to both sides of their extended family, and others in families formed without blood ties. I thought this connection not solely related to matrifocality as M.G. Smith (cited in R.T. Smith 1996) as some scholars highlighted. Rather, it appears a parent may send youngsters to live with the others in a variety of ways, such as the most convenient, practical, loving and kind, able or economically stable person(s).14 I think this provided the key to their household configuration where parents were not married 14  In Chap. 5 I further explore gender differentiations and matrifocality by looking at my respondents’ personal experiences in relation to parenting, children, and grandchildren. Consequently, I found that similar relationship ties continued for the elders in this research.

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neither lived together. I further explore gender differences and matrifocality, in Chap. 5.

Dispersed Connections With regard to my second area of exploration, that concerns the effect of my informant’s movement and migration on their extended family network, I looked at the resulting connectedness with their kin after economic migration occurred as adults, and the ongoing migration of their formative family members. Therefore, with residency in England and the trans-national placement of their extended kin, a distance was created between them. I acknowledge that outward migration is a common feature of the lifestyle of West Indians who have been travelling for employment since emancipation, that is well documented by Philpott (1973), Thomas-Hope (1992, 1998), Chamberlain (1995, 2005), Goulbourne (2001), Olwig (1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007) and others as outlined in Chap. 2. Interestingly, I found my elderly respondents were quite adversely affected by the distance, and the spatial relations created between family members, as a result of their migratory culture. Hence, I examined how their residence in Brixton, as elders, is affected by the global post-modern fracture experienced by people whose local existence harbours consequences from their global connections (Strathern 1995). Where I found the global familial spatial separations affected my informants’ attachments and relations that influenced their need to seek to root and negotiate a sense of belonging in England. The negotiation started from arrival is continuous though they are not so mobile, as voiced by Mrs. Scott, whose husband passed away three years ago, as she says (Appendix, Fig. N), I am alone here really. I don’t have relations living near to me. My grandson went to live in Jamaica and he was my closest link here. He wanted me to go with him, and my brother out there wanted me to come as well, but how can I go? I don’t feel confident to leave here now. Everything I need is here.

Indeed, Reynolds (2011) found some of those born in the UK who migrated to the Caribbean, continued family connections with elderly family members left in the UK. Similarly, although not migrating herself, Mrs. Scott kept the strong link with her grandson alive although he

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migrated to Jamaica. Likewise, I also found connections existed between my informants’, their families of orientation and extended kin that was a mix, some good but some of these were difficult to maintain. Contact also remained sporadic where family members were located in other areas in London due to the distance between them and increasing frailty. For example, Mr. Bailey found it difficult to travel to see his brother’s family in East London. Attending a family christening highlighted his difficulty. He said, I was invited to the christening of my grand niece’s baby in Stratford, East London. My niece staying with me from Canada went with me. We had to travel on public transport. So, we get the tube from Brixton and change trains, but the journey was too much for me. When I come back I get poorly, it was too much for me. I don’t think I can manage the long journey like that anymore. It was the walking, you know. From here to the tube station and the up and down on London transport. Too hard for me, I don’t usually do that distance but because it is a party and they invite me, I do my best to attend.

It also emerged that 30% of my respondents had family connections in other locations in England, such as Birmingham. Nevertheless, although this connection is available, they may not engage with it frequently. Mrs. Baxter (Appendix, Fig. B) explained, My sister lives in Birmingham. We keep in touch by telephoning each other from time to time. My children will drive me up there for a visit and sometimes my sister would visit me. But we do not see each other very much. Only, a few times a year. I do not feel so well these days so I do not travel far as often as I used to.

Mrs. Scott (Appendix, Fig. N) also experienced such weakened relations. She says, I really feel quite alone here in England because most of my family live in Jamaica and America.

Those with family overseas have a high percentage of family members living outside of the West Indies, at 80%, residing in multiple locations that include Jamaica and other countries in the Caribbean, America and Canada. In relation to connections outside of the Caribbean region, 30%

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of my elderly respondents have relatives in Canada and 70% in America. So although there are family connections in England, there are also large numbers overseas. The dispersal of familial members of the elderly respondent overseas is therefore significant.15 Consequently, the distance between family members affects contact between them. Contact in the main is minimal for most, sporadic, and strained, often disappearing in the worst situations. The West Indian culture of mostly economic migration explains the reason for the dispersal of family members within the West Indies, and out of it. The movement made by the elderly respondents when younger, mirrored the migratory patterns of Caribbean people. In fact, Mr. Baker (Appendix, Fig. C) told me, ‘Before I came to England I went to do farm work in America. I went twice, the first time in 1958 and the second in 1959’. They also moved around in Jamaica such as relocating to Kingston to work in a factory and to undertake training or to serve in the army. So seeking employment and economic stability was of paramount importance to them. Mr. Harvey (Appendix, Fig. I) expressed his joy at joining the army. He told me, I joined the army as soon as I could. I moved to Kingston and my life changed. The army gave me stability. I got so much more food and I was never hungry. They provide the uniform and quarters to live in, so I never worry about accommodation. I was looked after. I stayed in the army and as soon as I left, I came to England.

However, ties to the family area in the rural parishes began to weaken as more and more people left, and stayed away for long periods, then permanently relocating to England. There are instances, although in the minority, where kin ties continued and the lines of contact remained strong such as those of Mrs. Harris (Appendix, Fig. H). Mrs. Harris greeted me with a smile and was ready to talk to me about her family, and this was a refreshing experience for others were quite suspicious or at first were a little cautious. She seemed delighted even eager and proud to talk about her family. She was not intimidated by me recording her, so un-intimidated that when the tape recorder mechanism stuck, she 15  The familial connections of the elderly respondents to their children are explored in Chap. 5 where I highlight a strong tendency for family separations and for associations to be weak in addition to gender.

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voluntarily repeated the sentences that she thought I had missed. It soon became clear that she was fluid in her interactions with me because she continued to have a supportive family network, despite the length of the distance between them. She was able to mitigate the difficulties of keeping associations alive, which fuelled her confidence to discuss her family ties. Mrs. Harris told me, I was brought up by my grandmother, aunt, and uncle in the country in Jamaica, so I lived with them and my cousins, in the same ‘yard’.16 My uncle got married and left to set up his own home. My mother was away in the capital, Kingston working. At eighteen years old I went to live with her in Kingston to attend college for a year. So I moved between the country and Kingston. Soon after I left college I got married and had my first daughter. I went back to the country to give birth, and I left her there with my aunt. I returned to Kingston to stay with my mother who was working at a paper factory. I worked with her at this factory. I soon conceived another child and went to the country to give birth. My second child also stayed in the country with my aunt and I returned to Kingston. Next week I am going to visit my uncle, daughter, and grandchildren in America for the first time, my son bought me the ticket.

The Effect of Dispersal Nevertheless, the movement of people mostly resulted in the creation of distance in their relationships. With migration to England the elderly respondents left siblings behind in Jamaica, some of whom were born after they left. The implications of this are great. The following experience of Mr. Truman (Appendix, Fig. Q) illustrates this point. Mr. Truman, a timid elderly man, spoke to me at length one afternoon and was very engaging about his life experience. I saw the frowns on his face, the shyness with which he began and soon understood the tragedies that lay behind his permanent frown and anticipation in uncovering his life to me. As we continued to go further into his familial ties, he lost his concerned look, for we had moved past the roles of researcher and subject. Although our roles remained present, we also graduated to that of speaker and listener, a situation through which we both had our needs met. He started by telling me,

 The term ‘yard’ refers to the household.

16

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I was born in Jamaica into a family of 10 children. I was the second eldest. My sister Sarah (now deceased), was the eldest and was the first to come to England. When I came, I stayed with her until I found accommodation of my own. Unfortunately, I left my other brothers and sisters in Jamaica. After a while some left Jamaica and migrated to Canada and America and had children in those countries. This means that I have not seen most of my brothers and sisters for most of my life. Two of them were very young when I left Jamaica so we only spent a little time together. I do not even know some of my brothers and sisters living abroad.

His engagement illuminated the tragic loss of his family, sharing the effect of being absent, and the dispersal of kin that impeded relationships from forming, and how over time the family he knew passed away, and he became remote from the new births. On closer examination of the effect of their separations from internal and trans-national migration, it transpires that the elderly people have relations in London, other cities in England, Jamaica, other areas of the West Indies and the Americas, and although most ties remain alive emotionally, far distance injures many relationships. A theme arises out of the problematic nature of distance, whereby the movements made by my respondents and their family members develop a cumulative injurious effect, that gives the factor of distance the power to separate. Subsequently, the siblings and extended family members of the elderly informants are physically too far away from them to be of support socially, and practically, now that they are old and weaker, which makes them more reliant on the state.17 Similarly, contact with siblings appeared to be strikingly low, affected by the migratory process as well as by death. The consequence of this is that my informants have limited contact with nieces, nephews, and their offspring. Only 30% of my elderly informants had sibling contact, with only three of my respondents having a living sibling living in England but they live at a distance. To sum up so far, movements of kin often resulted in the elderly persons disengaging from one line of their family, so they began their lives ‘knowing’ only a small number of kin. As they grew older, many relocated in their country of origin and thereafter migrated externally. Thus, their

 In Chaps. 6 and 7 I examine the interface my respondents have with the state services.

17

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network of ‘known’ kin further diminishes, causing limited kin associations in their elderly stage in life. Indeed, relations living a distance apart were usually thinly maintained and infrequent. Indeed Mr. Bailey’s (Appendix, Fig. A) experience affects his mood because he felt very lonely and isolated. Mr. Bailey spoke to me quietly and calmly. First, he was keen to show me his extensive music collection that he kept in the form of cassette tapes, whilst telling me of his love of music and that, when younger, he liked dancing and going to parties. His eyes revealed a sparkle as he spoke of his love of women and how successful he had been with them as a young man. He showed me a letter from a local influential authority figure in Jamaica, praising his management of his uncle’s business in his younger days. However, he was not joyous concerning the links maintained with his family. He said, I started to travel in 1999 and went to Canada first. I then went to America and Jamaica. But I had been away from Jamaica for a very long time before I returned, some forty years after I left. I came to England to work and to get away from a sticky situation I got into, when staying in the country with my uncle. I cannot go back to the district I was raised in because the person this predicament concerns still lives there. I left because of what happened so I am discouraged from returning. My uncle has since died and new family members live on his land and in his house. I don’t know them, so I cannot really go there, although I have the right to return. In general, I think my family are absent minded because they are not sensitive enough towards me and they are too distant.

This situation therefore leads him into isolation, with long periods without contact with kin that fuels his re-aligned sense of home, attachment, and belonging. Therefore, distance between the elderly person and their family has created a dispersed familial structure that does not always adequately support the elderly respondents. Consequently, paradoxical circumstances arise out of this migratory movement, for although life conditions and health may have improved for my informants, their dependency on the state inhibits a return ‘home’ for most. In addition, the connections with ‘home’ have weakened. As a result, reliance on the state services sustains them and their individual focus, and this dependent relationship, mostly changed the relationship to ‘home’. Consequently, England has become

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the place of residency fostering a sense of belonging to it, whilst the link with back home and overseas kin, in practical terms, diminishes for many, although there is mostly an emotional attachment with back home and others. Alternatively, England has become a place of refuge, for those running away from unpleasant situations.

Migration, Identity, and the Individual Focus The notion of growing individualisation is another important feature associated with people who migrate. For as St. Hilaire (citing Henriquez et al. 1984, Meinhof and Galasinski 2005, Myers 2006) stated, ‘identity is increasingly viewed as multiple, layered and dynamic’ (2007: 60). Indeed, Mr. James (Appendix, Fig. J) recognises the link between identity and individualisation, saying, I was always independent because I never have anyone to help me when in Jamaica as a young man. I help myself. I always help myself. That is why I am now so independent. I like it that way because I do not want to be a bother to anyone. I still rely on myself mainly.

He explained that his individualistic focus grew as part of his survival mechanism, and it became part of his identity. In respect of my other elderly respondents, there is a correlation between their identity formation and their migration history that ultimately affects their sense of belonging. Certainly, Mintz (1971) found that their history of enslavement and experience of freedom after emancipation, through which the Caribbean developed into an interesting socio-cultural area, also enabled individualism to develop. Mintz (1971)18 described this individualism as arising from, the lack of a developed community life or community spirit … one aspect of the individualisation of Caribbean peoples. Another aspect of such individualisation seems to be revealed by the special kinship, mating and domestic forms that typify rural life. As … ‘these folk create radial sets of two-person

18  I note that Mintz carried out research in the period coinciding with the ‘Windrush’ era of migration, that I surmise would have caused much ‘disruption’ to the fabric of society in the West Indies at that time. Therefore, I present his assumptions as descriptions of occurrences but further examinations of this period could unpack what Mintz means by referring to West Indians as lacking a developed community spirit or way of life.

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linkages, and at the centre of each such series is a single individual’, however, group and community based activity does occur (Mintz 1971: 39–41).

Indeed, many informants reflect the outcome of the two-person linkages within their family. Certainly, there are anthropological theories that describe the process of developing an individualistic identity, so it is important that I consider identity embedded in the process of movement, and the resulting relationships between people at a distance to each other. In this context, individuality relates to symbolic associations attached to those who move far away, temporarily or permanently. Understanding individualism therefore involves looking at social relations and adaptations. Nonetheless, Cheater (1995) highlights the difficulty in looking at individual identity in anthropology suggesting identity is structurally constructed rather than personally, because social structures affect individual behaviour. I accept that the wider social structures are undeniably important and very powerful, and they definitely affect people and fuel the culture of Caribbean migration. I therefore look at the identity of my elderly informants in relation to the structure of their social relations, particularly as they connect through the social and structural process of migration. On closer examination of the movement of the elders, interesting points arise that affect their identity and their relationship to dispersed kin. For, although I found my informants supported on arrival, over time they moved on to their individual units that fuelled an individual type of identity, residing in nuclear rather than extended family households. In Chap. 2, I engaged Huon Wardle’s (1999: 525) suggestion that through travel the migrant engages in fantasy adventure, and while I agree they were adventurous when travelling, I also suggest travelling reflects an expression of identity within the culture of migration. Wardle also suggests their travelling was embarked upon to explore the idea of freedom, but they actually engage in losing themselves by engaging in the fascination of others in the places that they migrate to. I disagree that they get lost into the fascination of others. Rather, I say that some of their social networks remained over state boundaries although great difficulties remained in overcoming state boundaries. So I propose their migration movement has affected their roots and identity, but they found ways to manage the changes and adapt to life in England, although a few elders tried to return ‘home’ to live, albeit unsuccessfully. The freedom sought through migrating, to be independent and self-determined, has not fully manifested as hoped, instead their ‘identities remained under constant

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transformation as individuals negotiated places for themselves in society, given their particular experience as people of Caribbean origin’ (Olwig 2007: 269). Indeed, paradoxically, my informant’s position enables them to retain their West Indian self. Although employment was cited by all my informants as the reason they migrated, and to a much less extent escape and adventure, their movement to England was tied up with an element of fantasy in the sense that most believed they could fulfil their dream and return home, whilst for others, it offered a safe haven and new opportunity, as depicted in Table 4.2 below. My informants believed they would be welcomed and integration made easy. Their reality turned out to be very different. On arrival, they met Table 4.2  Motivation to travel No.

Informant

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Mr. Bailey Mr. Baker Mrs. Baxter Mrs. Baker (b) Mrs. Beaver Mrs. Chambers Mrs. Coleman Ms. Duncan Mrs. Eaton Mrs. Elgin Mr. Earles Mrs. Evans Mr. Griffiths Mrs. Harris Mr. Harvey Mr. James Mrs. Jarvis Mrs. M. Johnson Mr. Melvin Mr. Mitchell Mrs. Parker Mr. Taylor Mr. Truman Mrs. Scott Mr. Smith Mr. White

Adventure

Escape

Employment

*

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*

* * * *

*

Symbol * highlights what motivated the elder travel to England

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hostility and hardship from which they could not escape. At entry into the country, often friends and family met them and took them to see their new homes. The new environment confused my informants because it did not fit the dream held about England. For example, Mrs. Parker (Appendix, Fig. M) said, ...when I came to England and first saw the houses I thought that there must be a lot of jobs here. The houses all had chimney pots on them so I thought they were factories. Later on I realised that they were houses.

Acquiring new homes was also confusing and unwelcoming as Mr. Griffiths (Appendix, Fig. G) states, they were cold and damp and we have to use a paraffin heater, the smell was terrible. It mek you feel sad when you remember Jamaica. But in those days when you came, you get stuck.

Certainly, the new community and the indigenous people were not always welcoming, and accommodation was difficult to acquire due to prejudice and discrimination that excluded them from occupation. For sure, several people in the scheme had to battle through rejections in their quest for accommodation, and overcome the signs saying, No blacks, Irish people, children or dogs.

These signs placed outside lodging houses designed to keep my informants out were upsetting. Nevertheless, despite these hurdles they managed to either stay with family members or rent a room or a shared room. Thoughts of sharing accommodation was enhanced by Mr. Truman, as he explained, I shared a room with a man I didn’t even know. When I go to work he was asleep, and when I come from work I get the bed.

I asked, ‘Do you mean you shared a bed?’ He replied, Yes, in those days we couldn’t afford to rent a room by our self so we share the room. I did not see him because when I was in the room he was at work. It was terrible.

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All of my elderly informants echoed difficulty in adapting to their new lives. Mrs. Baker highlights the hardship she faced with young children as she juggled motherhood and paid employment. Mrs. Baker brought her children up with her husband but they both had to go out to work, thus Mrs. Baker found life in this new country very challenging, she recalls, I had to wash the children’s clothes by hand and put them on the rack to dry in front of the paraffin heater. We had to do everything inside the home, I worked when the children were growing up, so before I left for work in the morning I woke wake up my daughters at 5.30 am and comb19 their hair so that they were ready for school, and they would go back to bed, and I went to work, I worked very hard.

The story of Mr. Harvey (Appendix, Fig. I) encapsulates the disappointments that result from their migration and hardships, I came to England with the intention to make a better life but I feel I did not really achieve this. I took the jobs that were available and worked in various jobs until I retired. I always worked. I was alone and never remarried after my marriage here ended long ago. I therefore only had one wage in my home so I found it hard to make any improvement. I paid rent and could not save much because there was no spare money to save. I think you have to be corrupt to get on. I worked long hours at night, working at Shuttleworths, lifting sugar, at Cadburys, at a paint company, a firm processing fur and an electronic firm. I worked in different places in Wolverhampton and London. I think they use us like tools, that’s why they created us, slaves from the start and still slaves. It has worked out that we came to make English people have a better life. They look down on West Indians for not marrying, but the English also had illegitimate children and sent their people to the workhouse when poor in past times. I have not been back to Jamaica at all since I left, and my life now is not much better than it would have been in Jamaica, had I not left.

Even in the comparative safe haven of the scheme, the disappointments are echoed by a fellow elderly resident as Mrs. Jarvis20 says, ‘I would not be living in the scheme if I had my own house’.

 Here ‘comb’ refers to plaiting hair.  I did not compile a genealogy chart for her.

19 20

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Although they were living in a British colony prior to migrating, they were aware of some aspects of being British. Their concepts were formed in the context of being a British subject in the West Indies. From there, Britain was an affluent place where opportunities would make life much better. It was rather expensive to migrate, so movement to England occurred by individual economic ability and enterprise, with the help of those more financially able, or a mixture of both by exhibiting enterprise, co-operation, and community engagement. Thereby, the whole process of migrating predominantly centred on the individual as the traveller. Although family members or friends might help with travel costs, travel with them, and/or accommodate them on arrival, they moved on to individual households with children and partners or alone. Indeed, migration was not always undertaken as a permanent move but they became caught in a situation that they could not afford to leave, so their status soon changed to that of a long-term migrant and then to permanent resident. Apart, with some harsh experiences remaining unshared, family members left behind held partial truths about the migration experience in Britain, leaving room for a ‘romantic’ fantasy about life in England to rise, similarly some of my informants held a ‘romantic’ fantasy of the life left behind, ‘back home’ and a gap ensued between being ‘here’ and ‘there’. The unchecked romantic fantasies and hidden hardships prevailed due to limited travel back home, until many years down the line (or not at all), when my informants became old and the polarities subtly set between kin. Indeed, travelling is dynamic and changes people and the relationships held between them. I draw on Helms (1988) who looked at the political and cosmological aspects of travel and distance because they prove useful to the assessment of belonging, familial connections and the state. Helms assesses the symbolic construction of geographical space, distance, and familial relations that serves as a correlative and metaphorical example. She states, geographical distance from a given cultural heartland may correspond with supernatural distance from the centre, that as one moves away from the axis mundi one moves towards people and places that are increasingly supernatural, mythical and powerful the more distant they are from the heartland (1988: 4).

Helms’ ideas about relationships between people at a distance are influenced by her interest in how power develops and is ascribed to people in unknown regions (Helms 1988: 5). Calling upon Durkheim’s socially

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differentiated space, where space is a dynamic aspect of social life, being divided, differentiated, and affecting social relations as well as being an aspect of the geographic landscape, Helms observed that mystical powers are attached to faraway places, and to the people who travel outward. As a result, distance between people is charged with meaning that makes people, things, as well as places accessible or leaves them distant, foreign and exotic. Moreover, this process is a natural part of human activity, determining socio-temporal relationships. Helms looked at the work of Bird and Kendall (Helms 1988) on the Mande heroes to assess the effect and meaning attached to those who travel out for adventure, work, or to acquire special powers stating, Whether he is simply attending school outside the village or enduring the miserable life of a migrant worker abroad, at home he is a hero whose experiences and exploits return glory to his people (1988: 16).

Therefore, according to Helms (1988), outward movement far away, to an unknown reality enabled the attribution of hero status to be equated with travel. The traveller is glorified in the unknown mystical and magical place. This concept is also applicable to my informants who travelled away from their birthplace. I suggest they also became ‘heroic’ because they bravely managed to travel to a dreamland. Nonetheless, this ‘heroic’ status is a romantic attribution because they are not heroes in the traditional sense and conquer everything triumphantly but in a romanticised form of heroism because issues affecting settlement and belonging remain. Nonetheless, they are pioneers in a new arena, and eventually they did escape poverty in Jamaica but remained hard working and working class in England relying on the welfare state, living a different reality to that initially created in their minds and idealised. Certainly, their adventure, as suggested by Wardle, was to escape, seeking employment in search of the gifts they assumed they would acquire (Wardle 1999), such as work, wealth and prosperity. Migration therefore attracted the belief that their life in England is easier, that they would fare better financially than occurred for most, meanwhile they were ascribed greater romantic esteem and an elevated personhood was attached to them once becoming a migrant. Indeed, the generalised myth of prosperity attributed to migrants made them powerful and romantically heroic in the minds of those left behind (compounded by those others who returned to Jamaica in a better financial state, although not all shared this prosperity). Through this process, changes occur between them and kin in the

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West Indies. I therefore suggest that over time, many of the informants develop, to varying degrees, social, psychological, as well as a physical distance to dispersed kin back home, as they subtly shift perspective. I thereby suggest a dual aspect developed in relation to their travel and individualism, because most travelled to enhance life back home, for the majority intended to return, and reconnect with the country they left and make a better life for themselves and their family. However, in reality their movement enhanced their individualistic focus so placed them in the position of ‘other’. Below, I highlight the obstacles faced by those who tried to maintain a connection back home and the difficulties faced by those who tried to return home, as elderly people.

Which Home Is Home? Of the 16 respondents who gave me access to their genealogy, I found that 75% had visited the West Indies since migrating, 24% from that amount attempted to return ‘back home’ to live in the West Indies, with one person maintaining dual residency in Britain (at the scheme) and in Jamaica through travel and extended stay. The visits to what I call ‘back home’, in recognition of the language they used to describe the country of birth, were sporadic. In reality, for most a long gap ensued before re-engagement, although they sent letters and made telephone calls (social media recently to a lesser extent). For example, one informant, Mrs. Evans, told me of her attachments to back home. She said, ‘My children put money together and bought me tickets to travel. I have been able to go to St. Lucia and help my nephew build a small business so that he can maintain an income’. Mrs. Evans (Appendix, Fig. F) tries to travel as often as she can to attend family gatherings, alternating her visits between her siblings overseas and in America. Nonetheless, such connections require maintenance, however, most of my respondents may not have held strong enough connections to meet up in this way, or they cannot afford to travel often due to a lack of finance, and lately failing health. The attempt made by some of my respondents to return back home to live in Jamaica, after living in England for decades, proved problematic. Although they retained rights to their family land and were welcomed, they encountered practical difficulties returning to it. In this section, I

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illustrate that such a return was difficult and largely unsuccessful. The problem is twofold. Firstly, they became accustomed to life in England, and secondly were not part of the fast-changing culture and society back home. Wherein, their emotional cultural and social worlds came into conflict and the resolution resulted in a decision to return to England. Mrs. Baxter provides insight into the other situation where a return ‘back home’ is not considered, although, in theory she can return ‘back home’, because she holds no intention of moving having recognised that returning is not realistic. Return has become impractical and therefore impossible to facilitate. She told me, Before leaving Jamaica I lived in Clarendon in Jamaica. I never went back and a lot of my family have died. The land is sitting there empty and no one is living on it. Other people might a cotch on it.21 Anyway, I am not going to return to live in Jamaica. I couldn’t anyway because I would need good company.22 It is there for me because my mother died and left the house to me in the seventies. Now I would have to rebuild the house to improve the condition, and extend it or build another one. My son, who was born here in England, spends a lot of time in Jamaica. He went there on holiday, liked it, so found a cottage to buy in Ocho Rios, in another parish. He keeps asking me to go to Jamaica with him, but I do not feel like travelling now. I am not well.

It is evident that leaving home in Jamaica a long time ago and infrequently, or not visiting at all, creates a very big vacuum. The elderly person remembers how Jamaica was a long time ago, but it has changed tremendously since they left and it has become an independent country, gaining independence from British rule in 1962, with new political and economic alliances, exploitations and opportunities. The built environment has changed and many of the people in the districts that they left are different. So the old familiarities they held about their home became a memory, and the reality encountered in a visit is vastly unknown and new. Those who have not returned know there are changes but the result of the change has not been personally experienced. So sadly, home in Jamaica has become  Other people, such as family members or others taking advantage of vacant property, may have moved on to the land to occupy it. 22  I need to be in the company of trustworthy, kind people. 21

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the ‘romanticised fantasy’ far away, and home in England is familiar, routine, and regular. ‘It could be argued, that many respondents returned with a new set of cultural influences, and a value system which they expected to be the norm, the realisation that this was not the case has led to disillusionment … and reflects the psychological dislocation and ambiguity which result when our expectations are at odds with the reality around us’ (Abenaty 2001: 179). I agree with Helms (1988), who suggested there are boundaries between places, and zones that people live in that are important in the designation of what is safe and unknown. Certainly, my informants have conquered England, the hitherto unknown territory, through travel and settlement. A familiarity has developed in England and it is not an imagined, foreign unknown place any longer. Conversely, spending long periods away from the West Indies has resulted in it becoming a less familiar place. Therefore, they have changed the known (West Indies/Jamaica) into the unknown, and the unknown (England) into the known, and safe, through the length of time that they have spent in England. Indeed, they have spent half or a greater percentage of their lives here. This repositioning affects their perception as the local networks become more familiar and personalised. Therefore, integrative engagement with back home becomes an ongoing negotiation, for those who continue to travel there, and impossible for those who stay away for long periods. Another close examination of engagement ‘back home’ fuels my assertion that return and engagement are problematic. The example of Mr. Earles (Appendix, Fig. E) highlights this point, for while maintaining his detached and individual outlook, it made resettlement harder especially when he returned and settled in a different district to the one he left. He said, When I was young in Jamaica I lived with my mother and father. I knew my paternal grandparents because they lived in the same parish, but not their wider kin such as my cousins. I did know my mother’s brothers and sisters too because they lived in the district. Then, I left for England before getting to know all my brothers and sisters well. Two of my brothers came to England, one died, the other one lives in Birmingham, but I do not know him very much, we did not correspond much. One sister, left Jamaica went to Canada. The others left back home have passed away. I came to England to live in the sixties and returned to Jamaica to live after spending thirty years away. I did not go to St. Ann where I grew up.

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Instead, I went to Mandeville. I knew a friend in England who went to Mandeville. I felt this connection with him would help me to settle better into Jamaica, near him, and amongst others like me. I started to build a house that is currently unfinished. I planned fourteen bedrooms so that I could rent out accommodation, but I could not finish building it because I ran out of money, and had no help. Since this was a new location for me and I only knew a friend who had previously relocated there from England, it was a place in which I had no other friends or family connection.

Similarly, Mr. Truman (Appendix, Fig. Q) could not settle in Jamaica because of his long-term disengagement, and he could not mitigate the loss that accrued from his separations. Although he did return ‘back home’, and these visits persuaded him to return to live, after return migration he could not settle. In addition, difficulties arose from another contributory factor that involves the dispersal of family members into other territories, whom they visited. These visits affected their ability to travel ‘home’ regularly, so contributed to their infrequent visits ‘back home’, resulting in their acquisition of an ‘outsider’ status. Mr. Truman explained, I did travel to see my family as much as I could. It was about ten years after I came here that I went back to Jamaica for the first time 1971, and spent eight weeks. I went again four years later to attend my father’s funeral. In 1991, I visited America and spent eight weeks there. In 1993 I also went to Canada for about eight weeks. So, it was not until 1999 that I went back to Jamaica, almost twenty-four years after my last trip there. I intended to stay but only spent three years there. I enjoyed it when I got there. It was good at first because it was like being on a long holiday. They seemed to be welcoming. I stayed with my brother who used to live in England, and returned home. He has children out there so he is fine. I returned to England because I could not live there. A holiday is OK but I needed my own place. I realised that England is a better place for me. Although the house, in Norbrook, Kingston, is a family home and available for all the family to live in, it was not possible for me to stay there. My father told us not to sell the place because it is a place that we can all come back to, so it remains available to me. But my brothers and their family out there occupy all the space. They made room for me but it was overcrowded. There was really only space for me as a visitor not to live. I did not have my children to help me so they helped me but only so far, I did not want to rely on them because I felt like I was becoming a burden. They were not terrible to me but I just could not fit in. I also needed medicine and treatment for my blood pressure and dia-

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betes. I could not really afford to pay for health care. It is expensive and they do not have the money to help me. We were not on bad terms but I knew it would be better for me to live in England. Again, Jamaica is a different place, it is not the same place I left and living there is different to visiting. After a while they treat you as a resident but it is better to be treated as a visitor. I had to pay my way, contribute to bills and so on. Everything is expensive and my pension is not that big. I depended on them a lot to cook for me and everything and I felt that could not go on. I felt that it would be better for me to live in England because it is most familiar and I can get a health service and other state benefits. Eventually, I felt uncomfortable among a family of strangers.

It is inevitable that making movements will cause unease, so one must ‘accept that the generation of new social relations involves instability and volatility’ (Strathern 1995: 124). Some of my elderly respondents experienced instability and personal volatility as they responded to the transitions in their lives resulting from migrating and relocating, so experienced turbulence when trying to return home. Although some migrants do make their dream come true and the circulatory migration talked about by Olwig (1999, 2001, 2007), Wardle (1999) and others is very much alive. Indeed, research has shown that not all returnees encountered the problems of not being able to fit in, particularly if they have maintained strong family connections, provided financial help and made frequent visits, but for most of my informants this is not the case. Circulatory migration is difficult for my retired informants who left parents, their siblings and others behind. Nevertheless, two elders returned home to live permanently as a couple, nevertheless they turned to England, but have differing views on where they want to live. Mr. Baker (Appendix, Fig. C) highlights his thoughts, I got married and had children with my wife. I also have children with other women. In all I have six children in Jamaica and six children residing in England. My wife and I returned to Jamaica to live but due to the death of my son we returned to England. The six children between my wife and I live in England, they were all born here. So we have a big family including grandchildren here. My wife has a heart problem so she is getting treatment. The children do not want us to go back to Jamaica, and my wife is happy to stay here with the family around her.

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I would like to return to Jamaica, I feel at home there with my children. I am not ready yet, I love my family here but I long to live in Jamaica and I have the means to do so.

He felt comfortable to ‘return home’ for he is integrated into his family network, in his original community, and has the means to generate an income, unlike others. At present, the local community for my elderly respondents is in Brixton, London. This community is a diverse multicultural community with people from various cultures creating a complexity in networks, resulting from the merging of multiple cultures. Certainly, my informants interfaced with other groups while being part of an established West Indian migrant community. Nonetheless, the local West Indian community continually seeks to maintain a place in the changing complex environment, as a result of migration that causes displacement, replacement and repositioning. Concerning integration, I reflect on McGhee (2006), who highlighted issues regarding migrant integration amid fears of ‘Muslim terrorism’, amid the increasing popularity of far right groups like the British National Party (BNP, a political party representing British values that is accused of being a fascist party) who believe the social order is affected with increased migration, when fears develop amid problems of integration. Indeed, the extract below from the ‘Strength of Diversity Consultation Strategy’ summed up the government’s response to social cohesion of migrants as follows: old networks based on a sense of place have given way to new and looser networks … destroying old certainties. We have to acknowledge that change and the sense of instability can create insecurity and fear. (McGhee 2006: 114)

Further, the Home Office suggests, To build an integrated society we need to promote an inclusive concept of citizenship, which goes further than the strictly legal definition…underpinned by a sense of shared values, this is one of the main ways in which we can strengthen the relationships and connections between communities (Cited in McGhee 2006: 120).

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So, according to Worley (2005) ‘community cohesion’ had become the new term associated with an assessment framework to address race relations in the UK. It therefore moves the debate beyond multiculturalism, towards the integration and cohesion of different communities that is of concern, in order to foster understanding and to break down barriers (2005: 487). However, Worley suggests that ‘leans to an allegiance to a “phoney” construction of Britishness’ (2005: 491). I suggest that the shift away from a focus on the West Indian migrant community to other newer communities is interesting, and affects the position, the elderly informants occupy. For they continue to maintain their space as West Indian migrants, but also shift position as they jostle to maintain their identity among other migrant groups, who now receive attention, whilst their position is not fully resolved. Within this debate, recognition of migrants from European countries is of interest. Indeed, for Albanian’s who left home, return was unlikely (King and Vullnetari 2006). King and Vullnetari 2006 state, Many retired people have more or less reconciled themselves to the fact that their children will not return; they know that they have settled in their host countries…. Some…. expressed a more ambivalent view – a kind of ‘myth of their children’s return... from an economic viewpoint and the view that the new country changes their children (and even more the grandchildren), therefore their return may never happen. (2006: 796)

In contrast, to the elderly West Indian migrants in this research, elderly Bosnian migrants aged between 60 and 80 years old have recently been returning home from Denmark, with state assistance, despite Bosnia not having adequate health care facilities. This is because maintaining health and well-being goes beyond physical health alone and includes cultural factors, climate and the physical environmental that supports maintaining overall well-being, good social and mental health, so returning home made them feel better and more content (Olwig 2015). Whereas, there is an absence of similar state support for elderly people returning to the West Indies who do not have sufficient personal financial backing and social capital. Yet, although remaining in Britain is practical and beneficial there are strains that affect overall well-being. In 2018, some of the ‘Windrush’ era migrants became embroiled in the ‘Windrush Scandal’, whereby the loss of ‘special dispensation’ for those not formally naturalising, left

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them being treated as other illegal migrants in the UK.  Treatment towards this group was described as being handled within a ‘hostile’ environment. Indeed, the law and response regarding dealing with immigration issues, status, and citizenship towards this group has shifted over time, from offering a wide open door, through a period of restrictive measures, to a highly restricted ajar door with deportations occurring. The elders in this research are not part of the recent Windrush Scandal, having legal British status, but are part of the community that it affects, so it affects them and how they are viewed in British society, and fragments the meaning of nationality (Wardle and Obermuller 2019) regarding their community.

Conclusion In conclusion, the familial form and function, ties, connections, and network are affected by migration that causes fragmentation for most. In addition, through time and space, kin dispersed trans-nationally, across generations, compound difficulties of maintaining relations, affecting the concept of family and available support in elderly life. In addition, family land as a rooting and connecting mechanism for dispersed families is affected by migration mostly causing disengagement from the institution of family land and its power to bind and root kin. Leaving ‘back home’ to other family members who relate to the established concept of family land that Simey (cited in Barrow 1996), Davenport (1961), Besson (1979, 1988, 1999b, 2002), and Olwig (1997, 1999, 2002, 2005) suggest. Certainly, as long-term migrants the elders become the ‘other’ in their place of birth, and many who lack sufficient support structures cannot afford to return. They have accepted the changes regarding their place of belonging, even if it appears ‘by default’, engaging in the ‘migrant’s planting roots’ scenario as their roots multiply, and social engagement develops in Britain. In some few instances, elders cut old roots and planted new ones thereby rooting them in Britain. For the majority, I suggest that their roots have been disturbed and are repositioned, and this is mostly complex because ultimately, the notion of personal identity, emerging from occupational space that is tied with their culture-building process in the West Indies (Besson 1979, 1988, 1999a, 2002), continues in England where they reside. Therefore, as elders, the British state becomes a prominent feature of their lives and affects their individual identity and belonging.

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Bibliography Abenaty, F. 2001. The Dynamics of Return Migration to St. Lucia. In Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World, ed. H.  Goulbourne and M. Chamberlain. London: Macmillan Education Ltd. Barrow, C. 1996. Family in the Caribbean: Themes and Perspectives. Oxford: James Currey. Besson, J. 1979. Symbolic Aspects of Land in The Caribbean: The Tenure and Transmission of Land Rights Among Caribbean Peasantries. In Peasants, Plantations and Rural Communities IN The Caribbean, ed. M.  Cross and M. Arnaud. Leiden: Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology. ———. 1988. Agrarian Relations and Perceptions of Land in a Jamaican Peasant Village. In Small Farming and Peasant Resources in The Caribbean, ed. J.S. Brierley and H. Rubenstein. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba. ———. 1999a. Folk Law and Legal Pluralism in Jamaica: A View from the Plantation-Peasant Interface. Journal of legal Pluralism 43: 31–56. ———. 1999b. Review of B Maurer, Recharting the Caribbean. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 5 (3): 506–507. ———. 2002. Martha Brae’s Two Histories, European Expansion and Caribbean Culture Building in Jamaica. Chapel Hill/London: The University of North Carolina Press. Chamberlain, M. 1995. Family Narratives and Migration Dynamics: Barbadians to Britain. New West Indian Guide 69 (3 & 4): 253–275. ———. 2005. Language, Identity and Caribbean Families: Transnational Narratives. In Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. Cheater, A.P. 1995. Globalisation and the New Technologies of Knowing, Anthropological Calculus or Chaos. In Shifting Contexts: Transformations in Anthropological Knowledge, ed. M. Strathern. London: Routledge. Davenport, W. 1961. ‘Introduction’ & ‘The Family System of Jamaica’. Social and Economic Studies 10 (4): 380–385. Fox, R. 1967. Kinship and Marriage. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd. Goulbourne, H. 2001. Trans-Atlantic Caribbean Futures. In Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World, ed. H. Goulbourne and M. Chamberlain. London, Oxford: Macmillan Education Ltd. Helms, Mary W. 1988. Ulysses ‘Sail, An Ethnographic Odyssey of Power, Knowledge, and Geographical Distance. Princeton: Princeton University Press. King, R., and J. Vullnetari. 2006. Orphan Pensioners and Migrating Grandparents: The Impact of Mass Migration on Older People in Rural Albania. Ageing in Society 26 (January), Part 1. McGhee, D. 2006. Getting ‘Host’ Communities on Board: Finding the Balance Between ‘Managed Migration’ and ‘Managed Settlement’ in Community Cohesion Strategies. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 32 (1, January): 111–127.

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Mintz, S.W. 1971. The Caribbean as a Socio-Cultural Area. In Peoples and Cultures of the Caribbean: An Anthropological Reader, ed. M.M. Horowitz. New York: The Natural History Press. Olwig, K.F. 1997. Caribbean Family Land: A Modern Commons. Plantation Society in The Americas 1 (2 & 3): 135–158. ———. 1998. Constructing Lives, Migration Narratives and Life Stories Among Nevisians. In Caribbean Migration: Globalised Identities, ed. M. Chamberlain. London: Routledge. ———. 1999. Caribbean Place Identity, From Family Land to Region and Beyond. Identities – Global Studies in Culture and Power 5 (4): 435–467. ———. 2001. New York as a Locality in a Global Family Network. In Islands in the City, ed. N. Foner. University of California Press, Berkeley. ———. 2002. The Ethnographic Field Revisited, Towards a Study of Common and Not so Common Fields of Belonging. In Realizing Community, Concepts, Social Relationships and Sentiments, ed. V.  Amit. London/New York: Routledge. ———. 2005. Narratives of Home: Visions of ‘Betterment’ and Belonging in a Dispersed Caribbean Family. In Caribbean Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. ———. 2007. Caribbean Journeys: An Ethnography of Migration and Home in Three Family Networks. Durham/London: Duke University Press. ———. 2015. Bosnian Assisted Reintegration Elderly Return Migration Bosnian. International Journal of Environmental Research Public Health 12: 12643–12661. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph121012643. Philpott, S.B. 1973. West Indian Migration: The Montserrat Case. London/ Athlone, (Print. Monographs on Social Anthropology (London School of Economics; No. 47). Reynolds, T. 2006. Volume One: Families, Social Capital and Ethnic Identities of Caribbeans, South Asians and South Europeans. Edited by H. Goulbourne with contributions from Tracy Reynolds and Elizabeth Zontini. London South Bank University, Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group Working Paper No. 20. August. ———. 2011. Caribbean Second-Generation Return Migration: Transnational Family Relations with ‘Left-Behind’ Kin in Britain, 535–551. https://doi. org/10.1080/1740101.2011.603946 Smith, R.T. 1996. The Matrifocal Family. London: Routledge. Solien, N.L. 1959. The Nonunilineal Descent Group in the Caribbean and Central America. American Ethnologist 61: 578–583. St. Hilaire, A. 2007. Post Colonial Identity and the French Language in St. Lucia. NWIG 81 (1 & 2): 55–77. Strathern, M., ed. 1995. Shifting Contexts: Transformations in Anthropological Knowledge. London: Routledge.

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CHAPTER 5

The Elder’s Children: Family Relations and Gender Differences

Introduction I have two daughters but we are not close. I wish it was different but I don’t get any help from my children.

The above quote, from Mr. Truman, highlights the separation, between the male elderly informants and their children. Therefore, in addition to previously identifying that my elderly informants form a differentiated and multifaceted group, with a fragmented familial structure, prone to individualisation, in this chapter, I show how gender is another important aspect of their formation. In addition to highlighting continuities and changes that affect the elder’s sense of belonging.

Concerns of This Chapter Hence, there are three main concerns in this chapter. First, following on from the differences identified in Chap. 4, concerning the family of orientation and my informants’ link with extended kin, I turn to looking at the relationships formed between my informants and their family of procreation and extended kin. Second, I explore the elders’ gendered family patterns. Third, I investigate the link between the gender differentiations that emerge in relation to the concept of the matrifocal family. I employ the use of anthropological constructs regarding kinship and gender relations to process these concerns. The information collected from my © The Author(s) 2020 A. Allwood, Belonging in Brixton, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54598-7_5

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informants’ narratives also adds to the compilation of the 16 genealogy charts. (See genealogy charts in Appendix.) I was keen to explore whether the elders generally repeated the same procreation patterns as their parents’ generation, as outlined in the beginning of Chap. 2 and addressed in Chap. 4, expressed in Table 4.1 on page 111. Therefore,  I also explore the similarities between the generations concerning relationships, procreation and the maintenance of familial bonds. So, in this chapter I examine my informants’ childbearing status and kin ties, particularly focusing on the relations between my informants, their partners, children and grandchildren, to establish how these ties affect a sense of belonging. Indeed, I draw on Grundy’s (2006) focus on migration and older people in the Albanian context because he suggests this link is important stating, …older people report family ties as central elements of their lives … it is therefore important to consider trends and differentials in the availability of different family members, particularly children. (2006: 114)

The contact between parents and children provides an arena for socialisation and enables the elders to receive support. As a result, the relationship between my informants and their children also contributes to how they feel about themselves as well as serving to establish to whom and where they belong. For sure, emotional attachments are important for long-term migrants; indeed, Erickson (2004) commenting on Caribbean migration, reflecting on similarities with wandering pastoral people, suggested the complexity of migration affects people and relationships because people physically move place and also make internal emotional adjustments to the movement.

Circumstances Behind Movement into the Scheme To address the first question in this chapter pertaining to my informants’ relations with their children, I examine how their housing requirements as single household occupants arose. I looked into the reasons my informants moved into the scheme, finding they moved into the scheme because they were in need of accommodation, previously living in unsatisfactory housing. They were also in need of support to maintain their well-­ being. Table 5.1 highlights the issues that caused them to move into the scheme, shown in relation to gender.

2 M  0 F  2

3

M  0 F  3

3 Gender M  1 F  2

Failing health and accommodation too big

Failing health and home in disrepair

Relationship breakdown

M  3 F  2

5 M  1 F  1

2

M  4 F  1

5

Loss of own To be nearer From house to family renting a room

Table 5.1  Direct circumstances leading to movement into the scheme

M  3 F  2

4

Return to England from Jamaica

M  0 F  1

2

Homeless due to family issues

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First, women mainly entered the sheltered housing scheme because of a combination of health-related housing issues due to their hitherto damp and poor housing conditions that exacerbated their ill health. Second, mainly women occupied burdensome accommodation that became too large for them after children left. Third, men often rented rooms that were in poor condition and did not suit their health and support needs, following the breakdown of relationships. Fourth, those in need of accommodation on return to Britain, having sold their home to go to Jamaica, which concerns slightly more men than women. Fifth, moving to be nearer family to give and receive support, equally weighted by gender. Certainly, the West Indian migrants encountered issues regarding access to housing; indeed, Perry (2016) reminds us that ‘before local authorities would even consider a resident for public housing in…the Brixton community, a person had to document local residency for a period of at least three years…many new migrants were virtually shut out of waiting lists for local council housing programs…during the 1950s because of residency requirements…’ Meanwhile adequate accommodation continued to be problematic for many as Peach and Byron (1994) had identified, finding a significant need for council housing from the Afro-Caribbean community in the 1980s resulting from high unemployment and single-parent households. As poor new migrants to Britain, they occupied poor housing (Owen 2001: 75) and purchased homes that needed repair that they could not undertake; therefore, my sixth point highlights the loss of such homes that one-fifth of my informants purchased that eventually caused them to become homeless. These homes were in the poor areas of Brixton that subsequently underwent modernisation, and the elders’ homes were designated as unfit for human habitation. The council purchased my informants’ former homes under compulsory purchase orders and they received other local authority housing, because they were  left with insufficient funds to purchase another property. Therefore, they re-entered the insecure rental market, from which they moved into the scheme to access secure accommodation, better suited to their well-being. Both men and women experienced this loss, with a slightly higher tendency of men falling into this category. However, men moved on to independent accommodation whereas few women initially moved in with their children. Seventh, both men and women similarly cited moving due to their relationship breakdown and one female informant moved due to a

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combination of other issues in the family. Overall, both men and women required better homes and more supportive environments. I also found that my informants lived in single units because their children had already fled the nest long ago, even moving overseas. Indeed, their children had moved out to form nuclear units, thereby providing evidence of creolisation occurring in the UK, with changes in cultural practices, with a shift to accepting that the state can provide personal assistance to their parents rather than being solely a family responsibility (see Chap. 2). Table 5.2 shows their relationship status and the relationship links my female and male informants have with their children. The assessment of the data in the above Table 5.2, shows that although there was a high incidence of marriage among my informants there was also a high rate of divorce, just below half those who married, separated, that led to separate households and ultimately sole occupancy. Although widowed, half of my female widows expressed a release after their partner passed away indicating that the relationship was a strain. Half of my male informants were divorced when their children were very young so they never lived with their children for significant periods. In addition, two of my male informants engaged in extra-marital affairs and never lived in the same household with the children born in these relationships. It is therefore apparent from the table above, Table 5.2, that men became significantly separated from their children because of the relationship breakdown. Further, the continued movement of men from one home to another created instability in their familial relationships and they eventually ended up living alone. The above table also shows that there were 14 women in this study, 3 women were childless. Of the 11 with children, three-quarters had good relations with their children and one-quarter less favourable. Therefore, all of my female informants had relationships with their children and overall the majority of these were good. There were 12 men who all had children but in contrast only one said he had a good relationship with his children. Almost one-quarter had fair relations with their children and three-quarters had marginal relations with their children. One elderly female informant has a male partner but he does not live in the scheme with her and they do not have children together, having met ten years ago after she moved into the scheme. Four people are still married but separated, one couple Mr. Baker and Mrs. Baker live in the scheme

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Table 5.2  Link with children relationship status and gender differences Informant Age Currently married

Divorced Widowed Separated With Single Link with partner children

Mr. Bailey Mr. Baker Mrs. Baker (a) Mrs. Baker (b) Mrs. Beaver Mrs. Chambers Ms. Duncan Mrs. Eaton Mrs. Elgin Mr. Earles Mrs. Evans Mr. Griffiths Mrs. Harris Mr. Harvey Mr. James Mrs. Jarvis Mrs. Jones Mrs. Coleman Mr. Melvin Mr. Mitchell Mrs. Parker Mr. Taylor Mr. Truman

*

82 75 73

* *

Marginal Good Good

* *

70

Good

75

*

71

*

* *

N/Ab

73

N/A

65 83 75 70

N/Aa

*

Fair *

Good Marginal Good

* *

85

*

Marginal

73

*

Good

72

*

Marginal

86 83 71 65

* *

Marginal Good Good Fair

*

Fair

* *

74 60

*

76

*

74 83

*

Fair Fair & good Marginal Marginal (continued)

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Table 5.2  (continued) Informant Age Currently married

Divorced Widowed Separated With Single Link with partner children

Mrs. Scott 84 Mr. Smith 66 Mr. White 74

* *

*

Fair Marginal Marginal

Key: Good = Having engaging relations; Fair = Having partial relations with some children, sometimes; Marginal = Having very strained minimal contact to no contact Shows the elder’s age, marital status and relationship with children

*

She does not have children

a

b

She has a good relationship with her partner’s children

in separate flats. One male respondent’s wife lives in Jamaica with their young children. One female informant is still married but separated from her husband who lives elsewhere in Brixton.

Kinship, Social Organisation, and Gender Relations In response to the gender differences, I found that men generally had looser contact and were more isolated from their children than my female informants. This is in contrast to findings by Bauer and Thompson (2006) who found that in general, when a father is absent but ‘owns up … exchanges photographs and sends occasional money and gifts to his children, his behaviour is regarded as acceptable’ (2006: 7), indeed, at times this link occurred between my male informant and their children but was not as strongly maintained. Alternatively, Bauer and Thompson (2006) found ‘fathers living with their children in over half of the households’ (2006: 111) in their study, but such connections were less strong and enduring in this research. However, Mr. Baker (Appendix, Fig. C) has visible emotional and social involvement with his children but estrangement was common among other males. As a family orientated man he told me, I go out of my way to make sure my children, their mother and myself stayed together as a family when they were growing up. I made sure they were prepared to face the outside world and the difficulties out there.

Mr. Baker’s experience serves to highlight connections between the generations. In this case, he maintained links with his children in an earlier part of his life cycle that allows him to play a specific role as a father, that

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he also hopes his children will follow. He developed a vision for his offspring, through his contact and social engagement, although his familial structure involves children from extra-marital affairs. Mr. Baker, a tall, strong-looking, well-built man, was always very well dressed. He was sociable and talked with his neighbours. He smiled a lot and was always busy with his family. He enjoyed going out with his children to watch the black theatre productions from Jamaica on tour in England. He occasionally attended the dominoes sessions at the scheme. However, his wife said he did not share her passion for church going. He and Mrs. Baker are still married, though separated they maintain a reasonably good relationship and both have very supportive and engaging children and grandchildren. Although a diabetic with high blood pressure and being recently unwell, he remained active. He explained his current circumstances and his status to me, he said, I am 75 years old and I moved into this scheme a year ago. I live in this scheme in a flat opposite my wife’s flat. Mrs. Baker and I had returned to live in Jamaica but came back to England after the death of one of our sons. I am still very upset by his death I cannot bring myself to talk about it really. Mrs. Baker remained here and never returned to Jamaica but I returned to run the family business. My father started a butchery1 business and I took this over when I went back to live in Jamaica after he died. I love living in Jamaica and spending time there. I also have other children in Jamaica with other women so I hope to eventually return to Jamaica. My focus is in Jamaica where I would prefer to live because I would not like to die in England, but my children here do not want me to leave and go to Jamaica to live. I have been advised to keep active and mobile so I make sure I get out. I am very busy anyway with my grandchildren. I help my daughter by picking my grandchildren up from school and bringing them here to look after them, until later when my daughter picks them up. I love being involved with my family and helping them. I am retired but I have a son who works in the building trade, so some days I still go out on to the building site with him. I enjoy a good relationship with my children and we share family celebrations together. There are many of us so we use the larger common lounge area where there is a bigger space to fit us all in. We celebrate birthdays together, and all who live locally, attend.

1

 The butchery refers to an abattoir.

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I observed his flat to be homely and his lounge furnished with a sofa suite, table and fine storage cupboards. He uses his kitchen often to cook food for his family who eat with him and Mrs. Baker, after they finish work on weekdays, and at weekends. He possesses the necessary domestic gadgets but cooking is mostly undertaken in Mrs. Baker’s flat. I must say their food is nice for whenever I visited, I was welcomed to dine with them and I was very keen to do so. Mr. Baker clearly benefited from taking a central role along with his wife, in his family in London. He provides leadership and support to his children and is respected and honoured by them. I observed them to be close knit and lovingly involved in each other’s daily lives. Mr. Baker is a father and grandfather role model through both nurturing and socialising with family. This was a less common position for other men in my research, who were often absent from the household where their children lived, creating an absence of these bonds and hindering a clear male elderly status in the family. Mrs. Baker, (Appendix, Fig. D), also expressed her feelings towards her family when she said to me, I am very pleased to be around my children especially when I look around and see that a lot of people do not live ‘good’ with their children. My children would do anything for us I tell you they are really good. When I was ill everyone looked after me and they also do the same for their father. My children still ask my advice about difficulties they have with their children and I advise them. It is good to be part of a large family because I am never alone.

Whenever I went to see Mrs. Baker she was never alone. Her home filled with her children or grandchildren who were very responsive and conversational with me. I spoke with one of her granddaughters who visited her whilst I was talking to Mrs. Baker. She told me, My grandmother is cool. I sometimes ask her advice about things and she gives me good advice. I like coming here to see her and to get anything she wants at the shops. Sometimes we go shopping together. Or I just hang around and watch television with her. I am at university, doing a media and communication course, so I am on my summer break. I will be going to work later but I came to visit my Gran this morning.

Mr. Baker and Mrs. Baker (Appendix, Figs. C and D) share equal access to their children and their children show them equal respect. Although

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separated they were very much brought together because of their children and the close relationship they maintain with them. There was a strong focus on family togetherness influenced by the Christian faith of Mrs. Baker and the family orientation influence from Mr. Baker. Although he did not attend church, he had a strong focus on togetherness that permeated through their daily lives and helped to keep them bonded. Mrs. Jarvis also provided insight into the closer associations that I found between most of my female informants and their children. (Although Mrs. Jarvis spoke to me about her relations with her children, she did not provide sufficient family detail to produce a genealogy chart.) Mrs. Jarvis told me, I have four children, three daughters and one son. One of my daughters lives in America and the rest live here in England. One of my daughters and my only son both live in north London and they make sure that I am alright. They make it their duty to visit me every week, do my shopping for me and help me with my laundry. My daughter will make sure my hair is looking nice and when possible they come to hospital with me. I attend the hospital for dialysis every week and I get picked up by the hospital ambulance. My daughter just finished redecorating my flat, look, at the lovely curtains she put up in here for me. They both want me to move to north London into a scheme like this, closer to their homes because it would be easier for them to visit me. But I do not want to move, really, this is my home. I do not want to be a burden to them. I use to go and stay with them occasionally for a week at a time. Unfortunately, when I last stayed with my son I fell down the stairs. The stairs in my son’s house are very narrow and steep and I cannot manage them. So staying in his house is difficult and dangerous. I am best in my flat where everything is easier to use.

Her daughter told me, In respect for mummy we can’t speak to her ‘anyhow’ because she is the ‘big Mama’ of the family. She is my role model because she bought me up and supported me in bringing up my children. So I look to her for direction in my life. It is my job now to make sure she is alright and to look out for her because she has done her job with us. She has shown me what to do in life, and as I get older, I am learning from her how to play my role in my family.

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Mrs. Jarvis’ role is clearly identified and her influence on her family is great. Similarly, Mrs. Evans, who attained a leadership position, suggested that it is the role of elderly people to give advice and support to children and grandchildren, to assess their needs to see how they cope and be ready to give them inspiration. She told me how she obtained her position in her family. I am in my late 60s and I am involved with my grandchildren and I take them to places like Brixton Library, the War Museum and to church because I play a role in educating and disciplining them. Through explaining, with evidence, the reason for my reprimands, I improve their self-confidence. I also learn from them, for example, I watch the films such as Lord of the Rings and other activities the youngsters engage with. I also played a role in teaching and helping them to read. My children sent my grandchildren to stay with me in their school holidays so that they did not mix with other local children, who swear, and misbehave. I was therefore central in playing a guiding role in shaping the values instilled into them, and I ensured that I created a moral code in them. I made sure my children were aware of how to act spiritually and culturally according to certain procedures by guiding them from bad things and motivating and instructing them academically. At the same time, I encouraged their faith by giving them advice, on request, about the scriptures. I believe that it takes more than one person to bring up a child, so I helped. I remember my grandmother’s statement and passed it on to my family, by telling them to always reach up high for anything. So I tell them this to motivate them.

Mrs. Evans believed her inspiration and encouragement were of primary importance. Her walls were decorated with pictures of her children and grandchildren in ordinary clothes and graduation gowns. Her family was therefore held together through their female inter-generational influence. As well as continuing their sense of individuality, adopting the nuclear family household, highlighted in Chap. 4. Mrs. Evans continued to support her family who respected her elderly wisdom. However, as an elderly woman, she wanted to remain independent because she did not view her elder status as a reason to ‘burden’ her children. She was most concerned with being a strong example to them and remaining active and useful to them, similar to Mr. Baker and Mrs. Baker. Interestingly, there was a great sense among the elderly informants of needing to remain independent and strong. As a result, in my view, their

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elderliness was not solely synonymous with weakening or weakness but a greater source of emotional strength. However, some of the elderly people did not engage in such supportive relationships. Some elderly people experienced heightened individualisation, by falling into the position of being alone due to familial separation, rather than choosing it out of their own ability to confidently function as a sole unit. Thus, in opposition to this centralised powerful and respected location the female informants held, most men were in a more marginalised position. A touching example highlighted the lack of care received from children that left needs unmet, resulting in a total reliance on others and the state for help with daily life tasks. Mr. Truman, (Appendix, Fig. Q) who was estranged from his children, was very reliant on the state. He expressed his concerns to me saying, I have two daughters but we are not close. I wish it was different but I don’t get any help from my children. This is because one of my daughters hardly knows me because I left the house in Lewisham when she was young. After I left I did not keep in touch with her. I do not think she knows where I live, since I moved in here. My other daughter from a different relationship lives very close to this scheme but I rarely see her. My relationships did not work out, and when I left, I really lost out with my children. I have one granddaughter but I do not get to play granddaddy. I am really out of the loop. It is sad but I cannot do anything about it, it is too late now, so I am having a tough time.

Similarly, Mr. Bailey (Appendix, Fig. A), states, I moved from my uncle’s place and went to live in Kingston. I met a woman there, and had my first son with her. She was Chinese and it was difficult to get in with their families, but because I was of good standing she introduced me to them. We stayed together a little while but our marriage soon ended. She then left Jamaica and went to live in Canada with our son. I only knew him as a toddler before he left Jamaica. We wrote letters to each other but did not see each other for almost forty years. He has two children with his wife. One of his children, my granddaughter travels to study at a London University, doing a course at Imperial College. When she is here she visits me and sometimes stays with me. She will look after me and cook my dinner. I go for walks with her. I look forward to her coming. She is more attentive to me than my children born in this country. I hardly see them. I hope her brother decides to come and visit me soon. Before leaving Jamaica I had a relationship with another woman and had two more children, but the rela-

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tionship did not last. My ex-partner and our two children went to live in America. We wrote letters to each other but I did not see them for 40 years until I went to America a few years ago’.

Additionally, a striking view emerged concerning attachment expressed by Mr. Bailey as he referred to one daughter, saying, As they grow up the attachment lessens …. All she has to do is call but maybe she feels that I am too independent,2 I sometimes wonder if anything goes wrong to explain why she is so standoffish, she does not believe it is her duty to do something for me.

Similarly, Mr. Melvin spent a lot of time alone, although three of his children resided in England and lived in London. He says they are independent, but did visit him, and gave him money sometimes. He continued saying that he did not want to get in their way, ‘because they are young and want to be with young people’. However, this appeared to mask his reality for although he said that he did not, ‘want to be a burden to them’ it is clear he would prefer to be closer to them. So when invited to spend Christmas with his son, he told him that he had someone coming to see him, so could not go. However, it became clear that he did not have a visitor and his excuse masked true difficulties in actually spending time with his family that was deep rooted. Nevertheless, he felt a deeper connection to one of his daughters in Jamaica and told me he believed that she would visit him if he was very sick and needed help. Indeed, Mr. Truman shared bold statements, stating that he felt used financially, for he remembered when he moved into the scheme he asked one of his daughters for help. Unfortunately, this did not work out well because he said, When I moved in here I was given a grant of £395 and I made it up to £500. I asked my daughter, Mary, to buy some things from the catalogue but she only bought curtains. She kept the rest of the money and I believe she used it to repair her car.

2  I think this interpretation is a  personal way of easing disappointment,  for he did not appear to maintain close contact with his children as they grew up into adulthood.

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Further, he informed me that sometimes his daughter would ask him to lend her money although she did not help him financially. Interestingly, a female informant was involved in a relationship with her children that she navigated, similar to many of my male informants, and she retained a connection with them but retains a high level of independence. Here, as a female elder, she occupies an interesting position resulting from her life experiences. The repetitive cycle of separation has caused some fatigue and emotional upset. Therefore, she often sought solace alongside a quest to enjoy retirement and elderliness. Mrs. Coleman’s reflections over her life include remembering some disappointments from childhood and consequently, estrangement from formative kin. These experiences often called her to reflect on her role as a mother. Mrs. Coleman explained, I came to England to escape my unfortunate childhood experiences. However, I continued to have some unpleasant experiences here and there through my life, and within my marriage. I met my husband in England, we married and had children. The marriage deteriorated until I left the home because I was not getting on with my husband. I moved out and two of my children soon moved on to separate accommodation. I worked hard in the NHS, even working rather than taking my holiday. I looked forward to retiring with a pension but things changed. Then, I became in need of housing, although I could stay with one of my children nearby, I needed my own place. So I had to move on again and I applied as homeless to the council, then accepted a flat in the sheltered housing scheme. I still support my children, and as a mother, help them financially when I can.

Her place is clean and tidy; however, she equates the scheme with a provision for ‘old people’, who are ‘unable’, ‘on their last legs’, and where one will spend their ‘last days’. Ironically, she did not see the scheme naturally as a place for herself because she is strong, healthy and very mobile. Mrs. Coleman is very independent as well as friendly and is a private person. She therefore attended to her personal affairs independently, with some support from the scheme manager. She shared her early life experiences with her children, saying, I told my children about my childhood and they said, ‘poor mum, your generation had tough experiences in Jamaica.

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So although Mrs. Coleman held a central inside position in her family, she became both paradoxically vital and marginal in it, as her children grew and encountered their own adult lives.

Gender Equality In terms of acknowledging the gender differences, I look to the rural West Indies from where most of the informants originated. Gender differences were addressed in the previous assessments of the West Indian kinship system that I presented on page 47  in Chap. 2, where Besson’s (1979, 2002) assessment of kinship and gender asserted that both genders were treated the same, with inheritance being equal between genders, in the Caribbean context. Besson also found ‘gender flexibility’ in the Jamaican village of Martha Brae, stating that ‘gender divisions of labour, are, however, tendencies, rather than rules’ (2002: 200). Besson found that the household and the church provided the social environment for females, while cultivation, rearing larger livestock and taking wage labour outside the village were undertaken by men. However, women also cultivated household gardens and often sold the produce at markets to gain an income in addition to taking wage labour. As a result, for economic reasons, women also performed important associated agricultural tasks that contributed to the household. Meanwhile men socialised outside the house yard, played dominoes and drank with their peers. Perhaps the aforementioned tendency towards gender equality, and shared economic ability, and even work roles, also affected the gendered kin positions that have overlaps. Indeed, in the context of Britain, the elders who lived their formative years in Jamaica held similarity because female respondents worked inside and outside of the home, being wife, mother and breadwinner. Furthermore, as my female informants held centrality in the household more often, I explored the notion of matrifocality and gender in the kinship form, alongside the interface of my informants in the wider social structure, the influence of migration, movement, and the personal insecurities that provided interesting inferences. I drew on Keesing’s (1975) interpretation of kinship formation by observing kinship and gender within the social structure, as a process of evaluation. In addition, I explored Chamberlain’s suggestion that a tradition rather than dysfunction is being carried on as an organising principle, and the lineage focus is important to understand (2001: 46). Certainly, the elderly informants are

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part of a moving cultural lifestyle, with wide- ranging social circumstances, so they continually adapt their culture as a response to external circumstances and the global economy. The elderly female informants had developed specific roles within their family whilst most of my male informants had not. Interestingly, Chamberlain (2001) citing Sutton, who suggested female power in the family emerged by ‘default’ in response to external influences, proves interesting. Alternatively, perhaps the specific roles men played, as suggested by Barrow (1998), refute the structural-functionalists’ claim of male marginality and peripheral location, suggesting the focus on their family of orientation and procreation that Greenfield forwarded rendered some male ties such as brothers and uncles invisible (1998: 341). For sure, in agreement with Barrow (1998) I acknowledged male closeness to siblings, although is not very pronounced, as indicated in Chap. 3, and I did uncover an uncle helped a male and a female informant, similar to Chevannes (2001). For example, Mr. Bailey (Appendix, Fig. A) was assisted in his formative years by his uncle. Nevertheless, I found my female informants emerged as a mother, worker, homemaker, partner and sole carer, responded to changing social expectations in society towards women, at home and in the workplace. Women therefore undertook both male and female roles in the absence of the male partner, and aside from the male partner when necessary. Nonetheless, as my female informants oscillated through these major roles, they become combined in their role and position of the woman in the family, and the women often had or obtained a position as head of the family unit in the absence of the male. I refer to this as the females’ ‘dual gender’ position, and suggest it creates a paradox, for a question arises, that asks, is there a place for the male in the household? Or most interestingly, is it the shaping of the male position by default, or socially codesigned by the changing expectations on the diverse role of women? Indeed, often the lack of appearance of the male became the norm in family relations, and he was positioned as ‘absent’ but not necessarily always away. This scenario creates a paradox in terms of gender roles in the family and presents an incongruity to the notion of kinship. For if kinship is about procreation relationships and developing bonds through generational links, with ascribed roles, then this family pattern is the opposite, for it mostly represents a generational loss of the male father role to kinship ties.

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Certainly, the social structure gaze used to explore the role of men in kinship brings interesting insights. Wherein, my finding of the male position, often as an ‘outsider’, is similar to Wilson (1973), who concluded that the socialisation of men is different to that of women, as men are more inclined to socialise with other men outside of the family home, in some cases to the detriment of time with family. Nevertheless, there is a recent emergent trend, among some younger men, previously absent, to actively engage in their role as fathers, grandfathers, and uncles (Philogene Heron 2016), perhaps more recently addressing the actions and kinship concerns not addressed  in the generation represented by some of  my elderly respondents. There have been changes regarding kinship study in anthropology because initially kinship study focused on non-EuroAmericans, who were seen as the other, so it was also assumed that kinship did not play a role in industrial or modern societies (Schweitzer 2001). However, Schweitzer (2001) cites Goody’s comparative ‘trilogy’ on kinship in Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the tradition of descent theory, after the World War II Cambridge anthropology, and suggests this marked a turning point, expanding and reviving the notion of kinship. More recently the study of personhood often replaced the struggling field of kinship, as well as becoming a central focus of kinship analysis. The idea of understanding the notion of family through the gaze of social relations and patterns of relatedness remain important considerations. As a result, I also explored my informant’s personhood and how they related to others in the social world, to understand their gender and kinship relations. My focus here is also influenced by feminist scholars, social historians, Marxists, materialist and historical analysts, who widened the concept of kinship, incorporating an examination of the social relations of kinship within a wider framework of relations, associated with aspects of social inequality, the economy and power relations, where ‘ideological’ aspects of kinship are used to express relations generated from the growth and organisation of society (Schweitzer 2001: 10–13). As a result, I sought to understand the social relations of my informants and their family members, within the dynamics of social change, where relations emerged within the development of the West Indian family and globalisation context, arising from their culture of movement and migration. Indeed, it was one of my male informants, Mr. Truman (Appendix, Fig. Q), that connected their present circumstances with wider influences by highlighting,

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we are a funny set of people. I do not know where we get our system but it must have something to do with where we come from.

Of course, where my informants come from is of vital importance, so I draw upon unpacking the journey. It is useful that kinship study has moved away from studying a part of society to the whole, and from procreation alone, to looking at the cultural meanings of relations. Consequently, I am influenced by the findings of Collier and Yanagisako (1989b), who utilise a wide focal lens to understand the strength of kinship analysis. Asserting it lay in focusing on the process of reproduction and construction of gender and personhood, by looking at kinship systems in social processes and examining how such processes shape it, for, it is the residential structure of the community which determines the nature of kinship relations … It would rather appear that, although many other relations are expressed in the idiom of kinship the kinship relationship itself is dependent on the spatial proximity or distance between the participants in the relationship’ (Collier and Yanagisako 1989b: 115).

Therefore, the community structure determined kinship ties in conjunction with family members, and the distance between members is also an important influencing factor in kinship structures and is clearly a determining factor for the maintenance of kinship ties for my informants. So, too, is the economic ability to overcome the distance and maintain the family. Given, that the community and distance between people are powerful kinship determinants, I also drew on Mader and Gippelhauser’s study of the Dravidian kinship system in India, within Shaur and Achuar society, in relation to looking at movement, power, and kinship. Mader and Gippelhauser stated, ‘Kinship emerges as an integral part of a society in constant movement, characterised by a high degree of individualism and adaptability to change…the loose kinship rules and fluctuating political groupings do not represent a lack of social organisation but an organising principle’ (cited in Schweitzer 2001: 18). Thus, individualisation results from a kinship structure that is formed through adapting to social changes, and power structure that gives it form. Similarly, I found the familial structure of my elderly informants subject to changes that occurred through historical changes, and that individuals and the state influenced the kinship ties and relationships, as expressed in

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Chap. 2. In addition, as stated in Chap. 4, my informants express a high degree of individualism or personalised focus that result from the influences involved in forming their kinship structure. Mr. Harvey (Appendix, Fig. I) reflects the complex process of migration and movement within West Indian culture, and the experiences of my informants adapting to these changes, he stated, I am a quiet person and I keep myself to myself. I do not go to pubs or bars, in fact I don’t drink. Anyway I have to be careful of what I eat too because I have stomach problems. I can look after myself and cook. I was glad that I joined the army when I was younger because I learnt to look after myself very well and rely on myself. I don’t need a woman to do things for me but I would like the company because it does get lonely being on my own. But I am used to it now anyway. I had a tough time when I was growing up in Jamaica. I enjoyed being with my mother and grandmother. But I spent a lot of time alone. I have not really had a close relationship with anyone else in my family. Therefore I think a lot of Jamaican men lack confidence and this is a problem for us. I have developed a lot of confidence in the time I have been in this country. I do not keep friends much because it is hard to trust other people. I think this is also a problem for all of us, it keeps us apart.

This sense of separation between people, related to issues of confidence and trust, became an important feature affecting the bonding and maintenance of relationships. Perhaps this affected the male bond with children, especially as other issues compound the complexity regarding connecting. The chart of Mr. Bailey (Appendix, Fig. A) highlighted the repeated fragmented connection to his own children that he experienced with his father, so his kinship links are minimal and very weak, and he too is quite isolated. His children are dispersed into multiple households, with separations into different countries, as well as a residency in England. He, like similar elderly men have a complex web in which there were many family units or households. Yet, they are marginal to them all, and this pattern of gendered relations impacts the elderly men from all kinship angles. I identified the absence of men in their children’s households in the charts of Mr. Earles and Mr. Truman (Appendix, Figs. E and Q). These experiences underpin the fragility and marginal impact afforded to them, even where they may have lived with their children, but left them when relationships ended.

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Men who moved in and out of households eventually became absent from them all, therefore deep kinship bonds did not form with children. However, a greater bond usually occurred between my female informants and their children, although they too may not reside with all of their children. Separation occurred in two ways, from migration and from the breakdown of a relationship. The example of Mrs. Parker (Appendix, Fig. M) highlights that she had children in Jamaica before migrating and her children remained there when she left. Although such separation often occurred before migration, when they moved away from the rural area to find work, and established a relationship that proved to be short-lived, similar to my male informants, but they maintained better connectivity. However, the quality of this female connection varied. Mrs. Parker’s story about her family links highlights the fragmentations, frustrations, and disappointment that travel and separation created between her and her children and their families. Mrs. Parker, a tall woman with a cheerful, smiling face, walked upright and proud, as she came to sit on a chair next to me. She happily shared information regarding her family without further prompting. She said that she did all she could for her family and thus retained her happiness and good health. Regarding her family left behind in Jamaica she told me, I have seven children. Three were born in Jamaica from my relationships with different men before I came to England.3 After I arrived in England I met and married my husband and I had four more children. My two remaining children (one passed away) that were born in Jamaica still live in Jamaica. One of my daughters came here with her family and spent six months with me in the late 1980s. I speak to them on the telephone. I also go to Jamaica to visit them. Although my family live apart, I try to maintain good relations but it is hard. Maybe it is because my children in Jamaica did not grow with me that caused them to be a bit distant. I am considered when going to Jamaica because they expect so much from me. Finance is their main concern but perhaps a more loving approach would be better.

I assessed the impact of movement (influenced by external factors) and the pursuit of economic growth and security. Using this perspective, I also 3  She indicated that her first child was conceived in unfortunate circumstances that might be abusive.

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drew on theory concerning the process of kinship formation as an assessment model. So, in summation, as Schneider (1984) proposed, I evaluated the closeness of kin regarding their social relations, especially as all social institutions are inextricably interrelated and intertwined, similar to Mauss’s ‘total social fact’ (1984: 197). So I examined my informant’s family of procreation and gender experiences within the historical and wider social-cultural context, whilst agreeing that institutions other than the family performed wide-ranging functions in Western societies (Schneider 1984), than kinship groups performed in ‘non-industrialised’ societies (Collier and Yanagisako 1989a: 3). I also found a strong emphasis on the market economy, state laws/regulations and the social services, that influence the working of the kinship structure of my informants. With the state performing many social and personal functions, meeting unmet needs, such as helping to provide an income, housing and other welfare benefits.

The Formation of the Marginal Male Position I recognise Schneider’s comment that kinship is about, alliances and reproduction, biological links that constitute bonds, ties, and solidarity, that are proportional to the biological closeness of the kin, which have social and cultural attributions (1984: 188). However, though biologically linked, I found the kin ties differ according to gender. I questioned why are female ties seemed more susceptible to relationship closeness as well as the mother/child nurture bond, and men are more marginal? Therefore, investigating the marginal male position assisted my second line of inquiry in this chapter. I assessed how my male informant’s estrangement from their children and family, affected kinship instability and male marginalisation. Overall, I found differences in respect of gender and the connections between my elderly informants and their children. However, it appeared that the female role had a more defined status within the family, although there were instances where both my male and female informants lived apart from children. Also, since most of my informants were divorced, movements from the family home had a major impact on relationships and reciprocity. For it was most common that the male partner would leave the family home, or have multiple family homes, where their children reside, or men may not live with any of their children. So what are the implications of these scenarios? On examination of social encounters, within the globalisation context that sustains migration, it transpires that the elderly people mostly

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journeyed to England to seek better opportunities, stability and prosperity in the 1950s and 1960s, and although work and accommodation were eventually obtained, they met new challenges regarding adaptation and inclusion into English society. The movement into the scheme resulted from the culmination of various reasons for my informants but all moved into the sheltered housing scheme because there was a need for accommodation, and support, that they did not have and could not afford to acquire by themselves. So ultimately, both men and women became dependent on the state. My research findings depicted in Table 5.1, page 145, show that there were eight main reasons for moving into the scheme that reflects their personal circumstances as elderly people, related to gender as expressed above. The reasons include relationship breakdown, living in the property in disrepair with failing health, the loss of a purchased house, to be nearer to family, moving out of a rented room, on return to England from Jamaica, and being homeless due to family issues. I therefore suggest that there is a link between my informants, their children, and their movement concerning housing and present occupancy in single-­ person households. Consequently, gender differences emerged out of unpacking this journey. I further considered, what are the consequences of separations from children? West Indians are not alone in experiencing a high rate of relationship breakdown. Jacobson, Liem, and Weiss (2001) highlight the increase in one-parent households, and that clear boundaries about childcare and the associated costs need to be negotiated between parents, but this is difficult to negotiate and conflicts arise. Consequently, ‘most couples defined household, rather than the family, as the proper reference point in making decisions’ (Jacobson et al. 2001: 237). In reality, I found joint parenting greatly absent in my research and a clearer split occurred, consequently households became headed solely by my female informants. Nevertheless, I too found the household to be an important focus to understand kinship and gender. Due to the male absence, I suggest that the concept of family itself is marginalised for my male informants, who often assume a position as an outsider. Unless, in minor instances, when left as the head of household. Nevertheless, estrangement resulted when  Social Services intervened to take over managing the welfare of the children. Further research might unpack the issues behind this phenomenon. Estrangement was pronounced among my male informants because the majority were not conscientious at maintaining parental links with their

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children after they moved from their household. For example, Mr. Earles maintains that he was a good father: I made sure that my children were alright. I would always give them money and make sure that they did not get left out. I made some money working in the building trade and I use to rent out the houses I brought. I also had places to hold parties. I loved to enjoy myself and I was always making parties, I loved to sport.4

It is in this context that Mr. Earles relates to his contact and involvement with his children. He ensured they had money and goods from the money he made, but he was not as involved with their emotional upbringing. Mr. Earles therefore played an economic role within his family, but it did not bring him in, rather it seems Mr. Earles put money on the table, in multiple households, as he pronounced with pride. Nevertheless, the frequency and level of help appropriate to the needs of his children were marginal, and on closer examination, respect for him was questionable. Mr. Earles (Appendix, Fig. E) continues, I have children from different relationships you know. When I was married to my first wife, I had four children with other women so my children did not live together. They lived with their mothers so they are not really that close to each other. I have two younger children in Jamaica with my present wife who the older children do not know. My wife in Jamaica does not know any of my other children either. So I have a lot of little families really not one big one, my family is scattered.

He was not forthcoming to suggest to me this scattering of his family, and the lack of knowledge his wives and children have of his separate units, is problematic for him. Yet, his absence, excluded him from the familial unit, as the logistics of maintaining relations with the ex-partners and children become strained and difficult to organise. Perhaps his intentions to be more integrated were more difficult than stated, as reflected in his suggestion of a lack of respect towards him from his ex-partner. Mr. Truman (Appendix, Fig. Q) offered more inner reflective reasoning and told me that he believes that his relationship with his ex-partner affected his relationship with his daughter by commenting,

4

 I love to socialise.

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I think her mother poisoned her against me. She did not bring her to see me or keep me involved with what was going on. Our relationship ended and she did not want anything to do with me. So I just let it go and did not bother them. Now, I believe my daughter and I are strangers, she does not have respect for me.

Similarly, Mr. Smith lamented on his estrangement from his children. Mr. Smith was married but this union was childless, though he did have children out of wedlock through extra-marital affairs with other women. Therefore, he did not reside in a household with any of his children, and was not present much in both their formative and later years. Also, one of his children, born in England, returned to Jamaica with his mother and grew up there with her but without Mr. Smith (Appendix, Fig. P). He explained, I never live with my children and I cannot influence them now. I feel so bad and embarrassed that one of my sons is in prison for armed robbery. He shot the security guard at the bank. I know he did not grow with me but I feel it. He does not listen to me because we are not that close.

Mr. Smith was quite removed from his children whom he did not see, but alternatively, spent his time with friends. Luckily, he is very well, active, able-bodied, and can undertake day-to-day living tasks without help. He was unlike most other male informants, having a younger age and better health. Nonetheless, his current situation resulted from his hitherto disengaged stance to parenting when his children were younger. I suggest that rather than having a lack of reciprocity, as he ages, he is reaping his lack of involvement by receiving the same from his children. There are also stark differences when men assumed the position of the sole carer, although I acknowledge the fewer incidences where men became carers of their children. Two men became sole carers of their children due to the premature death or desertion of their wives. They did their best, unfortunately, they only looked after their children for a few years, losing their place as parents and guardians when their children were taken away by Social Services, and put into children’s homes. Mr. James (Appendix, Fig. J) told me how he felt when he lost his children. I had a sudden shock when my wife died in 1962 of cancer. We had four children and I was left alone with them. I had a job and I kept working. I

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never got any help from anyone. I worked hard and long hours so I did the best for my children. My children would come home from school, and the older ones would help to get the dinner prepared so they could all eat. They played with each other alone at home until I came from work. I came in quite late in the evening because I worked far away in north London and I worked long hours in a factory. One day I found out that my son had stolen a bike. I was angry with him and I disciplined him. I told him off and locked him in the cellar. His friend called at the flat to see him and found out he was locked in the cellar. He went away and told his mother, eventually, the Social Services authority removed all of my children from me and placed them into children’s homes. The children were divided as the girls stayed together in one home and my son was in another home on the opposite side of London on his own. This broke my heart and I felt flat. I lost everything. I never married again, or lived with anyone nor had any more children. I tried to keep in contact with them and visited them as much as I could, at the weekend when I was not working. I think that is why my relationship is like it is with my children. I have always been independent and I do not rely on anyone. I am self-­ sufficient now. I know I can call upon my two daughters if I need to, but I prefer to look out for them. I am very independent. After my children left the children’s homes they went to live elsewhere but not with me. Right now one daughter lives in Germany, married to a German man. I am not talking to her because I lent her some money and she has not repaid it back to me as she said she would. I have not spoken to her for two years. I do not like it when they take advantage of me because I will give money to them freely. Another daughter lives in Birmingham and she married an English man. She will phone me and send me some clothes sometimes. The other daughter lives in Brixton with a man whose parents come from Jamaica and she travels there with him to see his family. She comes to see me on Sundays and will bring food for me, but I insist on cooking my own chicken. Her children do not like to come to see me because I am a disciplinarian and they do not like to be disciplined. My son is unmarried and unwell due to his mental health problems, so I rarely see him.

Mr. James’s situation shows how his isolation and lack of larger kin network left him unsupported as a sole parent. His children were taken away from him and that left him living alone. This early separation from his children eventually led to lengthy separations and coolness between them. Although contact remained, it seems to lack a greater sense of deep bonding. He appears to be saddened by the loss of his children, and

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I gather from talking with him, that he has not recovered from his emotional pain and loss of parenting role. He kept telling me he is a kind, caring, and a gentleman but is misunderstood. To sum up, unfortunate circumstances, as well as a carefree stance and ambivalence developed in some male relationships with their family and they become estranged and distanced, causing minimalistic involvement of children with their fathers in later years. Overall, the family pattern of the elderly informants is rather similar to those in their formative years in their family of orientation, as depicted in Table 5.3 below. I made comparisons between the total figures in columns 2 and 3. Due to a significant similarity between the status my informants’ Table 5.3  Family of orientation and family of procreation 1

2

3

Informant

Informant’s parents’ child-bearing status

Informant’s child-bearing status

Extra-Marital Partner Married Married Extra-Marital Partner Extra-marital Married Extra-Marital

Married, divorced, partner Married, Extra-Marital Married, Extra-Marital Married x 2, widowed Married, divorced Married, widowed Married, widowed, divorced Married, divorced Married, divorced, Extra-Marital

Male Mr. Bailey Mr. Baker Mr. Earles Mr. Griffiths Mr. Harvey Mr. James Mr. Melvin Mr. Truman Mr. Smith Mr. Baker Female Mrs. Baker (a) Mrs. Evans Mrs. Harris Mrs. Coleman Mrs. Parker Mrs. Scott

Married Married Married Married Extra-Marital Married Married Summary Total Married  9 Extra-Marital  5 Partner  3

Married Married, divorced Married, divorced Partner Married, separated Partner, Married, separated Married, widowed Summary Total Married  15 Extra-Marital  3 Partner  3

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parents held while childbearing, and that my informants held whilst childbearing. Overall, as a group the majority of my informants were married, showing an increase to that of the households they were born into however, the divorce and separation rate was high. Similar numbers engaged in a non-­ marital partnership through the generations. In addition, a similar proportion had extra-marital affairs, with my informants showing a slight  reduction. Similarly, a low number spoke of having joint contact with their children and consequently their grandchildren as the elders had with both grandparents. The ties held between my male elders, their children and grandchildren, rose slightly with my informants but this relatively low number reflected the fact that they had closer contact with their mothers and grandmothers, due to parental separations and the link being maintained through the maternal line. Therefore, there are significantly higher numbers of my elderly informants as grandmothers, engaging with their children and grandchildren. This is certainly assisted by long-term permanent residency in England, in the main, with most of their children nearby. Interestingly, where women have been separated from their children when young, the relationship with children left behind in the West Indies, appeared similar to the male who was separated from his children. So, the familial pattern continued with the extra-marital affairs, births outside of wedlock or partnership unions, personal tragedies and the scenario of multiple partners and households, in which men did not build up strong unions or relationships or were affected by  external events that enabled an absent father kin pattern to emerge. Consequently, the elderly men were prone to aloneness and were more isolated thereby reliant on distanced familial relationships or friends rather than supportive close family ties with their children. Therefore, influences came from associations and support from a wider field of social relations than solely from family blood ties, and this influenced placement and belonging.

Understanding the Gender Differences This leads me to address my third line of enquiry regarding the above differences through the examination of how my male informants became marginal, and families described as having a matrifocal tendency. In order to assess this situation, I explored the cultural construction of gender within Caribbean kinship, through looking at familial relations. I am influenced by Anderson-Levy who called on Wiltshire-Brodber’s finding that Caribbean identities are affected by race and class, further

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suggesting that only Douglas had recognised and utilised gender as an analytic category in conjunction with race and class (2001: 189). Anderson-­ Levy also acknowledged bell hooks suggestion that, ‘race and class identity creates differences in quality of life, [and] social status … which are rarely transcended’ (cited in Anderson 2001: 190), whilst identifying the complexities and conflicting identities of womanhood (Anderson-Levy 2001: 186), that also aid my thinking. I therefore found Anderson-Levy’s suggestion that Jamaicans have internalised racism from the past and this affects the way kin networks are constructed (2001: 187), of importance. Anderson-Levy advocated that the identities as a woman and wife create a paradoxical construction of gender roles that produce conflicting identities in the lives of women in Jamaica (2001: 185). She explained that women look after their children and serve their male partner, therefore their identity as a wife and mother collided together (2001: 185). However, the various roles are contained within her identity and when they meet through the simultaneous operation of her activities, as a mother and wife, they smash into each other and collude, obscuring the forces that construct them (2001: 186). However, while I agree with Anderson-Levy’s suggestion that this dynamic highlights the conflicting, multifaceted female role I question her notion of the woman’s conflicting identities and her class-based assumptions. Of course, Olwig’s (1981) earlier questioning of matrifocality also proves useful. Olwig asserted that women gained equality and independence within slavery; however, after emancipation their independence and role in the family was supported by a network of exchange structures, family and friends thus enabling a matrifocal tendency (Olwig 1981: 160), but women were not independently powerful. Indeed, my female informants were both dependent and independent as wives and single mothers, working, assisted at times by husbands, child-minding help and the state. Therefore, in opposition to Olwig (1981), I do find the elderly women more often independently powerful from men through their life course. Anderson-Levy also proposed that colonialism socially constructed gendered norms and behaviours as feminine and masculine. These, she suggested, depict third-world men as lazy and effeminate and women as strong and un-sexual or alternatively as highly sexual. Although this view victimised women, both genders manoeuvred within the family structure to get what they want. Thus, women creatively ensured their own economic survival and that of their children. Indeed, Anderson-Levy highlights that lower-class childbirth was associated with social adulthood for

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the women, whereas for men, having several relationships marked virility and manhood, but because males faced job insecurity, they had lessened economic involvement with their families. Further, suggesting men feared female economic dominance so stayed at a distance. Lower-class women therefore developed an allegiance to their children rather than to their partner. In opposition, among middle-class women their allegiance is first to their husband and then to their children, because marriage is binding, signifying independence and adulthood, to both, who reside in the household held together by marriage and economic security (Anderson-Levy 2001: 198). It is apparent that my informants developed unions and parenting patterns within this working-class context, while also mirroring some of the attributes of the female role found in the middle-class patterns of womanhood. Since, I found that some of my working-class female informants married, expected an allegiance and partnership relationship, and stayed in relationships for the sake of their children for as long as they could, and after the relationship ended they continued as single parents. Alternatively, they may have children but not marry or live with their father. Mrs. Harris (Appendix, Fig. H) remarked on her relationships and sole parenting saying, I was never lucky with men. I was married in Jamaica before I came to England but my husband was a terrible man. He used to see other women and he was not nice to me. I met him in Kingston when I went there to live from the country. We lived together for a couple of years and he helped a little financially but when the relationship ended we parted and went our different ways. When I came to England I met other men, and had relationships and had other children, but I never married the men neither did they live with me. I focused on my children and I brought up my children by myself. I made sure that they had what they needed. We did not have much money and we moved home a lot because our accommodation was mostly horrible. My kids and I have a very good relationship though because I did my best to bring them up in a good home. I know they appreciate what I did for them because I did my best. None of my children here ever had any help from their father.

Another of my informants experienced a traumatic marriage but stayed with her husband. Although her husband provided for the household his character affected his relationship with his children, bringing in an

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element of disrespect for him, allowing her to occupy a better position than him. Mrs. Elgin (no chart) explained, My husband was a very stubborn and wicked man. He used to hit me. I suffered this throughout our marriage but I stayed with him for the sake of the children. We bought a house and that is where I lived, I did not have anywhere else to go. I left him eventually but I was already old. I use to go to the elderly luncheon club and they could see that I was depressed and unhappy. He never stopped hitting me and I could not take it any more so they helped me to move out into this scheme. Funnily enough, I am now the only one who looks after him. I am blessed with good enough health to move around. He is suffering now because he lives alone with no one to look after him in the big house. So I go round to see him and make sure he is alright. I cook his dinner and take it to him every day. Now my children are glad that I have moved away from him and that I live in peace, and I am glad they help me.

Mrs. Jarvis (no chart) had a similarly abusive marital experience and says that when her husband died, It was a relief for me. He used to abuse me. My children wanted me to leave him but I could not. After he died I stayed a while in the flat but moved in here because I was living alone, and needed more help and a better place to live in.

Mrs. Coleman (Appendix, Fig. K) echoed similar difficulties with her husband that some of my other female informants also experienced. She told me, When I was married, living with my husband, things were bad for a long time between us. We were not getting along well together. But we had the children and bought a house to live in together. It was the first place I could call home. I wanted to look after my children and not let them experience the bad things that happened to me. We started to move apart more and had separate bedrooms in the house. Looking back now, I can see I tried so hard to carry on because I did not have anywhere else to go, and everything I had was in the house.

Indeed, some of my male informants did not re-engage with establishing relationships with women after experiencing the loss of their partner preferring to stay alone, with an independent outlook. Perhaps this is what

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Mr. James (Appendix, Fig. J) was suggesting when he said, ‘I prefer to stay on my own, I do not need a woman. I can do everything in the house myself I can cook, wash, sew, and look after myself’. Alternatively  it appeared that my female informants may have desired financial help, emotional bonding, and mutual support, but not obtaining this they mostly focused on looking after their children alone, with some amount of an independent outlook. Interestingly, some of my male informants expressed mistrust of women. For example, Mr. Griffiths (Appendi, Fig. G) was married and widowed and had multiple relationships since, but his reflection on relationships highlights mistrust between the genders as a result of the complicated relationships. He says, I am scared of women. Some of them just want to use you. They let me spend my money on them though. I live alone but I don’t like it. I want a bit of company, you know. But I have to be very careful. I cannot trust just any woman because some of them just want money from me. I had a woman like that before. All she wanted from me was money. She lived with me and when she moved out she took all the furniture.

Mr. Earles (Appendix, Fig. E) expresses his cautious view of women as he told me, It is hard to trust women, but I love woman. I cannot do without them so I just try my luck, and if it doesn’t work out I just pick up the pieces and carry on with my life.

Herein lay an interesting link to understanding the unions and the identity adopted by each gender. For it appeared that the identities formed contained oppositional forces between partners, influenced by mistrust, keeping them apart rather than bringing them together. Where this occurs, I suggest that the unions themselves are thinly drawn together and affects bonding, rendering them prone to being economical over being mutually emotionally supportive. The men accept their marginal position within the household and estranged relationship that ensued with their children, spouse and or partner. As elderly men, they were ambivalent about relationships but intend to still enter them, and contribute economic input to a younger woman’s life for companionship, but this perhaps involved more of a sexual return than to  create  a  long-standing emotional relationship.

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Indeed, Anderson-Levy stated that there is mistrust between the sexes, and it is expected that a man will be unfaithful, and it is not uncommon for a wealthy middle-class man to have two separate families, marrying one of his own class and colour and being with another of a lower class with illegitimate children. This dual family situation was also prevalent among lowerclass men who did the same thing but often could not afford to take care of their families so moved from woman to woman, sometimes keeping them simultaneously, thereby affecting connections within the kinship patterns. This resulted in what Harrison describes as consanguineal relations amongst the lower-class, where female centred networks developed mother–child inter-generational bonds, whereas in middle-class nuclear families, affinal or husband-wife relations dominated (cited in Anderson-­Levy 2001: 194). The findings in my research highlight a stronger bond that endured through the life course between the mother and her children than her male counterpart. In addition, the pattern of extra-marital procreation mostly had detrimental effects on the elderly man, who mostly experienced estranged or very strained distant and complex relationships. However, on further analysis, my agreement with Anderson-Levy is partial because I uncovered a more complex situation since my female informants also experienced separation from some of their children due to migration where they left them behind, as Mrs. Harris (Appendix, Fig. H) states, I send money home as often as I could to my aunt and uncle, in Jamaica to look after my daughters. So they know I did not leave them out, or abandon them. So when they grew up they had a good relationship with me.

Nevertheless, perhaps the connection Mrs. Harris described is the ability for females to bond together because they share similar life experiences, and women relate to each other and seek advice from each other as a source of support, even from afar. Moreover, a paradox exists concerning my female informants, for while my female informants retained more of an economic focus by continuing to economically support their children, the economic aid, often proved more one sided. Therefore, their needs as elderly women may not be fully met by children overseas because they do not (or cannot) return the economic help but believe their mothers are better off than them because they live in England and receive help from the state, as Mrs. Parker (Appendix, Fig. M) indicated. My female informants also had children with whom they previously resided and enjoyed reciprocal bonds, so maintained more kin ties than

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my male informants. For my male informants, having children often resulted in a situation, where instead of creating wider kin networks, their network dwindled down to very little.

Movement, Kinship, and Gendered Roles I explored kinship development in order to understand the development of my informants’ socially constructed familial kinship patterns, marked by gender differentiation, in order to provide a frame of reference to unpack and understand relationships, and avenues of engagement and support in elderly life. Betrell (1998) asserted that kinship has many analytical threads, based on symbols rather than a set of rules providing explanatory or analytical models. From Fortes through Evan-Pritchard, R.T.  Smith, Campbell, Sahlins, Barnes, Keesing, Strathern, among others, bring varied debate surrounding units of analysis and the definition of kinship particularly in the modern cross-cultural context (cited in Betrell 1998: 50). Kinship concepts include the social analysis of real beings influenced by Geertz, so actions and networks of actions utilised by Witherspoon are used to deal with the issues of continuity, change, stability, and flexibility in social life (cited in Betrell 1998). For ‘once male and female roles are given equal analytical focus, the multidimensional meanings of kinship, family and descent are revealed’ (Betrell 1998: 59). Indeed, I revealed differing gender ties and roles. Besson (2002) previously showed that matrifocality reflected the different situations women found themselves in regarding relationships with men, rather than being a major feature of the marriage system. These relationships are depicted by the scenarios such as residing in a ‘household headed by a woman in an extraresidential marriage, or being in an interstitial status between marriages, or as a consequence of widowhood’ (Besson 2002: 297). These multidimensional statuses were the positions that my informants too found themselves in at different stages in their lives. I sought the thematic driving forces that would help to link the gender patterns I found. De Boeck’s (1998) analytic framework assisted, where gender and social relations intertwined with the structure of kinship.5 De 5  De Boeck (1998) found that the ageing process and rootedness were entwined in the aLuunda’s cosmological symbolic traditional culture where the body and the landscape are intertwined. The life cycles therefore evolve in tandem with cycles of the moon, sun and the seasonal alterations. It is the responsibility of the male elder to appropriate wisdom therefore

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Boeck (1998) provided a useful symbolic construction model that links the important connection between social organisation, kinship, personhood, and identity (Betrell 1998: 58), which I also found useful to process the family form and performance but within the context of a modern capitalist society. In addition, as Carsten suggested, ‘kinship is a process of becoming so as a term it can be used to characterise the relatedness that people act and feel’ (Betrell 1998: 59). In this regard, I found my male informants felt placed on the margins, a position accepted by both genders. In Chap. 2, I presented theories that suggested that the West Indian working-class family culture had a strong emphasis on the female as a key figure, as the more prominent parent with males playing a specific role but not necessarily being part of the household. In Chap. 4, my research findings suggested that when the elderly people were young they tended to live with the most economically able caretakers, if they were not living with their mothers, this could be both led by either their paternal or maternal side of their family, headed by a mother and father figure. In addition, there were absent fathers and extra-marital associations across households. However, on closer analysis of my informants’ relatedness to their children, a pattern of matrifocal ties emerged more clearly through this chapter. I recognise that the concept of family land in the West Indies serves as a cultural and symbolic site and signifies a place of familial belonging this role defined his place and power in society. His role holds a controlling centralised responsibility to strengthen ties of solidarity and support within the society and to perpetuate a sense of deep-rooted belonging. The male therefore develops gerontocratic authority and forms an increasing interconnectedness with others who develop through him. As he grows older acquires more wives, children and new relationships that expand through children’s matrimonial alliances. In addition, he gains more power through his ritual skills. His individuation and self-appropriation derive from his social abilities. He is the central tree-like person (referring to the myoomb tree planted and transmitted by the maternal uncle), still at the centre holding everything together. Therefore, the analogy of the male with the base of trees enables the perpetuation of the ideal cultural order arranged from an immobile centre. Consequently, as he ages he becomes increasingly associated with ancestral wisdom. Old men are thus compared to trees, they say the shrivelled man is ‘like a tree which loses its sap and dies’ (De Boeck 1998: 42) as this stage completes his life cycle. The royal village is therefore a ‘central knot’ (De Boeck 1998: 43) that politically weaves relations between the villages that are interconnected through networks or pathways likened to trees. This process gives the society a masculine power. The female position prescribed within the structure determines female roles. A similar web of interconnectedness honours the complementary matrilineal source of life. The female body is metaphorically intertwined with the physical space of home. Yet, the King controls the land where the home is situated.

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(Olwig 2001) where men and women have equal rights to it. However, as a result of  migration, I suggest this bonding mechanism in the kinship structure is affected by the national and international dispersal of family members, and by external factors, so  power is not solely derived from within it, and the institution of family land or the concept of inheriting a home and plots of land  to bond family members is largely  practically unavailable to the elders in this research and this tradition in reality has largely ceased for them. Although Reynolds (2005) found some men central and powerful in their families in Britain, I did not find wide engagement with a centralised leadership role providing connectedness and rootedness from the men, but found  it in the minority.  Instead, at best, I suggest that my West Indian male informants appear to have developed an entrenched ambiguous status based on uncertainty, disempowerment, movement, distance, and separations that provide destabilising mechanisms between gender relations and this predisposes the female to be powerful in the family, but in an unhealthy way being based on mistrust, abuse and unhappiness from relationships that are mostly not enduring. I therefore agree with Greenfield’s (cited in Barrow 1996) structural-­functionalist stance, focusing on the domestic labour division, stating that matrifocality is ‘a matter of default in which women, in desperation, somehow do what their men are unable to do’ (1996: 74). I suggest this matrifocal tradition and female practicality, further compounded by wider social processes, confirms both male and female relationships, with matrifocality also influenced by the African retentions in the family form. On deeper assessment of my female informants, it is clear that they are subject to environmental and economic forces that shape their development and familial pattern in the Diaspora, as men are, and they are more influential and powerful in their families. Due to difficult or non-enduring relationships, they also acquired a multifaceted role because they too worked and maintained a household. Thus, women assumed functions of both breadwinner and carer, undertaking some functions that their male partner would engage in. I suggest this produces an internalised collision and collusion within themselves as an emotional/psychological stance, for my female informants similar to Anderson-Levy’s (2001) clash. For, I suggest the working-class women in this study internally juggle and manoeuvre, adjust and cater for others and self, staying and/or moving-on from marriage/relationships, maintaining a cross-generational pattern, in a subtler manner than Anderson-Levy’s ‘smash’ and ‘collision’ at the meeting point with the male.

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Conclusion This chapter examines the elders’ family of procreation and relations with partners and children and also compares this experience with their formative family experiences highlighted in Chap. 4. Information from both chapters therefore feeds into the compilation of 16 genealogy charts that provide a social map of local and trans-national family connections. Indeed, the Caribbean culture of movement and migration proves vital to this assessment of the elder’s kinship, rootedness and belonging because it causes familial dispersal with few of the elders frequently returning home. This chapter therefore highlights the inter-generational pattern of kin ties. Finding, the frequent absence of the male due to relationship breakdown, extra-marital affairs as well as state intervention into family affairs. As a consequence, losses rather than power ensued, fostering more individualisation and separation rather than inclusion in their family. This situation is in contrast to most of my female informants, who in the main retain a closer attachment, to their children even when they have multiple relationships. However, in adulthood the elder’s children left to form their residential units, where I discovered my female informants more tied to their children who lived with them from birth into adulthood in England, than those born and left in the West Indies. Therefore, both my male and female informants can become individualised and separate from kin, although more links remained between the elderly women and their children. Certainly, migration affected the emotional aspect of kinship to a certain extent, although the matrifocal tendency continued  in England, that I refer  to as  a ‘matrifocal tendency through practicality’ to describe the pattern of familial relations regarding women in this study. Consequently, this makes the elderly men more reliant on the state and external sources localising their sense of belonging. A reliance on the state also applies to the women but additionally they achieve their sense of belonging more so through local connections to their children and grandchildren, and their wider kinship network than men.

Bibliography Anderson-Levy, L.M. 2001. Colliding/Colluding Identities: Race, Class, and Gender in Jamaican Family Systems. In New Directions in Anthropological Kinship, ed. L. Stone. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

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Barrow, C. 1996. Family in the Caribbean: Themes and Perspectives. Oxford: James Currey. ———. 1998. Caribbean Masculinity and Family: Revisiting ‘Marginality’ and ‘reputation. In Caribbean Portraits, Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities, ed. C. Barrow. Kingston: Ian Randle publishers. Bauer, E., and P. Thompson. 2006. Jamaican Hands Across the Atlantic. Kingston: Ian Randle. Besson, J. 1979. Symbolic Aspects of Land in The Caribbean: The Tenure and Transmission of Land Rights Among Caribbean Peasantries. In Peasants, Plantations and Rural Communities IN The Caribbean, ed. M.  Cross and M. Arnaud. Leiden: Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology. ———. 2002. Martha Brae’s Two Histories, European Expansion and Caribbean Culture Building in Jamaica. Chapel Hill/London: The University of North Carolina Press. Betrell, C. 1998. Fieldwork in the Archives: Methods and Sources in Historical Anthropology. In Cultural Anthropology, ed. B. Russel. No 2001. Chamberlain, M. 2001. Migration, the Caribbean and the family. In Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World, ed. H.  Goulbourne and M. Chamberlain. London/Oxford: Macmillan Education Ltd. Chevannes, B. 2001. Learning To Be A Man. Barbados/Jamaica/Trinidad/ Tobago: The University of the West Indies Press. Collier and Yanagisako, ed. 1989a. Introduction. In Gender and Kinship: Essays Toward a Unified Analysis. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ———, ed. 1989b. Models of Gender and Kinship Domains. In Gender and Kinship: Essays Toward a Unified Analysis. Stanford: Stanford University Press. De Boeck, F. 1998. The Rootedness of Trees. In Locality and Belonging, ed. Nadia Lovell. London/New York: Routledge. Erickson, J. 2004. Nomadism and Nomadic Thought. In Crossing Water and Remembering, ed. K.  Thomas. Association of Caribbean Studies, Abstracts, Nomadism and the Metropole: The Caribbean Abroad. Grundy, E. 2006. Ageing and Vulnerable Elderly People: European Perspectives. Ageing and Society 26 (January), Part 1. Jacobson, D., J. Liem, and R.S. Weis. 2001. Parenting from Separate Households: A Cultural Perspective. In Anthropological Kinship, ed. L. Stone. New York/ Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Keesing, Robert M. 1975. Kin Groups and Social Structure. Rinehart/ Winston: Holt. Olwig, K.F. 1981. Women, “Matrifocality” and Systems of Exchange: An Ethnohistorical Study of the Afro-American Family on St. John, Danish West Indies. Ethnohistory 28/1 (Winter): 59–78. ———. 2001. New York as a Locality in a Global Family Network. In Islands in the City, ed. N. Foner. University of California Press, Berkeley.

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Owen, D. 2001. The Profile of Caribbean households and families in Great Britain. In Caribbean Families in Britain and the Trans-Atlantic World, ed. H. Goulbourne and M. Chamberlain. London: Macmillan Education Ltd. Peach, C., and M. Byron. 1994. Council House Sales, Residualisation and Afro Caribbean Tenants. Journal of Social Policy 23 (3): 363–383. Cambridge University Press. Perry, K.H. 2016. London Is the Place for Me: Black Britons, Citizenship and the Politics of Race. Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2015. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190240202.001.0001. Philogene Heron, A. 2016. Becoming Papa: Kinship, Senescence and the Ambivalent Inward Journeys of Ageing Men in the Antilles. In Parenthood Between Generations: Transforming Reproductive Cultures, ed. S. Pooley, and K. Qureshi. New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books. Reynolds, T. 2005. Caribbean Mothers, Identity and Experience in the U.K. London: The Tufnell Press. Schneider, David, M. 1984. A Critique of the Study of Kinship. USA: The University of Michigan Press. Schweitzer, P. 2001. Dividends of Kinship: Meanings and Uses of Social Relatedness. London/New York: Routledge. Wilson, P.J. 1973. Crab Antics: A Caribbean Case Study of the Conflict Between Reputation and Respectability. Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc.

CHAPTER 6

Socialisation: ‘Small Garden, Bitter Weed’

Introduction In here is like, small garden, bitter weed…

I found Mr. Johns in a chatty mood, so I asked him if he got on with the other residents. He looked at me quizzically and stated the above quote, he further explained that the scheme was a small place and contained many elements, some good and some distasteful, due to the differences between the elderly people. He asked me, ‘haven’t you noticed?’ indicating that I should acknowledge the differences, and the difficulties they create, so I did, and discovered interesting issues, explored in this chapter. Building on findings in Chap. 3, this chapter further explores the heterogeneous nature of this elderly group of West Indians. Certainly, my informants are associated with state services so I wanted to find out whether the state facilitated togetherness and also uncover how they develop their sense of belonging from pursuits within their local community. I therefore utilise the concepts from Gramsci (1990) and Bhabha (1994) to investigate how their agency and that of state workers influence their position in society. One of the aims of the sheltered housing scheme is to create a sense of community, by enabling social relations to develop (Lovell 1988) amongst the residents within the scheme and in the external local community. This chapter uncovers the reality behind those intentions. The claim to enable

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community building at first appeared to me to be an ambitious aim by the state authorities and I was intrigued to ascertain the mechanisms used as the vehicles to facilitate this development. I therefore investigated the avenues through which my elderly informants interweave their activities, both inside the scheme and in the local vicinity in which the scheme is located. In order to appreciate the differences suggested by the title of this chapter, I engaged with unpacking the way different factions manifest among them, through their socialisation. Interesting themes arise from their social patterns, and the exclusions embedded in their group affiliations. I investigated the mechanisms used to develop the communal activities that involve my elderly informants in group activities, such as watching films and conversing, attending the New Year Party, and coffee morning gatherings, as well as partaking in funeral activities and playing dominoes together. The state provided some of the activities, others evolved from their cultural and social interests and pursuits. I therefore highlight how both worked together, identifying antagonisms. I also include conversations from my return visit to the scheme, as part of the ‘Windrush Day’ celebrations gathering in 2018 where I met some new residents, from which interesting insights emerge regarding security of residency, and how they view their position within gentrified Brixton, and my observations of elderly neighbours from across the road from the scheme in this regard. Alongside, I include the views of the current scheme manager that provides insights to the continuities and changes regarding the elders in and around their dwelling place.

Being Local It is the elder’s connection with their local community that is being examined, but Fardon (cited in Lovell 1988: 4) warned anthropologists against seeing localities as isolated hinterlands bearing no connection to the wider world. For, localities are influences by global connections (Appadurai 1996: 18); therefore, Appadurai’s suggestion that ‘cultural reproduction … becomes political and exposed to the traumas of deterritorialisation as family members negotiate … in sometimes fractured spatial arrangements … in a disjunctive global world’ (1996: 44) proves poignant. Consequently, I asked questions about how the informants’ West Indian culture affected and merged with local culture. I also drew on Olwig and Hastrup who questioned the concept of being ‘local’ or in a

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‘location’, asserting that culture is not tied to a particular place but is created daily through interaction with people, for cultural practices move with the migrant (cited in Lovell 1988: 5). Certainly, my informants’ cultural practices are comprised of elements from their West Indian heritage and the influences from their residency in England. Therefore, I considered Bhabha’s (cited in Lovell 1988: 5) assertion that identity becomes located, because of the movement and difference to the host nation, as a new space of negotiation ensues, termed the ‘third space’, being between places rather than bound to particular homelands. In this respect, my informants’ engagement with their locality is multi-vocal, multi-faceted and a multi-layered process, where they negotiate their place, affected by their social, racial, and cultural difference. This negotiation, influenced by a strong attachment to the culture of their birth, engaged them within a distinct West Indian/‘Jamaican’ culture.

Differences The elderly residents at the scheme were brought together by the interwoven policies governing the service provision that sought to create unity; nonetheless, differences surfaced among them and between them and the host nation. These differing elements were conjoined through their social interactions, although the desire to create unity is evident in the ordering of their environment. A description of their communal space from my field notes highlights the attempts at cultural synchronisation or creolisation through design. The field notes state that in the sheltered housing scheme the interplay of culture is observable. The traditional furnishings are of a high standard and the décor in the scheme is very modern. Together the furnishings and décor provide a mixture of classical British and modern styles creating the atmosphere of a well-furnished and maintained home. In the lounge and public places, vibrancy is generated by the strong colours and cultural artwork placed on the wall depicting West Indian images. The walls in the communal lounge, painted rose in one and a strong yellow in the other, are bright, and the communal kitchen is a bold blue. The hallways on the different levels are a mixture of lime green, bright green and yellow shades. The mood generated from the colours is warm and strong, perhaps to lift the spirits of elderly people failing in health and strength. In addition, the bright outlook is cheerful and is reminiscent of the sunshine found in the West

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Indian terrain. The mix of British traditional furniture in the lounge (Fig. 6.1) and West Indian colourful brightness personifies the mix found among my elderly inhabitants that also contains the discord and disharmonious elements. Commenting on their bonds, Mrs. Johns remarked, ‘I keep me little self to myself … I live here a long time now so I know how to get along with them.’ Also, Mrs. Scott who held long-term residency at the scheme become very familiar to them, and they were also familiar to each other. Nevertheless, I soon observed the underlying tensions among my elderly informants. A comment from Mrs. Evans, a Christian, about fellow resident Mr. Johns, ‘I don’t have anything to do with him because he is an alcoholic so I keep out of his way’, expresses divisions and separateness between them. Interestingly, the divisions found typify those posed by Wilson (1973), who undertook research on the tiny Caribbean island of Providencia, focused specifically on community organisation. He asserted that a system concerning respectability and reputation provided the structure for

Fig. 6.1  The communal lounge

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organising and operating social values. For Wilson (1973), respectability represents the white European institutions and colonial values that are based on social worth and class ideal regarding power and prestige, marriage and the nuclear family, moral behaviours and God-fearing attitudes, such as association with the church. Alternatively, reputation is earned by individual success, smuggling and other acts (Wilson 1973: 151), including actions that are illegal and anti-­ social, that are judged by one’s peer group (1973: xi). He further suggests that it is rooted in the symbolism developed by the freed slaves regarding their relationship between land ownership and kinship because reputation is associated with the notion of equality, harbouring anti-establishment attitudes and actions. Central to reputation is the ability for men to prove their virility by having children, fighting and undertaking physical feats, showing fearless masculinity and frequenting rum shops. However, older men veered towards seeking respectability. Wilson therefore suggested women were more concerned with respectability, and men with reputation, that created different and overlapping value systems and behaviours based on gender. In which, Wilson (1973) asserted the terms respectability and reputation are ‘counterposed and interlocked principles of social behaviour’, that are regularly pitted against each other between whole groups and in the minds of individuals (Wilson 1973: xi). Wherein boundaries create inclusions and exclusions (Wilson 1973: 98) and gender, age differences, and class determine the operation of the two systems. Therefore, reputation and respect are in conflict with each other as they represent different lifestyles and systems. ‘Crab antics’ or actions serving to put others down in order to self-elevate give emphasis to the conflicts. ‘Wilson’s work identified a Creole counterculture to colonialism, rooted especially in land’ (Besson 2002: 14); however, Besson suggests there are weaknesses in this theory regarding Afro-Caribbean peasant women (2002: 14). For Wilson’s notions of reputation and respect are based on ‘unequal and exploitative gender relations’, and ‘he mistakenly assumes that opposition to colonial culture is the preserve of Afro-­ Caribbean men, and that black Caribbean women are perpetuators of Eurcentric values’. In addition, ‘Wilson’s conclusion that reputation is primarily male-orientated overlooks the fact that women, too, compete for status, both among themselves and with men’ (Besson 2002: 14–15). Therefore, Besson (2002) suggests that Wilson’s notions are insufficient because he based his assumptions on the Providencia community solely

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copying European values. As a result, Besson points out Roland Littlewood’s proposal that ‘women are respectable … relative to men’ (2002: 15). In addition, there are other challenges highlighted by Besson (2005: 15), who also questioned  Wilson’s dichotomous concept and looked at the creative and diverse roles women played. In addition, Barrow (1998) suggests Wilson’s gendered notion of respect and reputation are questionable, for men apply a balance, rather than behaving within this strict dichotomy assessment of their social relations. Indeed, more recently Philogene Heron (2016) uncovered male behaviour in Dominica shows men shifted perspective, moving towards developing their reputation type facets in family relations, after hurricanes and other natural disasters. I agree with the above criticisms; nonetheless, I find Wilson’s (1973) concepts of reputation and respect useful to assess my data. I use it as an organising principal to examine behaviour by gender and to interrogate the diverse nuances the men and women display, with the above critiques in mind. However, I find his separation of the two terms in his proposal less clear, because he suggests that there is a boundary that demarks the differing mindset and behaviour patterns, while also suggesting there are overlapping value systems. I shall comment on this seeming fluidity with regard to behaviour patterns that I uncover. I found that women were involved with church activities and men with other social pursuits such as drinking, frequenting bars and cafes, and predominantly played dominoes, as depicted in Table 6.1. I found women were powerful leaders in the church and were active in youth groups and women’s groups in the church helping the congregation. In doing so, they were (small ‘p’) politically active trying to affect changes between the genders in social relations by helping to empower other women as well as young people. However, from my view and application of Wilson’s interpretation of social interactions, on assessment of my elderly informants, it transpired that a person cannot solely be in one group, for elements of reputation and respect are often embedded in a person and they draw on aspects of each. For example, the individual desire for conformity exists, and the need to push boundaries to express one-self also exists, individually, and as a group. I therefore suggest, what develops is a complex interwoven web of conformity with difference and indifference, creating a conflicting basis for social relations based on their likes, dislikes, and petty rivalries.

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Nevertheless, in opposition to Wilson, I found that due to belonging to the same class, divisions are internal in relation to class, and though further complicated by the differences due to the varied religious and moral influences, where I find alignment with Wilson (1973). In addition, I suggest individual personalities create a difference, where critique of all `otherness’ exists. I therefore suggest that this ensemble, encompassing but not solely attributed to the polemic notions of respect and reputation, fuels their sense of belonging. Mr. Johns describes this situation as he further explained to me what he meant by the phrase, ‘small garden, bitter weed’, saying, You have the church people, the family people, and the fun people. I love to drink, go to parties and have fun. Some people think I am a bad man because I do these things. I keep myself apart from them because they are not like me. Remember though, you have to mind the church people too because they are hypocrites, and the love they suppose to show us is not there. They rather criticise. So we have a lot of separation in here.

This friction and difference are at play between them. However, through migration and cultural adaptation their ways of being are played out within this urban context, where new markers are also used to differentiate them and became interwoven into their social activities. In the grid below, Table 6.1, shows the different types of social activities that my informants engaged, within the scheme and in the local community, identifying activities broadly in relation to reputation and respect. It shows half engaged in structured ‘respected’ activity at the scheme, and at Day Centres, and mostly involved women, but also involved men. Interestingly, a couple of men frequent local bars and hang out on the street, an activity associated with ‘reputation’. Both genders (one male and one female informant) worked (part-time jobs), this being a respected activity. Many informants were Christians, an activity associated with reputation, and approximately half of my informants attended church, mostly women as only two men said they were Christians and only one man attended church. Playing dominoes provided lively socialisation, an activity often associated with a reputation, but as long as the games were conducted cordially, it sat in mid-ground between reputation and respect, especially as a few players attended church and were seen as respectful. Men and women played dominoes although predominantly men. This

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Table 6.1  Social activity Respondent

Day Centre

Church Dominoes

Activity designation

Respect

Respect Reputation Reputation Reputation Respect Respect

Mr. Bailey Mr. Baker Mrs. Baker(a) Mrs. Baker(b) Mrs. Beaver Mrs. Chambers Ms. Duncan Mrs. Eaton Mrs. Elgin Mr. Earles Mrs. Evans Mr. Griffiths Mrs. Harris Mr. Harvey Mr. James Mrs. Jarvis Mrs. Johns Mrs. Coleman Mr. Melvin Mr. Mitchell Mrs. Parker Mr. Taylor Mr. Truman Mrs. Scott Mr. Smith Mr. White *

Public space

Café (bar) Work

*

*

*

Coffee morning

* * *

* * *

* *

*

* * * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

*

* *

*

*

*

* *

* * * * * * *

Indicates the type of activity undertaken by an elder

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highlights how the different pathways overlap and provide avenues through which the divisions adapt.

Together and Divided There were times when my informants socialised with each other, friendships developed and they went shopping together. They often watched television in small groups particularly enjoying the news, Western movies, and African comedy videos that the cleaner, from Sierra Leone, shared with them. Various conversations would take place concerning different recipes, here involving the cleaner, who shared African cooking methods that highlighted both their cultural similarity and variation. My informants would also communicate with each about what they were going to do for the day, discuss topical news issues, such as the war in Iraq, particularly denouncing George Bush and Tony Blair or tell jokes and laugh together. Occasionally, they may discuss a problem, usually relating to a communal aspect of the scheme or just sit in silence together. Mrs. Parker often made drinks or a cake and would share some refreshments, such as vegetable juices, with her neighbours and friends. A few of them came together to play dominoes, and many would attend the coffee morning at the scheme or Day Centres run by state services. Through various activities, they engaged together inside the scheme, inviting non-residents into the scheme, and went out engaging with others in the local area. Looking at Bhabha’s (1994) positioning regarding the migrant, and Gramsci’s (1990) notion of social change, regarding the oppressed, I found that although the culture of my informants and the mainstream British culture are somewhat different, there were points of merger and conflict as suggested by Said (1993). For Said (1993), migrants move between the home country and the one they migrate to that creates a crisis of cultural identity. I found that my informants belong loyally, often to their formative nations, while at times, engulfed in the battle of culture clash against others (Said 1993: xiv). Therefore, their experiences become a sort of theatre with various political and ideological causes engaging with one another whilst they pass through a crisis of cultural identity as they contend to find their allegiance (Said 1993). Indeed, they add to the culture they entered and it assumed some of the culture they brought (Said 1993:15). Surely, Caribbean culture had influenced the local community and the sheltered housing scheme functions but this was in continual negotiation, further explored in Chap. 7.

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There are two main events, as part of the policy at the scheme to bring residents together as a community. They are the Christmas Dinner and the coffee mornings facilitated by the scheme managers. The Christmas Dinner is an informal gathering of the residents and their family members where they share a Christmas dinner together. Coffee mornings are weekly meetings where the residents are encouraged to socialise and spend time together. The latter is used in a formal manner to provide a space for consultation on the services received, and provides an opportunity for outside speakers to enter and pass on information to them in a social setting. For example, health workers may attend and give advice on matters such as how to maintain health and well-being. However, this occurred occasionally because a consensus to regularly assume this formality did not exist, for most did not want the gathering to be a formal affair. This gave rise to differences and fuelled separations among the group of residents. I joined them for their Christmas dinner, where they were entertained by their resident disc jockey, Mr. Bailey. The food purchased by the staff, prepared by residents, and paid for by Metropolitan Housing Trust (MHT) was a truly communal affair and assisted the communal spirit. Those who did not normally join social events, such as those who attended cafés and spent their days drinking, also attended this festivity. Overall, most residents attended, some with their daughters. The small tables in the lounge were drawn together and covered with festive tablecloths. The festive meal consisted of West Indian foodstuffs and included traditional British roast potatoes. This event was jovial and orderly. However, evidence of the factions emerged when those who played dominoes congregated together around a table and began playing as others drifted away. I heard Mrs. Parker (church goer) remark, ‘I’m going now. I will leave the evening to the dominoes group. They will be there all night’. The ritual of playing dominoes assumed its place as others quietly drifted away, knowing theirs. This created a scenario similar to Said’s (1993) assertion that the host nation and incoming cultures influence each other and this event reflects this merger, showing up in the dinner containing a mixture of cultural foodstuffs and the inclusion of traditional West Indian entertainment such as dominoes, within the formal British framework of the Christmas festivities that contains it. The coffee morning, another communal activity, brought forth multifaceted issues between my elderly informants. The coffee morning is a

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regular feature of all sheltered housing provision. It is expected that the residents will engage, as part of their socialisation activity provided at the scheme, to promote the community building, and to mitigate isolation and loneliness. However, I uncovered non-conformity with the usual connotation of a coffee morning and re-invention of the concept to reflect their needs that emanate from their Caribbean culture, by bringing in a religious blessing on the event, adding their ritual of Caribbean food preparation and sharing, and recreating the meeting time and frame of reference associated with the event. This collective personal agency of the elders, and staff in co-operation, pushes away state boundaries as they create their own meeting and work with their differences within the structure at the scheme. I liken their position to that expressed by Bhabha (1994) that underpins his notion of the in-between space, whereby Bhabha incorporates the idea of doubling, or being in two places at the same time. For to be different from those that are different makes you the same, but the disturbing difference in-between harbours consciousness in the form of otherness that contains notions of displacement (Bhabha 1994: 44–45). Looking at this from the migrant minority perspective, the difference between the migrant’s culture and the host nation creates opportunity for ongoing negotiation as part of the migrant’s ensuing historical transformation. Therefore, a transformation process occurs resulting from the migrant’s cultural displacement and social discrimination that set the grounds for their ‘agency of empowerment’ (Bhabha 1994: 8), or their hegemonic influence in society. This in-between is therefore a ‘third space’ of representation and the subaltern agency that my informants, and others on their behalf, undertake, that allows them to both create and occupy their place in it. I also call upon Gramsci’s (1990) recognition that individuals are powerful in creating self-definition that affects changes in society and provides a useful theoretical concept to process my informants’ social actions in their daily life. The following is a description of a coffee morning that highlights their bonding, divisions, and self-definition. Indeed, this event is orderly and seen as a respectable gathering. It starts with the opening address usually performed by a churchgoer or the scheme manager, beginning, ‘Dear heavenly father, we thank you for keeping us so that we can meet once

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again this morning …’ The aroma of food fills the surrounding space. As usual resident D.J.,1 Mr. Bailey, plays background soul and reggae music. It is their re-styled format of the traditional coffee morning, where tea is available but there is an absence of cakes or biscuits and games such as bingo. The scheme manager told me, My residents do not fit into the traditional coffee morning. They do not want to play bingo for a pound or two, or a bag of sugar. Those who want to gamble go outside to do so. They go to real bingo because they want to win real money.

On this occasion, a scheme manager visiting from a mainstream2 sheltered housing scheme joined in with the coffee morning festivities. She remarked, ‘the food is gorgeous but we do not have anything like this to eat, we have tea, coffee, cakes and biscuits’, with disappointment emanating from her voice. She ate food taken from the display that consisted of familiar West Indian dishes, such as curry chicken, ackee and salt fish, fried dumplings, fried plantain, curry goat, hard dough bread and sweet bread plus other variations. (This variety is not always available but a selection of these types of foodstuffs.) The scheme manager further added, The foodstuffs are cooked by the elderly residents in their flats and bought to the communal lounge at eleven in the morning when the meeting starts each Wednesday. Although it is officially scheduled to end at one o’clock they appear and drift away after they have attended, eaten, stayed a while either sitting or talking with another person. They control it and should rename it. The name does not reflect what they do.

There are some residents present who do not usually attend the coffee morning, being otherwise occupied or preferring to keep a distance apart from fellow residents. The attendees are mostly women who attend church, men who are socially isolated and describe themselves as ‘keeping themselves to themselves’ and family-orientated Mr. Baker who attends occasionally. Still, the other men will attend when it is necessary to discuss an important matter, and part of the meeting becomes an official meeting of the most vital importance. As indicated by Mr. Taylor who, on one  D.J. refers to disc jockey.  A scheme that is not culturally or ethnically determined, but is open to all to enter once personal needs meet entry requirements. 1 2

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occasion, told me, ‘I am here to listen to what they have to tell us about security. I would not usually come to the coffee mornings.’ Fifteen of the residents are regular attendees but this number fluctuates because regular attendees only attend the coffee morning that takes place in their building and not the other building. (There are two buildings in the scheme.) As a result, approximately ten regulars attend regardless of the location. Although the occasion is an informal one, there are formalities to the form and structure of the gathering. The housing officer also takes part in alternate coffee mornings and socialises with his tenants, dividing his time between sitting in the communal lounge and in the staff office, where residents can consult him concerning their specific rent issues, housing repair, and maintenance problems. The housing officer and scheme managers are all black and from a Jamaican background,3 and they share in the meal and, in the main, understand the nuances bought to the coffee morning by my informants. Indeed, there is a running joke on the housing officer, because his love of food is well known and his colleagues and the residents tease him, saying that he is only present to eat the food. I observed him laughing with them as he jokingly agreed, at the same time piling up his plate with goodies. My informants are glad that he enjoys the food and joins in the conversations with them, as well as taking their advice on cooking tips. Although the event sounds colourful and varied, it does not cater for all of the residents, especially those in the minority, whose perspective of a coffee morning is based on the traditional English one. Mr. Harvey remarked, I don’t eat those heavy foods anymore. I eat more vegetables nowadays.

Mr. Harvey further comments that the coffee morning is all wrong, there should be cakes, scones, biscuits and not the heavy foods. They have confused the coffee morning.

Despite his misgivings about the food content, others benefit. Mrs. Elgin commented one day, 3  This housing officer post was not specified as a post requiring a black worker. It was a generic role that worked with housing clients within a certain area in Lambeth and the scheme fell into this area.

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I was hungry because I had an early medical appointment and only had a light breakfast, and I knew I could eat something when I came back here.

Also men such as Mr. Griffiths, Mr. Truman, and Mr. Earles enjoy the homemade food that they rarely have the opportunity to eat, so it is a subtle way of enabling those more reliant on pre-cooked meals, or a meal prepared by a carer, to enjoy a home-cooked meal by fellow residents. Interesting themes flow from the coffee morning social gatherings that affect their sense of unity. Mutual support is available through the sharing of food that is laden with caring on a practical level, being provided by the more able residents to the more needy ones. Thereby, a collective consciousness silently and discreetly forms through their alliances. Therefore, the collective gathering is important and contains peer support, being an important marker of unification where important discussions concerning the scheme also take place. However, the differences between them surface on two levels: firstly, those who seek to fit into the traditional form of coffee morning, open to manoeuvring into mainstream cultural practices; secondly, those, in the majority, who change the event into one with a very strong West Indian flavour. These differing views highlight divisions that permeate through other activities compounded by the forming of small cliques, and sub-­ groups, fuelling petty bickering through exclusory judgement between them, that co-existed within this complex community. Indeed, this event reflects their re-inventions of the traditional British events in a new way that suits their West Indianness. I also found similar adaptations occurred with the internal parties, external development of Day Centres and churches in the community that the elderly people supported and attended. As attendees, they give power to these alternative service provisions created for African Caribbeans, by virtue of using them, similar to Bhabha’s (1994) suggestion that cultures influence each other and migrants assert their place through interaction. The re-inventions are in an in-between space, the abstract conceptualisation describing a space that provides the terrain for the individual to exert their sense of self and to develop a new identity (Bhabha 1994: 1–2). Therefore, according to Bhabha the migrant’s identity exists here in-­ between boundaries, in the liminal space and opens up the possibility for connecting the polarities at either side of the boundary. ‘Here cultural hybridity can entertain difference without an assumed or imposed hierarchy’ (Bhabha 1994: 4), although ‘the borderline engagements of cultural

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difference may be both consensual and conflictual’ (1994: 2). Bhabha, influenced by Franz Fanon, who asserted ‘the colonial subject is always overdetermined from without’, also applies, because I believe my informants’ negotiating experience, and their agency, highlights their differences according to their beliefs that are derived externally, that also influence the individual psyche (Bhabha 1994: 43) internally. This meeting point, in the in-between place, is described by Bhabha as a hybrid cultural space…located … in the beyond that is an ‘intervening space … a place of intervention in the here and now…through the innovations that interrupt the performance of the present’ (Bhabha 1994: 7). It therefore represents ‘a borderline existence, at the crossroads of history, bridging the home and the world, with the loss of absolutes…that is also a communal space’ (Bhabha 1994: 13–17). Influenced by Bhabha who called upon Emmanual Levinas (Bhabha 1994: 15–16), who asserted, it is a space ‘where the real world appears’, I found a space and a meeting point where my elderly informants shaped a real world, that suited themselves, according to their differing beliefs that both agreed and counterposed each other’s views.

Mutual Support Before turning to the other social interactions that harboured more stark divisions, it is important to acknowledge further forms of mutual aid that help to subtly bind the community. For despite the different groupings, oppositions are transcended at times, pronounced at funerals. The elderly people are very philosophical about death. Comments such as ‘it comes to us all’ and ‘there is no reason to be afraid of death’ were commonly stated, being a reminder of their inevitable future demise, while raising a sense of camaraderie from the departure of fellow elders. They are therefore self-­ determining in their response to funeral arrangements and engage the ritual practice of the ‘nine-night’4 to mark the end of the life cycle; in 4  The term ‘nine-night’ refers to ritual gatherings of family and friends of the deceased in honour of the deceased person; the purpose is to help the spirit move peacefully along its journey and is held on the ninth day after the death occurred. This ritual process consists of friends and family visiting the home of the deceased to support their family every day after death. It places an emphasis on the ninth night after the deceased died. The ninth night ritual gathering includes different activities to support the deceased on their onward journey, such as singing hymns, reciting prayers, sharing stories of remembrance, engaging in social activities such as playing dominoes, eating refreshments and playing music together in a shared social space.

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doing so, they control their environment to undertake the traditional practices this involves. By taking control of events the elders are actively engaged in social change, aside from British cultural practices. Certainly, Gramsci (1990) thought new strategies for social change must involve the use of real men,5 who define their own existence, through their self-consciousness, and the cultural processes taking place in everyday life. This he thought could build a collective consciousness to attack the political action of the intellectual foundation of bourgeois society. Boggs (1976) highlights this would be complicated because Gramsci suggested the complex state made penetration through the ‘ensemble of relations’ difficult, leading to powerless sub-cultural fragmentation (Boggs 1976: 122–124). Nonetheless, Gramsci suggested that ‘the oppressed must demystify the ideological armour of the status quo and create their own “integrated culture”’ (Boggs 1976: 123). Although, I found that in asserting their cultural and individual identities my informants were separated by personal differences. Nonetheless, they were able to create and occupy a sub-cultural position in society by asserting their will, while powerfully engage in their cultural funeral ritual, and other aspects of socialisation that operates different to the British cultural practice. Although my informants are not engaged in a revolutionary overthrow, I suggest they do use their personal agency and others work with them and on their behalf to secure a place in society. Here the negotiation is peaceful being without violent conflict (but there is emotional conflict), born out of the desire to engage in familiar activities in opposition to the status quo expectations within the context of British culture. Therefore, the elders, in the wider West Indian community, with others, are allowed by state administrators to negotiate their activities, empowering them to find an appropriate placement in society. Two funerals show the negotiations and self-determination of my elderly group to express their identity and culture. Funerals subtly provided unifying features; yet, through these events different factions are allowed their space, peacefully with respect. One funeral concerned Mrs. Harris’ friend, who lived outside the scheme locally in Brixton, the other funeral was that of Mrs. Jarvis who lived in the scheme. They belonged to different social worlds, the first a worldly and streetwise man, the second 5  I understand this comment to refer to ‘ordinary people’, rather than referring to a gender bias.

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a devout Christian. On both occasions the residents were involved in the funerals. The deceased’s family and friends were invited to get together and support each other within the scheme, thereby welcoming non-­ residents, their friends and family. Mrs. Harris told me, My friend was a regular visitor to the scheme, played dominoes with me and the other residents but died suddenly from an asthma attack. Me and one of my daughters are involved in the funeral arrangements with his family and friends. We are using the communal lounge area to hold his nine-night. He was a close friend and a lot of people in here knew him, I will do my best to help his family pay their last respects to him.

When the nine-night ritual was held at the scheme, once again there was plenty of food such as curry goat, rice, chicken, and alcohol, with music in the background and dominoes games were played. In addition, they prayed in his honour. Emotions mixed, as both sorrowful feelings and acceptance of his passing were expressed. On the day of his funeral the scheme was used as a meeting point and a mini bus came to take the residents, family and friends who lived nearby to the church for the funeral. I observed Mrs. Harris and her daughter as well as Mr. Smith and a couple of others from the scheme accompany the party. (They also represent mostly those who otherwise kept out of the mainstream structured communal events.) Similarly, residents came together for the funeral of Mrs. Jarvis. She was well regarded, because she was a respectable church-going person. Both her ‘nine-night’ and funeral-day gathering took place in the communal lounge area. It was reported to me by the Scheme Manager Andrea that ‘her nine-night event was very good and that a lot of people gathered in her honour’. Certainly, I noticed the lounge full to capacity as attendees showed respect at her passing on the day of the funeral, to which many similarly minded church-going residents attended. My field notes describe the event. The deceased family occupied the kitchen and managed the catering. Once more, there were traditional dishes such as curry goat, rice, chicken, and fish on display. There were lots of drinks that included water, a variety of soft drinks, fruit juice and alcohol such as brandy and rum. Her friends and family sang hymns and read from the Bible. Mrs. Jarvis had attended church throughout her life, health permitting. Therefore, the well-wishers included those from the

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local church the deceased attended in Brixton, alongside her family and friends. People sat on the sofas and around the tables and chairs in the lounge. Many individual conversations were taking place and the mood was respectfully upbeat. One daughter of the late Mrs. Jarvis told one of her relations, ‘now that we have seen each other again we must keep in touch and see each other more often’. The funeral therefore bought her family closer together, although through a sad occasion, it was pleasant and the family made everyone, including myself, feel welcome as they gave Mrs. Jarvis a fond farewell. Certainly, the differences between the informants became secondary at funerals because death was mutually respected by them all, allowing their differences to take a place back stage and mourning the foremost, whilst they remained peacefully segregated. Meanwhile, they engaged in their cultural practices, assisted by the scheme workers, for together they redefined the use of the communal space to meet their needs.

Culture ‘V’ the State As stated above the social pursuits and events highlight the mergers and separations that my informants encounter in British society. The events conducted with a West Indian flavour interfaced with British culture. Looking at the in-between communal space, asserted by Bhabha (1994), I too found it to contain the elder’s self-identity, consenting and conflicting differences. However, I started to think about where the liminal space they created and belonged in was located, was their liminal space inside or external regarding the real social experiences enacted in British society? Where is the boundary between the West Indian migrant’s culture and British culture? Further investigations will help to explore these concerns. Interestingly, social and cultural differences serve a dual purpose for they are also paradoxically bonding mechanisms, where the social interactions bond some elders to the state and others with each other sharing similar outlook, interests, and ritual practices. With reference to links to the external local community, I found some elders frequenting Day Centres. The Day Centre is a state-funded community service provided for the elderly in the borough, so they can socialise together, share a meal, and get advice on issues they face. I went to Day Centres. One of them represents a traditional British establishment with traditional Day Centre activities, but is set up and varied to cater solely for the Afro-Caribbean elderly community. Here my informants and other

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attendees engaged in social activities such as sewing, sharing lunch with others, going on daytrips to the seaside or other places of interest. They could also obtain counselling and advice services. Mr. Taylor, a former alcoholic, who turned to Christianity in his mature years, attended a Day Centre based at a church in Brixton that other informants also attend. While I was there the Day Centre manager explained, All of the attendees are black elderly people of West Indian origin. The workers and volunteers are also black of West Indian origin, in particular of Jamaican origin. They like their music so in the days we play music in background that is familiar to them, so we play ska, reggae and soul reflecting what they listen to in the homes or in social environments, You see here we look after them and give them what they want. This puts them at ease and provides a non-threatening and appreciative environment for them to relax in. It also provides an opportunity to keep them informed of changes in the West Indies because we get copies of newspapers that carry news of back home. They buy the West Indian paper The Gleaner. In the Gleaner they like to read the article by the pastor,6 because it makes them laugh. The jokes are very culturally related to Jamaican life with comical interpretations. This is because the pastor’s response is very light hearted and usually makes those who understand the joke laugh hard. They also read the local Voice newspaper, a newspaper created for the West Indian and African community in Britain. These papers keep them informed about what is happening in the West Indian community in Britain and they discuss some issues. They get a chance to sit and talk with other elderly people and share other elderly people’s experiences. This includes talk of back home although many have not returned since coming here. As many of us are often on the move we can also share experiences of others, who travel to Jamaica, Canada or America to visit relatives. We got the use of this space from the black-led church with a predominantly West Indian congregation, so many of those who come to the Day Centre also come to the church. Our centre occupies this space on the first floor that is a large hall that has a kitchen area to the side of the hall where refreshments are served. There is a pool table where the attendees challenge each other and a small table where dominoes are played next to an entertainment area with the stereo and television. Our office here is quite small in this corner. Next to it we have the sewing area in the main hall where there are two sewing machines that are used to make objects such as cushions. In the

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 The columnist invites readers to write to him in the role as an ‘agony aunt’.

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rest of the hall space there are tables and chairs where they sit, and they eat lunch and talk to each other, near the kitchen area. They feel understood and welcomed into this environment by others and the workers who are part of their cultural experience who understand their language and style of communication. For although they have lived in England for a long time they still speak their patois and keep their West Indian identity. So mixing with others like them puts them at ease in this environment where they are able to just be themselves, rather than having to adjust themselves in order to be appreciated and understood. Many are lonely when left alone, and after attending our centre for a while I see many uplift their spirits, because they make friends and support each other.

For sure, I observed the elderly people telling jokes and laughing; this included jokes about their experiences, finding humour in pain, because mutual aid is important and brought the helper and the helped together. Mr. Taylor told me, I look forward to going to the Day Centre, or my club as I call it. It is a friendly place and I have made new friends there. I am a part of the dominoes team and this is good. I usually eat my lunch there. It is very nice and saves me cooking. I am with my people so it is great.

Alternatively, Day Centres may not be culturally specific where the aim is to provide for all cultures from a Eurocentric point of view. Mr. Griffiths attends a Day Centre in Knights Hill,7 specifically designated for those with a mental illness. The state’s health service provides this meeting. The Health and Social Services departments assessed the attendees and allocated places, to provide social contact for individuals. A fifteen-minute drive to the north of the borough brings us to the Day Centre. After I attended the Day Centre with Mr. Griffiths, my field notes state: The morning starts with the bus picking us up from the scheme and collecting the other attendees from their homes in the local area. The small group of seven sit together in one of the meeting rooms. The group facilitator opens the day with a morning hymn singing session. Mr. Griffiths likes this because he is quite a strong singer and knows all the words to the hymns. Mr. Griffiths was more lucid than the others in the group and his ability to 7  Since completing the doctoral fieldwork, the day centre closed, the space is now occupied by the London Fire Brigade.

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remember all the words to each hymns put him in high regard, and this makes him happy. He smiled and it was obvious he felt proud of himself as he walked confidently around the club. This service helped to boost his self-­ worth and self-esteem and it was clear for all to see. Afterwards, they have tea and biscuits and sit together for discussion time, but this is quiet because they do not say much. Later, lunch is provided for them.

Mr. Griffiths also told me that the food was very nice, but it appeared, to me, tasteless in comparison to the dishes prepared at the sheltered housing scheme. Nonetheless, I noticed that the food was prepared off the premises, pre-cooked and packaged as a convenience meal. This consisted not of traditional West Indian foodstuffs but tinned soup, mashed potatoes, chicken and a vegetable, followed by a scoop of ice cream and cake. Given that the mental health state of those that attended caused much confusion, it appears that they are less concerned about the cultural relevance of food and rather more concerned with meeting their basic life needs of sharing and socialisation. This is clearly a very vital and important place for Mr. Griffiths to visit because it helps his confidence and self-worth, in addition to providing him with social contact and company to minimise his feeling of loneliness. Although not culturally specific, it met his particular needs that helped him to associate and belong in the centre. He would tell others at the scheme, how well he was doing at the Day Centre and that they thought well of him there. He also retold me similar sentiments. I think this Day Centre therefore served two opposing forces: one, to bring cultures together; second, to separate the notion of culture through shared socialisation. Nevertheless, the Day Centre solely for black elders mirrors the reality of cultural and racial divisions that still exist in the wider community. These are not forced divisions because it is evident that those able choose their preferential affiliation and join the black Day Centre. Through this choice they exert their will by actively making choices to suit themselves; indeed they united Gramsci’s (1990) notion of using agency to define their sense and place of belonging, in the liminal space (Bhabha 1994), they created. Who knows, if able, Mr. Griffiths might make the same choice; nevertheless, the state looks after him and makes choices for him.

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Outsiders Within Ms. Duncan, a spinster without children, who is hard of hearing and wheelchair bound, resulting from a stroke, was also affected by her changing mental health state. As a result, she was viewed as confused by staff and fellow residents. Therefore, she has limited socialisation with others within the scheme, and involvement with the state meetings and events, particularly as her expressions were challenging and confrontational towards the state workers. She also challenged those workers from her own culture, using the issue of mistrust among her own people as the point of her complaint. She therefore challenged the state and the notion of BME8 provisions; although a recipient, she criticised it and pushed against the familiarities it brought. Her regular contacts are mainly the scheme manager and visits from her pastor. However, Ms. Duncan told me that I still have to ask the scheme manager for help though, because I do not get much support from anyone. The pastor who comes here is a comfort to me.

Certainly, I observed the pastor taking things to her. He also introduced his friend who came to help her move things around occasionally, and to change light bulbs and so on. However, her confusion creates further problems, as demonstrated by the scheme manager’s statement, ‘I am afraid of what she may make up and report about me and get me in trouble’. She warned me to be careful when I went into her home alone. Sadly, her ill-health, her fears, and that of others towards her, excluded Ms. Duncan from greater involvement. Separateness and difference fuelled loneliness that became a problem for quite a number of my informants, who were not separated by marginal mental illness, but personal circumstances that affected and curtailed socialisation with others. For example, Mr. Truman explained, I spend most of my time in my flat. Although this allows me to rest it does get a bit boring to be home alone. I gave up smoking a few months ago but I smoke when I feel down, depressed like, and a bit bored. Since I moved to  BME refers to Black, Minority and Ethnic, a policy in place at the time of my doctoral research. This was later replaced by the acronym BAME that refers to Black, and Minority, Ethnic groups in British society. 8

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the scheme I spend most of my time sleeping in my flat. I have not seen my friends since moving here because most of my friends are still married so they have their partners to keep them company, unlike myself. Lately, I just want peace and quiet although sometimes I feel lonely, but I have to bear it.

Such lonelier ones were mainly those not close to their family, and who did not engage in a club or Day Centre activity, and are not active members of the church or church-goers. Mr. Bailey’s thoughts bring to light his inner dilemma as he explains, Cooking and looking after myself, is a burden. I look back to my trip to Jamaica when I stayed with my brother. He is a socialite who is busy running a gospel choir and has the companionship of his family around him. If I was in Jamaica with him now I too would have the companionship of his family around me. Instead, I am often bored and feel time is dragging around. The days and evenings are long and time passes slowly. I do not feel too well some days so I do not always go out. The television mostly does not interest me, except the programme, Question Time, which is my favourite television programme. When it is on I stay up to one o’clock, still, sleeping sometimes remains a burden. To end the loneliness I thought of going to America to live with the mother of two of my children. Although she is not very well, staying with her would give me companionship.

At times, being around others in the scheme was comforting, never mind what goes on, because it provides a space where they can find human alliances. Even though the group comprises of differences, their power is still important. It transpires that my informants, with others, are able to use their agency to create meaningful activities that meet their cultural needs. These activities are co-dependent on the state for funding to operate the services, but different from state provisions in operation, by catering to the specific needs of the elderly that are not offered in the same way in the mainstream state services, where the elders make their culture visible and push through the boundaries set by policies. Through creating their own arenas, the elders enable their cultural activities to become normalised in their scheme and the culturally specific services, and thereby de facto accepted by the state. Thereby, through their actions borne out of their difference to state assumptions about them, they effect social transformations in their real daily lives and continually affect state policy that became more flexible and accommodating, though not officially or immediately

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changing. Examples of this can be seen with the dominoes group, coffee morning and other activities.

The Dominoes Group Despite respect and reputation seen as opposing forces or contradictory terms, it opens up a debate to understand how West Indians developed their cultural practices when interfacing with others. Indeed, Sutton (cited in Olwig 1990: 96) suggests that complex values developed in the Caribbean but Caribbean people had little control, as they acquired an imposed colonial gender structure. On the other hand, Abrahams (cited in Olwig 1990: 96) acknowledges problems inherent in their engagement within their evolving social structures and suggests there is a conflict between the concepts of reputation and respect and how it was as assumed to arise that I find interesting. In addition, Olwig (1990) proposes that both men and women were involved in the struggle to develop their cultural practices against the colonial power that tried to control them, and her examination of the tea meetings showed how they exerted their Afro-­ Caribbean identity, within the tea meetings that were different to the temperate Methodists gatherings, although they adopted a respectable appearance. Similarly, I find both my male and female Afro-Caribbean informants creatively challenge the state impositions and create events to meet their cultural needs. Here Bakhtin’s (1984) term carnivalesque is useful to understand the agency of my informants, particularly to examine the way the elders facilitate social change, by manipulating events in order to assert themselves and be the change agent. I evidence this with reference to the dominoes group, the party, coffee morning, use of grocer, and church activities where they set the rules that run counter to expectations at the scheme and create their own gatherings in the local community. Therefore, the term carnivalesque allows a focus on power relations, where society is mocked, or the world is turned around through normal life that is accentuated, as opposed to maintaining life that is externally controlled. Such social actions of resistance are powerful (Foucault 1991 [1979]). Certainly, the term carnivalesque refers to rebellious social actions, often a parody, stemming from medieval carnivals where the ideological authority was inverted, albeit it temporarily during the carnival spectacle. As a result, the term is used broadly to explain social actions that break apart oppression through satire.

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In relation to my informants, the coffee morning, parties, dominoes group, funeral arrangements, and the social engagements of my elderly folk broke traditions or the norm practice in British society. My informants and workers made the events different, partially satirically9 whilst subtly changing traditional British rituals to their own rituals. Even their seemingly passive actions and their omissions were also acts of power through non-engagement. For in not doing something the way the state wanted meant they were doing something else of their own. These present processes and actions that change events and make them powerful as they meet the  elders’ needs according to their rules, and they  sanction each other according to their codes. However, observations of the dominoes group and the New Year Party show how entrenched the dividing concept of ‘respectability’ can be in the community and underpin the forming of different factions. Mrs. Chambers explained the opening ritual in preparation for the social activity of playing dominoes, I make sure I water the flowers in the pots so that they look nice. I take out the plastic cups from the kitchen and put them in the lounge. The players bring their liquor and I put them on the table for the group. I also put out peanuts and any other snack they want. Mr. Bailey always plays the music for the evening so brings out his stereo player. My partner, along with other residents and a couple of their friends who do not live in here, also come to play. I don’t play dominoes at all. I can’t play it. I stay for a while and maybe watch TV then I go up to my flat.

Other residents that wander in and out of the lounge for casual conversation soon leave and the dominoes group are left alone, as they command residency of the space until the early hours of the following morning. Formed of a small number of people who are loyal regulars, there are four (respectable) core members, three reside in the scheme and the other person is Mrs. Chamber’s partner who lives in the Brixton area. In addition, an external friend of Mrs. Harris makes up the regular number and occasionally other friends residing outside the scheme join them. They asked me if I could play dominoes, and they invited me to play with them. I 9  The elders are aware they are pushing boundaries and seemed to enjoy asserting themselves, seeing the funny side of the predicament and ‘power challenge’ they entered into by bending and flouting rules, continually adjusting things to suit their needs.

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informed them that I could play but I was not as good as I observed them to be. After joining, at my turn to inject my dominoes, they waited patiently as I thought about my move, whilst at their turn they returned with immediacy, simultaneously slammed theirs down. In addition to being quick handed, they are just as quick witted with jokes as they playfully teased each other during play. They represent a closed group, with boundaries regarding joining that Mrs. Chambers’ partner, a softly spoken man, outlined, We do not let rude and noisy people play dominoes with us, just decent people. We like to play and have fun and not argue with one another. Mr. Smith joined us to play dominoes in the past. He likes to drink a lot of alcohol and while playing he drank a lot of alcohol so became drunk. He also lost his games and became abusive in his behaviour and started swearing at us. He is therefore no longer allowed to play dominoes with us.

Interestingly, Mr. Smith wandered into the lounge earlier that evening and he looked in and whispered to me, I like to play ‘dominoes’, but they won’t let me play with them… because I use bad language.

They maintained the boundaries that they set between themselves marking their differences, although they share some similarities across the boundaries. They do acknowledge their similarities for they all moved into the scheme due to their vulnerabilities and housing need. Nevertheless, they encounter some personalities and patterns of behaviour that they would have chosen to avoid if they had the power to do so. As a result, concern towards behaviour underpins fear that exists between one ‘type’ and the ‘other’. So the playing of dominoes attracts criticism from the other residents who not want outsiders, and the ‘even more unknown’, to enter because they fear the potential behaviour of this unknown element and opens the scheme up to potential risk regarding safety, although the dominoes sessions are usually undertaken without altercations or incursions. Nevertheless, I think, those involved, and some of the other residents, welcome the spirit of fun and vitality it brings to the scheme.

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Bickering Meanwhile, the opposing differences lead to factional bickering that was another element that is embedded in the differences between each other. Ms. June, a temporary worker from the housing department, gave her opinion on why they are not all respectful or respected by each other and bicker. She explained, Many came from the local Brixton front line10 and this explains things. I thought the older age group more would work together, be leading fulfilling lives, and growing up from their younger negative issues. Unfortunately, they expect to behave the same in here as they did living in that local Brixton area. I suspect some residents use drugs however, the support worker deals with the elder’s support needs. They argue, fight, and have a negative way of behaving. I thought I would get some wisdom from them, but I did not get it. Instead, there are neighbour disputes and a tenant has been rude to the cleaner. Some people are letting their children stay in their flats rather than pay the £5 per night for the guest room, and others moan about this. This is also a problem for us because our insurance does not cover children staying in the flats at night. Those without children complain about those with children and their comings and goings. When I receive neighbour disputes, I can only send a general letter to all the tenants reminding them of the rules, because in the end no one would give witness statements if asked.

Surely, Mr. Smith frequents public places where local people congregate, places such as street corners, public benches and bars, among alcoholics, criminals and drug addicts, so the places and people are not regarded as respectable by the other elders with different lifestyles. Similarly, Mr. James attends a café where similar people dwell. They situate themselves in venues that some of the other elderly informants do not want to go to and with people they want to avoid. However, they are content with their personal choices. Mr. Smith is in his 60s and is a fit man confident of his environment. Alternatively, Mr. James is beginning to see his vulnerabilities, particularly as he experiences breathing difficulties.  The ‘front line’ refers to a run down, poor area where illegal activities occurred. It represents a diverse community on the border, economically, culturally, socially, politically, and is a place of resistance. 10

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They socialise in areas with illegal activities, increasingly among new migrants, who are different to the previous generation of migrants, and are more threatening, bringing fear of the unknown to their established social places. A walk-out with Mr. Smith provided insights into his social world. Mr. Smith said, I like walking and I walk a lot around Brixton to occupy my time. Walking is a hobby and it keeps me in good health. I go out every day. I visit local pubs and have a drink, a chat, and laugh with my friends. I meet my friends in the park and an area outside Brixton Library.

This is an area frequented by street drinkers, homeless people, drug dealers and users. The police tried to stop drug-trafficking by preventing people congregating in this area, by inserting a large information board in the street that served to warn loiters and inform them of the crackdown operation; nevertheless, such people still congregate there. Mr. Smith is aware of the affect the police presence has on curtailing people meeting up there and the affect this has on his life, and says, I will miss being able to hang out there because if I have nothing to do in the day I will come here to talk to my friends. I like a drink, I drink Tenants Super and I admit that I drink a fair bit. I get drunk a lot as well because I am an alcoholic.

He is a jolly man who definitely swears quite a bit as part of his usual discourse. However, since he is mostly under the influence of drink, he apologises constantly. He further says, I drink with these people and associate with them because they are good company. I meet them every day. I know about these people and I know how to go around them. Some of them are very bad people and carry weapons. But I mostly love women because I am a loving guy. I have had quite a few women in my time. In fact, I spend my day looking for women. I am a womaniser. I look for women for amusement because I joke11 with them. I have a English woman, a girlfriend, I visit her every day in the afternoon for companionship.

 I flirt with them.

11

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Although not a confessed womaniser, nor an alcoholic, Mr. James is similarly involved in his choice of social activity, gambling. He told me, I keep myself to myself in the scheme. I go out mostly to meet my friends. I know some of the others in here do not like me, what I do or where I go, but it is my business what I do and who I see. I like to gamble with my friends and go to the café where I know criminals also go. I am not bad though. I am not religious in the sense to go to church, but I believe in God and I think I am a good person. I would not hurt a fly.

I noticed that in the meeting he attended at the scheme to discuss security issues he got agitated during the conversation. Other residents commented that he was a bit ignorant12 due to this trait. Consequently, they were a bit cautious of him. Although he can be charming, polite and communicative, that I experienced with him, there are some others who appear almost afraid of Mr James. Perhaps it is because he carries a stern face at times, observes quietly and often responds with seeming abruptness. The scheme manager told me, I have to be on the ball with those who mix out there on the street because they will bring in outsiders of all kinds. I have found their friends sleeping on the floor of the laundry. Police have been called at the scheme as part of wider investigations outside in the local area. These things cause neighbour disputes and unrest in here.

These elders therefore remain fairly individualised and go about their external activity, with their family and associates, as their focus is outside more than inside the scheme. These two men were frowned upon by those attending church as well as by others who did not engage in illegal activities. The church attendees frowned upon them as drunkards, or mixing with the less desirable elements in society, that was most pronounced when undesired external activities enter the scheme, threatening security, and creating conflict between residents and their different lifestyle choices.

12  The use of ‘ignorant’ here refers to being short tempered, commonly used in Jamaican parlance.

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New Year, Old Things The New Year does not bring change, but maintained the status quo, that in part, was a marker of the separations enabled by the differences amongst them. The different approach to the New Year party reflected divisions among the elders. It followed that the type of people that attended were often opposed to those who did not, and vice versa. The scheme manager told me: The party is solely organised by the residents themselves and I have nothing to do with it. I wondered if some of their activities broke the rules?’ Ms. Girlie and Mr. White organised the music, food and drinks. The previous day Mr. White, Girlie13 and her family bought fish and began the preparations in the communal kitchen. The party is held in the communal lounge and dining area in one of the buildings in the scheme. They bring in their own disc jockey and music system from outside. They have a good time but some other residents do not go to the party and do not approve of their antics.

I observed that those who said they would attend the party were residents who were most friendly with both the organisers and the people who liked to drink and frequent pubs such as Mr. Smith. The event is a jovial affair that carries on into the early hours of the following morning. Other residents who do not attend report that, ‘some a dem carry on wid dem language’,14 with reference to the conversations and drunken arguments overheard. The scheme manager also remarked that the party took place while she was away on holiday to visit her family. She therefore outlined that she was not involved in their affairs in this regard, and had informed them of the rules and hoped they were mindful of them, so it was for the elders to take responsibility and ensure things did not get out of hand. It transpired that it was a peaceful event and enjoyed by those who attended. I remark here that it is interesting that the primary people who were involved in this event were those who sought to remain on the margins of my research, although they did speak to me. Some eventually become involved. They form a more obviously ‘rebellious’ element in the 13  Girlie spoke to me on numerous occasions and Mr White allowed conversational interview and invited me to his birthday party. 14  Some of them argue and use bad language.

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scheme that adhere to as well as push past rules and regulations as they engage in normal life that could affect residency due to over-stepping guidelines, through clashes with the expected operation of the project, thus imposing their counter hegemony, similar to Gramsci’s (1990) application. For here, the crisis ensues because their personal agency becomes powerful and challenges the state authority, as they create their space and sense of belonging. They are therefore the creators of this crisis and the controllers concerning management of it. For they get ‘their way’ and the state moves aside, does not oppose them, sanction them or credit them and they obtain the power to create their space.

Impact of the Church In opposition to those seeking a place in society based on the social group they belong to that is often labelled as having a bad reputation, others seek belonging to people and activities viewed as respectable. The church’s multifunctional impact continues to reaffirm the consensus of Christians being moral citizens, in addition to providing healing, hope and belonging, as Mrs. Scott outlines, I found church-going a comfort as well as an enjoyable experience. It provides a welcome break from the normal daily activity and it gives me strength to meet my daily challenges. It also helps me to remember that I am not alone, although I am often really physically alone and not close to my family.

Indeed, Mr. Taylor pronounced, ‘I like to get involved in the community and I do charity work for the elderly. I do shopping for sick and frail people. I also help them out when they need money.’ The church is therefore an enjoyable source of social interaction and allows my informants to affirm their status as able elders undertaking useful roles in society. However, differing pathways are taken between the church goers highlighted by Mrs. Coleman, Mrs. Parker, and Mrs. Baker. Their differing styles of worship impact on their lives in different ways, and they get their needs met enough to find a sense of belonging, although sometimes it can prove to be paradoxically a place of partial difference. Mrs. Coleman’s church attendance serves to highlight the effect that church going can have on the life of an elderly woman who is seeking change. The church she attends has a strong Caribbean focus with sister churches in Jamaica as well as America. The cross-cultural mix is reflected in the congregation; though there are many West Indian females, leadership was multicultural

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including European white, Asian, African and Afro-Caribbean people.15 Mrs. Coleman started attending the church recently, and the church represents hope for her, as her thoughts reflect. She says, …before I went to the church I was tormented by thinking, that caused me sleepless nights, because I was constantly worrying. This church prays for people and for their lives to improve as well as exorcising evil spirits. They make things to help us, like oils to anoint our body and splash in the home, key rings for us to carry for protection from evil, and cassette tapes with recordings of the services for us to hear to uplift our life for the better. I have some of these products. I have faith in the Lord because having a strong religious belief and knowing the holy-spirit, helps me to feel connected to the church and get spiritual healing.

Mrs. Coleman finds that when going to mainstream services and talking of spirits, she feels  mental health issues are often assumed. In this context, it is not, and therefore becomes a safe place, where such talk is culturally and religiously accepted. Unfortunately, this safe place is also a place in which one can assume a marginal position if healing is sought but not evidently forthcoming. Mrs. Coleman belongs to the church and it gives her hope, and she awaits the peace sought, that she surmises some of the congregation receive, and continues to visit regularly. This makes fitting in and belong to the group in the same way as others, a future quest. Sometimes, being a pensioner with some financial constraints attached to this status limited her ability to fully engage with some of the church requirements, but this was accepted. So her attachment can be in a margin, though paradoxically essential. The church she attends was held on a weekend only, in a building otherwise used as a nursery during the week. The dress code is not strict and people wear neat and tidy clothes including jeans, skirts, and casual tops. However, a few people had dressed up in formal attire, wearing a shirt, tie, and jacket or dress suits. The atmosphere is fairly serious but juxtaposed with smiling and welcoming faces and sentiments. Addressing newcomers, the leader referred to as Brother Jack explained that there was no pressure to join and that newcomers are welcome to stay for the rest of the service. As part of the congregation, I soon witnessed people getting in ‘the 15  Indeed, Caribbean Pentecostal churches share membership with West African immigrants, and this interaction broadened the base of identification (Byron and Condon 2008).

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spirit’,16 including Mrs. Coleman. This is ‘serious stuff’ not for the faint hearted, so joining is a considered matter that is emphasised. The various preachers interwove scriptures of the Bible serving to teach a moral code, as well as expose wrongdoing, and engaged in healing those in need of change. The songs, sung to their specific music, a concoction mirroring pop and folk music, intertwined with ethereal sounds, with accompanying drum rhythms, are exuberant and moving. A few people have tambourines and all sing passionately and loudly. At the end a young woman volunteered to be healed, the leader prayed for her, put his hand over her and she fell to the ground, shaking, the evil was being exorcised out of her, and this event provided the apex of the church service. Indeed, the whole service is somewhat vibrant and a deeply moving experience. Alternatively, Mrs. Parker’s church is founded on a different premise, style of worship and leadership, described by the visiting pastor who said, I was informed that the church was formed in the sixties, when black people were not welcomed as readily as today, in the white led churches.

The pastor’s direct connection with the West Indies keeps the spirit of West Indian affiliation alive and provides a connection to ‘back home’, as well as cultural continuity for my elderly informants and the others who attend. I spoke with the pastor and he said, I was delighted to get the opportunity to come to England to spend a year in this church. I fit straight in because the people share the same background and culture to the one I left. This made it very easy for me to attend the church and continue to preach similarly to how I preached in Jamaica. It is also an exciting opportunity to understand my community here.

Mrs. Parker enjoys her presence and place in this church. She does not visit the church to receive spiritual healing for misfortunes in her life. She is quite contented, with good family involvement, so visits to worship comfortably with fellow Christians and to maintain her strength. A visit to her church highlights her engagement, position and belonging to and in the church.

16  ‘In the spirit’ refers to a trance-like state, rolling on the ground and shaking, calling out to the Lord and reciting the scriptures. Such practices are found in Jamaican Revival churches.

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Mrs. Parker makes an effort to dress in suits for church, as well as the rest of the congregation at the Seven Day Adventist church, in Railton Road. At least half of the congregation were elderly women, with some elderly men, although there were a few women in their late 30s and 40s. It is a medium-sized church with a Sunday school. The two Christian groups share a meeting space with a nursery that is open on the weekdays, bringing a wider social connection and age group engagement to the church-goers. Mrs. Parker volunteered to read Bible passages that she read with confidence to the congregation. Thereafter, they discussed the meaning and their understanding of it through sharing examples from their ordinary life experiences. They also sang hymns from a hymn book. The songs are traditional British hymns and sung in a sedate tone, without musical instruments supporting them as they create the rhythm with their voices, which remain moderate in volume and tone. Mrs. Parker also sang a solo for the congregation and her impressive voice reigned powerfully. Mrs. Parker says, I look forward to going to the church, I have been going there for a long time and I feel very comfortable there. I like singing and they like my singing. Going there helps to keep me strong, I thank God that I am well and fit enough, at my age, to do all the things I desire, so I put my trust in God and he will help me through. I like to contribute to the church and I belong to the Women’s Group, we discuss the home, family problems with children or relationships and we support each other. Our worship is calmer, not so ‘excitable’ as some others, in reference to the spiritualist style of churches.

Similarly Mrs. Baker is a very family orientated person, also a very devoted Christian and Deacon, attending the ‘Church of God’ in Peckham, on Sundays and on two weekdays. This church involves a worshiping style that presents a fusion of the two above, thereby providing a mixture of European traditional and West Indian spiritual influences, that is exuberant. Mrs. Baker has been a Christian for almost 30 years and told me that her faith kept her going after two of her children died in close succession to each other. She is confident that her pleas for help are answered. Through her strong faith she said to the Lord, after her son died, ‘it was a pleasure to be able to have him to give back to you’ in recognition of her privilege. She also believes that her faithfulness to Christianity was rewarded when her life was spared. Mrs. Baker returned to Jamaica to live

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but also came back to England to receive treatment for her ill health. Whilst in hospital the doctors thought she had died, and an entry into her medical records suggests this, but hours after they failed to revive her, she says, she awoke to ask for a cup of tea. She recounts that medical staff were astounded by the phenomenon that occurred. Mrs. Baker puts it down to ‘God’s work’ because she says that she has ‘God in her life’, and this has given her ‘strength’ through all her ‘troubles and hard times’. She also remarked that she passes this sentiment on to her children and grandchildren, saying that she feeds them ‘spiritual food’. Her faith therefore goes beyond the connection with spiritual growth and  incorporates bonding with her family. For Mrs. Baker the church and her faith are a large part of her life and she occupies a leadership position within both. I went with her and her grandson to one of the convention events held at a church in Brockley, as described in my field notes below: We were collected by the mini bus belonging to the church that also picked up other attendees in groups, near their homes in Camberwell and Peckham. It was a warm summer’s evening, and the energy from the congregation made it hot and sticky. Similarly, the service was stimulating and quite animated with the female preacher passionately sharing her thoughts on the scriptures. The Preacher said, ‘this evening let us give thanks for life. We overcome difficulties so let us celebrate our survival and rejoice.’ Agreement from the congregation resounded through the hall. There were cheers and cries of, ‘blessed be the Lord’, and ‘in God I put my trust’, among other sentiments. The singing of uplifting songs separated the preaching. The service was lively with many joyful hymns, modern as well as traditional ones. The singing was strong projected in high volume. The backing music incorporated a mixture of musical genres that included reggae, jazz, gospel and soulful melodies. The congregation stood up, swayed in tune with the music, and clapped their hands. It was a moving experience and people sang along wearing very expressive facial gestures, smiling widely. Gestures filled with a multiplicity of meanings included joy and thankfulness in their belief in the power of God. A young woman, with an excellent signing voice, sang a jazzy solo for the congregation that received rapturous applause. The evening was a social event that served to bring people of faith from various churches together to praise the Lord. At the end there was an opportunity for the new members of the congregation to share their readiness for baptism and joining the church. The preacher and Mrs. Baker undertook what they call spiritual healing, on members of the congregation by praying for them in an enthusiastic way, with long and detailed reasoning asking bad

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things to leave them. Afterwards Mrs. Baker explained, ‘I feel the spirit of the Lord move in me. It is a warm, happy feeling’. Indeed, it had been a warm, happy evening.

The involvement of these three informants with religion and church activities are different, and at times, the differences were pronounced. Certainly, the differing experiences during the life cycle of the elders affected the subsequent styles of worship they joined. Religion and belonging to a church unified them with others within a common activity, although some measure of marginality within a group could occur. Although their styles of worship were different (with some elements that merge), they also held camaraderie as church goers. In addition to this information that was compiled in the project in 2008, I returned to the sheltered housing scheme in 2018 and captured the essence of change that time brings to an area, and to elderly life, that affects how the elders felt about being in Brixton and their sense of belonging.

From Windrush ‘till Now On making contact with the current scheme manager, I returned to the sheltered housing scheme to share my intention to publish the original ethnographic research that was completed in 2008. The year 2018 marked 70 years since the ship the Empire Windrush made the iconic journey to England bringing Caribbean migrants, with the majority from Jamaica and some from Trinidad. Therefore, during 2018 there were many events that acknowledged the mass migration, settlement and legacy regarding Caribbean migration to Britain within the Windrush era of migration, 1948–1971. In keeping with such events, the current Sheltered Housing Scheme Manager organised a ‘Windrush’ event, in celebration of the migratory movement and legacy that we called, ‘From Windrush…’till now’. I was included in the evening activity and lead discussion on this topic. In the gathering I shared some extracts from the research that were received with smiles and provoked discussion. I shared a power point presentation that included Pathe videos of the Caribbean migration and Brixton in the 1960s, using them as an informal discussion tool. This reminded us of the pioneering road the ‘Windrush’ migrants walked down, overcoming difficulties and forging out a place as they negotiated a sense of belonging, leaving a legacy to the generations that followed them

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and inputting into the wider British culture. I shared some points of my research enquiry and informed the new residents of the work, refreshing their memory of when I looked at the experiences of individuals at the sheltered housing scheme, delved into the group relations, asked what they did with their time and where they went. That I sought to understand how they managed their lives as elderly people and how their formative years influenced their elderly years, as well as looking at family connections and how they managed in state services. Indeed, I was delighted and humbled by the welcome that I received on re-engagement and even more pleased to hear a new resident tell me, ‘you need to publish the work because we need to tell our stories and record our history’. It was overwhelming and pleasing to experience such support and openness to sharing intimate experiences. These words of encouragement gave me validation and courage as well as a sense of responsibility to share the work. This reminded me of the sentiment aired by a scheme manager in post at the time of my research in 2008, who said, ‘we need to share this information, from this publication many more questions and stories will emerge that are important and often left unspoken, but need to be aired’.

Belong: In or Out? When I asked about how they felt alongside the gentrification that has taken place in Brixton that has significantly reshaped it, I heard that although they know change is inevitable, and it is necessary to embrace it, the changes closed down many of the places they frequented, such as the shops, cafes and the market stalls they visited. Change brought a new environment, fashioned in opposition to their needs, so in the main they engaged less with it. As familiarities dwindled, they shifted to a position more outside much of the new. However, there were still connections to the remaining social pathways such as the church, local friends and family. They remarked that although there had been changes in Brixton and the notorious and obvious street crime had dwindled, they were sceptical about feeling safe in the local environment saying that, ‘You don’t know what can happen to you when you go outside, you are not safe nowadays’. This seemed to relate to a wider fear of the unknown in the present twenty-­ first-­century way that expresses fear due to a climate of attacks on persons in general, everywhere, rather than related to a personal dislike or quarrel. In this regard, Brixton was as safe and unsafe as other areas.

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The present scheme manager is keen for the residents to go out more in to the community, to visit the local places such as the library and the Black Cultural Archives, but remarked that, ‘they do not embrace frequenting such places’; rather she says with disappointment, ‘they stay in their flats and seem to mostly go to funerals’. In addition, one of the previous scheme managers arrived at the scheme that evening to visit one of the residents although she had not worked there for many years. She also told me that her daughter recently visited the scheme to see the elders who use to look after her when she was young. The other previous scheme manager also remarked that she has nurtured her son to respect the elders and to assist them, for they were kind and looked out for him when he was growing up at the scheme. This kindness, fondness, non-blood family connection was warming to encounter that mirrored and continued the notion of the ‘fictive kinship’ bond talked about by scholars such as Mintz and Price (1992) and the idea of ‘wider community’ family bonding described by Davenport (1961) and Hawthorne (2008)17 who saw it extend beyond the nuclear family unit. Also similar to R.  T. Smith (1990) who saw family ties connect widely within the ethnic group, as well as by way of connections to a community (R.T.  Smith 1996), thus incorporating a wide field of social relatedness (Carsten 2000). To my joy both the previous managers joined in the event as well as the current scheme manager, and this coming together of the old and the new gave rise to reminiscing on all the other juxtapositions that served to fuse rather than divide, as side by side we met and found common ground to understand expressions. Nonetheless, there was friction between the local concerns and desires in response to Metropolitan updating things that had broken. Residents and the scheme manager also told me of the recent years without a functional central heating system and having to use heaters to warm their homes. There were complaints that the new lighting system in the hallway was not user friendly to the elderly people, with diverse personal needs, for it is censor related and therefore dark until someone stands in it for a few 17  The fictive kinship bond is also used to describe the social relations found among immigrant groups and is also a bonding structure as people relate to others in a familial way though they are not blood related. This form of social capital combines social, cultural and economic factors that help people to manage their lives, providing a source of help in practical ways (Hawthorne 2008).

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seconds. They were concerned at the few seconds of darkness and therefore contested some of the modernisation and efficiency systems. There was also continued concern and some anxiety that the housing association, which fund and manage the scheme, may not continue to keep the scheme as a specific Black Elderly African Caribbean project, surmising a lack of interest in the Caribbean elders and the current fear of its demise. This reminded me of similar issues identified at the time of my original research.

Reflections of the New Scheme Manager After the meeting, I returned in October 2018 to ask the present scheme manager called Sharon some questions pertaining to the current management of the scheme, the experiences she encountered, and her observations while working with the residents. I saw that she too, like the previous scheme managers, was of Afro-­ Caribbean heritage so I asked her if her employment was also governed by a policy to recruit a worker from a similar background as the residents. However, Sharon told me, I applied for the post through a recruitment agency and I had to show that I had the experience, qualifications and skills to undertake the job but my race and culture were not part of the requirements in the recruitment process. I have been working here since 2017.

I asked Sharon if there were any difficulties in settling into her new post. Sharon replied, I had to work at gaining the confidence of the people in the scheme because they had lost confidence, since the previous permanent workers left, and temporary staff had been managing the scheme.

I further asked Sharon, ‘What do you mean, lost confidence?’ Sharon responded saying, Before I came here there were other temporary workers did not share their heritage and culture. Once they realized that I had a Jamaican heritage the bonding began. I could relate to the clients, I speak their language (patois), cook their food and so on. They are fiery people and I understand them and the triggers, although some try to push boundaries.

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Further adding, Sometimes, additional help is needed from other support services in the local community such as Age Concern nearby. You know, some of them can use computers and write letters, but they like their hand to be held and we strive to support them to be independent. Sometimes, all they want is advice and a chat or counselling. Some younger and newer residents could possibly do voluntary work but the residents have not engaged in this activity.

I asked if they still had regular coffee morning meetings, Sharon replied, There are no longer coffee morning meetings, this ended, there was too much moaning. I want the petty moaning to stop, about small things such as people leaving the lights on. They do still play dominoes here though. They also still organize their own New Year party, but I do not attend because I do not work on weekends and they provide their own music and refreshments.

We continued to talk, soon Sharon sat back into her chair as we spoke in her office, and her facial features adopted a serious position as she said, I want them to go out more. I want them to do things, not just stay in their flat. I know change will happen and that local Brixton has changed but the changes are happening too quickly. The Brixton that we knew has become minimal. People find the fast, online systems exclude them, and Brixton is for the young, wealthy working people who are into the modern way of doing things online. They are used to going to the bank with their passbook, going into Boots and Superdrug to shop and these shops are still there, but there are only a few traditional vegetable stores in the market. There is a Rasta man’s shop selling hats and badges and a few Caribbean food outlets. The Bushman, food shop hardly opens up because other shops have taken over the eating and drinking trade. It seems the original traders have been pushed back to the secondhand shopping area near Loughborough, further from the centre. There used to be shops selling ‘church dresses’ and hats, now they’ve gone and there are only a few original shops in the Grenville Arcade (Now part of Brixton Village). There is hardly anything traditional. More clothes for younger people are on sale and the elders do not to buy leggings. You can’t recognize the place. Some now travel out of Brixton to Camberwell Green and to Peckam where stalls and shops sell more of the cultural products that they want.

I asked Sharon if some elderly people still went to Church, but Sharon commented,

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Most of the churchgoers are too old now, they cannot manage church visits.

I enquired if any attended a Day Centre, but Sharon replied, They don’t want to go and sit down with old people and drink tea, but they will attend events at the scheme where food is provided, saying they are too old to go out to that now. As a result, ‘home’ was mainly their flat especially for the very elderly and poorly residents in their 80s and 90s. So, this is their home, and some are so attached to the rooms in their flats.

I asked how the connection with ‘back home’ was maintained. Sharon informed me that About two or three residents travel to Jamaica or their homeland for a couple of weeks up to twice a year. Recently, one resident had a visitor from Jamaica, but they did not stay in the scheme in the guest room. Families do visit the elders and there are two residents whose families live locally and regularly visit them at the scheme, one granddaughter regularly visits her grandmother, other relatives such as niece, son or friends utilise the guest room from time to time but mostly they live alone.

It therefore transpired that the elders were adversely affected by the changes in the local area, and that for the most elderly growing older meant they became increasingly frail, and homebound. The scheme ethos remained similar, to that found in 2008; yet, there was less of a feeling of belonging in the recently gentrified Brixton and some of the internal socialisation had not been sustained. Nevertheless, the sheltered housing scheme remained and had a scheme manager that understood the elder’s needs because she shared similar heritage; however, they certainly were increasingly marginalised within Brixton. Interestingly, when I asked other local West Indians who resided in Brixton close to the sheltered housing scheme, how they felt within the recent gentrification. They remarked on the changes that saw neighbours they knew move out and new ones move in as, ‘changing the feeling they had of community’. Pointing out an increasing number of their neighbours became unknown to them, in relation to the way they knew their old neighbours. They remained in place but felt they belonged differently, being more marginal to the new Brixton nevertheless, rooted in Brixton. Indeed, sentiments from a few elders in the housing scheme echoed a renewed sense of exclusion.

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Conclusion The elders form a multifaceted and multifunctional heterogeneous complex community that harbours divisions. It is this process that fulfils the description within the term ‘small garden, bitter weed’. Nevertheless, they can and do unite, although there was caution and mistrust of each other, and non residents who enter the scheme. Seemingly separated not by cultural differences but by the complex cultural characteristics they maintain. The different interest groups are mainly opposed according to their personal Christian beliefs, moral stance and types of socialisation  that stand aside their differences and at times overlap the differences. Here the concepts of respectability and reputation proved useful to understand the social relations. However, I also found paradoxical differences between people, creating dual complexities within the same group or clique that also served to question the concepts of respectability and reputation. The agency of the elders allowed me to understand the concept of hybridity in relation to the idea of the ‘third space’, where they generated a sense of cultural specificity, as they and others skilfully used their personal agency to create the ‘coffee morning’, parties, and dominoes group, so creating groups of belonging. Certainly, they interweave their culture into the state system to suit their specific needs. It also became evident from the ‘Windrush’ event at the scheme, and the conversations held in Brixton in 2018, that the gentrified changes in Brixton proved too new for these old people, who felt less able to interact with them. Indeed, those not home bound chose to go out of Brixton to get some of their personal and cultural needs met. Therefore, there was also a feeling of un-belonging to the new Brixton. Overall, my findings contribute to the ‘sub-altern space’ and ‘third space’ concept (Bhabha 1994) and include the notion of internal marginalisation, and a sense of exclusion and otherness. Yet, they are part of multicultural Britain that currently embraces the notion of difference within it. I therefore suggest, rather than external to it, they are incorporated as a part of the society in a complex entanglement, in an internal subaltern placement, and the boundary that Bhabha (1994) talks about that externally excludes migrants, seems to disappear, as they are merged within. Nonetheless, their internal differences provide different exclusion zones. Lastly, Lovell (1988) puts an emphasis on the transience of belonging that applies to my elderly informants, who have engaged in transient movements, of which the scheme and the locality is another place to which they belong, continually manoeuvre within, asserting themselves to find the best fit.

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Bibliography Appadurai, A. 1996. Modernity at Large, Public Worlds. Vol. 1. London: Minneapolis. Bakhtin. 1984. Rabelais and His World. Trans. Helene Iswolsky. Bloomington/ Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Barrow, C. 1998. Caribbean Masculinity and Family: Revisiting ‘Marginality’ and ‘reputation. In Caribbean Portraits, Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities, ed. C. Barrow. Kingston: Ian Randle publishers. Besson, J. 2002. Martha Brae’s Two Histories, European Expansion and Caribbean Culture Building in Jamaica. Chapel Hill/London: The University of North Carolina Press. ———. 2005. Sacred Sites, shifting histories: narratives of belonging, land and globalisation in the Cockpit country, Jamaica. In Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. Bhabha, H.K. 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge. Boggs, C. 1976. Gramsci’s Marxism. Southampton: Pluto Press. Byron, M., and S. Condon. 2008. Migration in Comparative Perspective: Caribbean Communities in Britain and France. London: Routledge. Carsten, J., ed. 2000. Cultures of Relatedness: New Approaches to the Study of Kinship. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Davenport, W. 1961. ‘Introduction’ & ‘The Family System of Jamaica’. Social and Economic Studies 10 (4): 380–385. Foucault, M. 1991 [1979]. Discipline and Prison: The Birth of the Prison. London: Penguin Books. Gramsci, A. 1990. Selections from Political Writings (1921–1926). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Hawthorne, W. 2008. “Being Now, as it were, One Family”: Shipmate Bonding on the Slave Vessel Emilia, in Rio de Janeiro and Throughout the Atlantic World. Luso-Brazilian Rev 45 (1): 53–77. Lovell, N. 1988. Locality and Belonging. London/New York: Routledge. Mintz, S.W., and R.  Price. 1992 [l976]. The Birth of Afro-American Culture. Boston: Beacon Press. Olwig, K.F. 1990. The Struggle for Respectability: Methodism and Afro-Caribbean Culture on 19th Century Nevis. Neiuwe West-Indische Gids/New West Indian Guide 64 (3 & 4): 93–114. ———. 1993. Global Culture, Island Identity, Continuity and Change in the Afro-­ Caribbean community of Nevis. Chur: Harwood Academic Publishers. Philogene Heron, A. 2016. Becoming Papa: Kinship, Senescence and the Ambivalent Inward Journeys of Ageing Men in the Antilles. In Parenthood Between Generations: Transforming Reproductive Cultures, ed. S. Pooley, and K. Qureshi. New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books.

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Said, E. 1993. Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage. Smith, R.T. 1996. The Matrifocal Family. London: Routledge. ———. 1990. Social/Cultural Anthropology: Kinship and Class in the West Indies: A Genealogical Study of Jamaica and Guyana. Raymond T. Smith. American Anthropologist 92 (1): 237–38. Wilson, P.J. 1973. Crab Antics: A Caribbean Case Study of the Conflict Between Reputation and Respectability. Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc.

CHAPTER 7

Elder’s Engagement with State Support Services

Introduction I am having problems with my managers because of who I am, the line I take, and my views about services for black elders.

The statement above voiced by the outspoken Scheme Manager Andrea suggests an apprehensive interrelationship between the different professionals providing state services to the residents at the sheltered housing scheme. It also highlights the complexity involved in providing and incorporating specialist provisions to people from a different culture, and ethnic background to the dominant group in society. Such complexities exist within all levels of the state hierarchy so are mirrored in this institution and associated services. In turn, the difficulties affect my informants’ sense of belonging. Therefore, I generally address the equalities ethos governing the services at the scheme, regarding maintaining the well-being of the elderly West Indian migrants, unpacking how this affects their sense of belonging. The service provision at the scheme is provided within the ethos governing the concept of sheltered accommodation. In Chap. 3, I provided an explanation of the basic concept of the sheltered housing scheme that is twofold. First, whilst the bricks and mortar accommodation cater for my informants housing need, secondly, the associated services aim to cater for their personal, emotional, and health needs to maintain well-being. As

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black West Indians the services also aim to respond to their specific cultural and racial differences. I therefore examine the complex and problematic interface between my informants and the state, particularly as I suggest, the state service provisions provide assistance in the role as surrogate family to the elderly people. I therefore investigate how my informant’s identity and sense of belonging are negotiated in their interface with the state and the role it plays in their lives, exploring their personal agency that of the staff on their behalf, unpacking how they challenge the dilemmas arising from their ethnicity and cultural identity as West Indians. Consequently, in addition to assessing the views of my elderly informants, I also interviewed the area manager, scheme managers, housing officer, cleaner, handyman, social worker and the care manager, out of which interesting themes emerge. Throughout this chapter it is evident that negotiations are taking place through the meeting of two cultures, as suggested by Bhabha (1994), that provide avenues through which my informants, and the state administrators on their behalf, push through boundaries and crisis situations, to effect changes in a manner similar to the ways proposed by Gramsci (cited in Boggs 1976). The negotiations influence the service delivery and intend to create a more beneficial response to my elderly informants needs. Nonetheless, due to the heterogeneous nature of the group, the ambivalence of some workers, and the structure of processes and operation of policies and practices, conflicts arise  but  a unified response to issues remains necessary. Although conflicts arise, some of which are resolved while others remain, there are pockets of support and alliances are made.

The Equalities Ethos Metropolitan’s1 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy 2017 states that it is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion, and providing a healthy environment so that everyone feels safe, valued, treated with fairness and respect, while taking into consideration the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998 to eliminate unlawful discrimination and promote a culture that maintains dignity. Metropolitan ensures it upholds transparency and is accountable regarding the above aims and obligations. Therefore, being inclusion focused, Metropolitan ensures contractors abide with the ethos of equality and inclusion, alongside undertaking 1

 Metropolitan Housing Trust (MHT).

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consultation with service users to include them in the plans regarding service development. The inclusion above updated Lambeth’s Equal Opportunity Strategy, in place at the time of fieldwork and completion of my doctorate up to 2008, governing services at Metropolitan Housing Trust (MHT) project, that had similar sentiments to value diversity, improve services, eliminate discrimination, and provide services that appropriately meet the needs of diverse communities, within the housing and support services. In addition, recognising the overrepresentation of BME older people in all areas of need, Lambeth therefore sought to develop knowledge, awareness and competence in service delivery, and sympathetic workers and Carers, ‘providing culturally and personally appropriate support, in specialist and mainstream services to  meet specific requirements of diet, culture, language, religion and mutual support’ (2007: 4). Certainly, the notions of inclusion and exclusion emerge in this book, first, regarding West Indians with personal differences between them and, second, as West Indians whose ethnicity and culture are different to the indigenous culture. Therefore, a question arises as to whether they can find common ground to unite and challenge the issues they face concerning their ethnicity as well as their cultural difference. The support delivered by the resident scheme managers (in 2008) who work closely with the elderly residents is prescribed in this housing context, with their role being guided by social care legislation and the associated funding regulations that are comprehensive. However, there is an expectation that the elderly resident will be able to engage with the support service and respond to the service monitoring requirements, and service development consultations as part of the inclusive working partnership structure. Consequently, I interrogate the  interface between my elderly informants and the scheme management to assess how this contact affects their sense of belonging.

BME Difficulties As elders, my informants’ healthcare needs continually increase, and they develop a deepening bond with the state. Indeed, as black elders, they often experienced isolation and alienation from family members, and additionally faced discrimination and difficulties in obtaining access to state services (Blakemore and Boneham 1994), though many are reliant on them, and difficulties arise at the meeting point of service delivery.

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Nonetheless, the support service is comprehensive and includes the provision of cleaning, undertaking minor repairs or maintenance of the home, offering advice, and signposting the elderly person to the other advice agencies in the locality. The care service provides domiciliary care in their home and ready-made meals. The support and care services ‘bridge the gap’ concerning unmet personal needs or supplement support provided by family or friends. However, issues arise where policy harbours incongruence in the practical operations that undoubtedly affects their sense of belonging. This surfaced when observing staff, with differing opinions concerning the ethnic and cultural specificity of services, raising issues of race, and cultural difference, acting as separating devices. Thereby revealing issues embedded in the complexity of the state trying to meet the ethnic and cultural needs of my informants, alongside steadfastness and the ambivalence of some staff, while some feelings of dissatisfaction rise from elders. It is within this milieu that interesting issues arise. These circumstances exemplify the ongoing debates concerning race relations and inclusion, and highlight the ambivalent space the elders occupy in terms of BME politics. Therefore, I used post-structuralist theoretical postulations concerned with different cultural encounters and functionalist models concerned with fluidity of cultural exchange (Papastergaidis 2000: 169) to examine the goings-on.

The Administrative Paradox Certainly, difficulties manifest for the elderly people when engaging in the formal procedures, because the prescribed formalities challenged their cultural and personal experiences and modes of expression, that illuminated the contrasts and contradictions intertwined at the interface with services providing them with support and assistance. Some elders told me they felt watched by other residents and the workers, due to the format of service provision that intended to supportively surround them, rather than paradoxically suffocate them. Interventions were often viewed as an invasion of personal privacy, among people where privacy is highly guarded; however, no one likes to be watched. Mr. Johns told me, The scheme managers know what’s going on in here. They get to see and hear all about us.

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Indeed Mrs. Evans stated, The scheme manager has a key to enter my flat. I am concerned about this because she can come in my place without my permission.

Assistance from the scheme managers was mostly welcomed, but my informants remained wary of their representation as state officials, being influenced by beliefs that the state has power over them that they have previously experienced and feared. Nevertheless, Mrs. Jarvis expressed the comfort she felt knowing that they were available to help her if she had a problem. She told me of an occasion where she was assisted in an emergency, saying, I was feeling sick and dizzy so I raised the alarm in my flat. I fainted but the scheme manager was able to come in and help me, although I could not open the door to her. After this happened she told me that she could see I was poorly from the other day so she was watching me.

Of course, the role of scheme manager and the operational policies they applied were prescribed nationally and were not developed solely for this specific scheme, but were used to organise, legitimate, and motivate staff activity (Shore and Wright 1997). Policies are also embedded in the institutional mechanisms of decision-making and service delivery. Therefore, understanding ‘the examination of policy enables us not only to see social relations in action, but to also understand cultural systems’ (Shore and Wright 1997: 14). Through my informants’ everyday experiences, it emerges how policy is used to order the environment and affect their cultural systems, social and personal lives but they prove to be conflicting and problematic. Nonetheless, the conflicts are navigated because policies were used similarly to how policies are flexibly applied in all organisations (Shore and Wright 1997). Eisenstadt (1968), using Weber’s view that the individual and the institution are linked within social life, being forged together in the process of social change, where the individual’s charisma affects how institutions and organisations function and grow, applies here (1968: ix). Undeniably, the BME strategy and inclusion ethos are inoperable alone and are enforced through the professional workers, whose job is to uphold the system that governs the lives of my informants. So, it is undeniable that the workers’

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personal attributes and characters affect the success of the policies; conversely, they also bear the burden of service delivery issues.

Navigating Support and Care Government initiatives promote integrated care and lay out the structure that governs the contractual relationships between the purchasers, providers, and recipients of services. Therefore, social services, health services, private sector companies, and services in the third sector (voluntary), attend to the elderly at the sheltered housing scheme, as a result of the inter-connected services, so the elders encounter many officials depending on the severity of their healthcare and well-being needs. For example, elders may require a carer to bathe and dress them, ensuring they take their medication, eat their meals and clean themselves and their flat. Or they may need to attend a Day Centre to limit their loneliness and to provide them with enjoyable and meaningful social activities, and interaction with other people. This system, based on myriad sets of policies and procedures, is cumbersome. The process can become very confusing for the elders so it is the responsibility of the scheme manager to provide support to them and guide them through the process. The Table 7.1 represents the types of service provided to my informants residing at the scheme and locates the workers involved in the discussion in this chapter. The diverse services, though useful, also proved problematic due to the overlaps that occur between the service providers, causing concerns about the remit of services. Heightened by the concerns of Mr. Amidon, the area housing manager said that the sheltered housing scheme ‘is over resourced’ with services. I thought this was a curious statement but he explained that in some instances the role of the scheme manager overlaps with the housing officer, as they both have responsibilities to ensure that the building is maintained and the rent paid. Social services assess and review the assistance that they give to the residents, so too do the local authority and MHT Scheme Managers, and these duplications complicate the processes. Further, the joined-up style of service delivery, with the duplications, also comes into conflict with the cultural expectations of the elders.

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Table 7.1  Support and care services Finance Source

Organisation

Lambeth Metropolitan housing supporting trust people team (Ms. Bello)

Lambeth social services

Lambeth Social Work teams

NHS

Acute & primary Care trust

Social services commissioner

Brokerage

Private sector business

Allied care Cleaning Grocery delivery

Voluntary sector

Lambeth council Day Centres

Professional worker

Support

Sheltered scheme ✓ Managers (Andrea/Brenda) Area Housing manager (Mr. Amidon) Housing officer Handyman Duty Social Worker Senior Social Worker (Ms. bookman) Social Work manager Assessment team Panel members made up of a variety of medics Psychiatric nurse Hospital Social worker District nurse Occupational therapist Carers procurement team – Brokerage manager Domiciliary team Carer’s manager (Ms. Green) Cleaner (Mrs. Kamara) Local grocer Day ✓ Centre managers

Care

✓

✓

✓ ✓

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Management Issues Theoretical responses that critique political practices, regarding the order and control of society, prove useful to investigate the management of service integration. Certainly, as proposed by Derrida (cited in Papastergaidis 2000), cultures are fluid, and identities can be uncertain and ambiguous resulting from misunderstandings arising from the peculiarities that various cultures bring. As a result, the heterogeneous elements within society create conflicts, tensions and contradictions (Papastergaidis 2000). Thus, the meeting points result in a crisis situation as Gramsci (cited in Boggs 1976) proposed that unfolds in the meeting of my informants’ ethnicity and cultural peculiarities within Britain and their interface with the state. This situation also parallels the meeting point that Bhabha (1994) referred to as the ‘in between place’ (see pages 191 and 194–195, in Chap. 6, for my application of Bhabha’s concept). Therefore, although the elders share similarity with other ethnic groups regarding the need for care and support, contradictions and conflicts arise regarding service delivery and staffing providing such services to them. For instance, the area housing manager highlights some of the problems that exist with the organisation and management of the support service at the scheme. Mr. Amidon indicated that some problems had arisen from the predecessor of his post and consequently he was drafted in to fill that role.2 He is quizzical of his placement, suggesting he was drafted in because he is a black person, working within the organisation in another department managing residential care services,3 rather than being the most appropriate person to cover the vacancy. However, he feels he was conveniently drafted in to manage this service, in the housing support section, that brought an association across service divisions that would otherwise not occur at this management level. Thus, such a configuration brought confusions and complications and compromised the authority of the scheme managers and consequently his authority; he continued, My role now involves me in a section I would otherwise not get involved with. So my position is confused, as I now unnaturally work in two sections

2  A post not designated as needing a black employee to reflect the service users’ race and cultural heritage, unlike the Scheme Manager post. 3  Residential care services provide a more intense service, with on-site nursing care because residents cannot live independently, for they rely on full support to assist them.

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as opposed to just one, that creates a conflict of interest, especially as I am in a more senior position in my other role.

He believed his appointment occurred because the organisation was trying to deal with issues of management and side-stepped the main issue that he thought was of racism. Andrea (scheme manager) illustrated the issue, saying. We should have a manager from the Older Person’s Team but our line manager came from the regional care side because there was conflict between myself and my white manager, so without notification they gave us a black manager from the regional care section. This was unjust for they gave us a black manager thinking it would be better. He is overloaded, and his busyness affects a lot, even the regularity of my supervision.

The staff felt the underlying denial of the role and felt their perceived staffing issues remained unresolved by MHT, alongside a lack of support to the scheme manager because the issues regarding the allegation of racism against the previous white manager resulted in the accused moving post, while feeling  the issues arising from the encounter were never addressed. The scheme managers felt this problem was not taken seriously, even that the senior managers colluded, leaving issues uncontested. The scheme managers therefore assumed the organisation had taken a nonchalant response. They accused senior management of appointing a black manager, overlooking protocol, seemingly knowing the difficulties that would arise. Consequently, this scenario led to professional differences surfacing between the black staff, although they were cordial with each other. Without doubt, Mr. Amidon says that he was used as a ‘sticking plaster’, to smooth over issues at the ‘coal face’ with the frontline workers at the scheme, and ensure service delivery to the residents. Nonetheless, this created two problems: first being drafted in to cover because he is a black person and second to provide management support to staff. However, the former act compromised the efficiency of the latter. He assessed his new remit saying, As a black person I am most suited to manage the scheme. Within the older persons’ service structure there is a team manager that would manage the scheme managers and report to me but they left and I am covering that post

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which compromises my position in terms of direct access. The scheme managers needed someone who has a similar background and identifies with the service, I have this … my background as care manager is useful, and I understand where these people are coming from. I am also black with an African background, so in the eyes of MHT that will do.

His reservations surface because he feels compromised, and that his role causes managerial problems at the scheme. Indeed, my elderly informants became central to this local staffing controversy because his placement caused dysfunction in the structure because it contradicted the steps in the lineal management structure otherwise in operation at the housing association. The resulting problems manifest in his attendance at meetings at the scheme with the scheme managers and residents,4 such that, he commented, the elderly residents ‘deal with me more directly’, stating, ‘in meetings they expect immediate resolutions to their concerns because I am there, and I have to ask them, have you approached the scheme manager first?’ The staffing hierarchy was compromised and exposed in public, often showcasing between Mr. Amidon and the scheme managers in front of the residents. His presence at meetings wearing the hats of line manager and that of an operational strategic manager meant that issues went straight to the ‘top’, bypassing the scheme managers and creating an awkward situation for the residents and scheme managers. It is this position that, he finds, compromises his ability to function appropriately because Mr. Amidon reports to himself across departments; in effect, he holds more power that the structure intends and he is therefore left to take individual action to rebalance this structural disparity. Regarding his predicament, he commented, I think even the scheme managers do not understand this themselves, sometimes the residents think I am their housing officer and ask me to solve their problems, I refer them to the housing officer. People can manipulate the situation and try to bypass the appropriate worker. There is a working protocol to allow the scheme to function appropriately and everyone must stick to it. 4  The strategic manager is not ordinarily so involved in the frontline supervision of staff. However in this position of providing cover Mr Amidon is therefore closer to discussions and issues that his other position would ordinarily allow.  It is further complicated because he occupies two roles in the same hierarchy line of management.

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Mr. Amidon also explained that this predicament unfortunately affected teamwork and he feared that they were ‘not a team’, but work with much ‘frustration’ between them regarding structural process, with ‘differences’ surfacing. Nevertheless, they attempted to create better team coordination and organisation, through what Mr. Amidon refers to as ‘on-going communication’. Part of the management process involves regular meetings to discuss issues that arise in the scheme. Such meetings also provided a forum to discuss improvements to the service implemented by the management of the scheme from external governance. I observed the incongruities, described above, in action at a meeting held with the elders. The discussion focused on the issues specifically concerning the main entrance doors to the buildings, the keys to the locks in circulation, and the installation of a visual door entry system (CCTV). There had been numerous complaints by the residents stating that the front door to the building was often left open, or on the latch, and that the lock was faulty. Residents feared this contributed to non-residents entering the building and wandering around the garden, compromising their safety. In addition, the area manager said, Residents feared other residents who came home drunk and leave the front door open.

The housing officer responded, I am getting quotes to change the type of locking device used at the front door to provide more security.

Brenda (the other scheme manager) assured the group, Only the resident with mental health issues lets in people they do not know into the building. However, there is a concern that the residents were giving keys to their family and friends.

The housing officer added, A homeless relative of a resident was found asleep in the ground floor toilet, because someone allowed him in at night to sleep in the building.

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Throughout the meeting, antagonism was present and the discussion appeared to be conducted amid frustration between staff. In his defence, believing he was over heavily questioned by one of the scheme managers, Mr. Amidon proclaimed, I am not here to be asked questions that were directed towards me from Andrea (scheme manager) regarding the type of entry system to be installed. This is what she is doing and I feel set up to agree to changes on the spot.

Andrea replied to him stating defiantly with a strong tone, I thought that you were making decisions without having consultations with the residents. This is because in a recent meeting the residents preferred a system that used an independent monitor placed next to their intercom buzzer in the flat, rather than use their television as the monitor. Have you considered their wishes?

Mr. Amidon replied: You are confusing the issue, you have led tenants to believe that I could change the security system to one they wanted, but you should have known that this was not possible. A company was contracted to undertake the job two years ago and the contract must be fulfilled and run its course. When the contract finishes, only at that point can another system be looked at and priced. The process must be decided within budget management and follow the correct process and procedures.

In a discussion with me after the meeting, the area manager said, This is a BME scheme  provided by MHT, governed by  the Housing Corporation that has rules and regulations, but sometimes BME communities need to operate differently within this to cater for their needs. The BME group must ‘bend’ the rules so as to meet their culturally specific requirements, but that is not the case in all scenarios, such as this one. The residents also have preferences with the scheme managers, make requests and persist for solutions, that also adds to the confusions and conflicts within the scheme.

Undoubtedly, miss-understandings between staff add to complications during consultations with the residents that are unfortunate. Indeed, the

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role of the scheme manager involves the empowerment of the elderly people but could such experiences take power away from the residents influencing changes to their environment? Perhaps this also adds to the disillusionment, and lack of drive, shown by some residents, not to be involved, with the affect moving them further away from engagement in decision making. As a result, they paradoxically often remain outside of the powerful decision-making mechanisms regarding the service provision that ultimately creates a sense of anomie towards it resulting from these types of crisis circumstances. Gramsci’s (1990) theory of social change speaks of such crisis circumstances in society, causing weaknesses in the state governance to arise. Therefore, in this case, the state comes into conflict with itself, the staff, and my elderly informants as service recipients. Certainly, Bhabha’s (1994) notions examine conflict at the meeting point between people of different cultures and backgrounds that I similarly found at the meeting of elders in their culture, with that of the indigenous, through their interface with the state. There are also thoughts of confusion within the remit of diversity regarding ethnicity and the BME group. For instance, Mr. Amidon’s suggestion that the temporary position affected his work as a senior manager, led me to ask him what his thoughts were on the scheme being a provision solely for black elderly people. He told me there was no point staying in a BME5 scheme where they become vulnerable and are threatened by isolation from the mainstream. This is because surrounding them with staff with similar colour and culture is not replicated in most other services they encounter in the wider society. Therefore, Mr. Amidon held a paradoxical view concerning this BME structure, because he did not think that it was vital to have a scheme that catered specifically for the black elderly African Caribbean population. At the same time, he also acknowledged the need to cater for their specific needs, by his suggestion that at times they must operate ‘outside’ of the rules to meet the needs of the black elderly West Indian people in the scheme. This paradox is mirrored in the ambivalence that seemed to surround the provision and management of the services, in addition to creating conflicting views amongst the staff, that made the elders feel somewhat problematic. The issues are rather subtle, perhaps unintentional, but I suggest arise from the strategic planning on a national level that is generic and requires further development at the local level. 5

 Black, minority, ethnic residents permitted only in this specialised service.

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Therefore, it was recognised that their BME status is not specifically addressed within the mainstream policies that are used to govern the project, because one operational policy is applied nationally to all schemes regardless of ethnicity or culture. For example, the tenancy agreement and the rights and obligations of the tenant are universal laws, the rules governing social gatherings are controlled under universal guidelines and this leads to local interpretation and manoeuvres to meet the cultural needs of my elderly informants. What appears to be going on is that workers become individually powerful in reshaping local practices, but this brings a threat to working relations and adhering to the formal rules and teamwork, so the scheme managers have to continually monitor each other through their ongoing communications. This adaptive working style also affects my elderly informants who, as a result, are locked in apprehension about what to expect concerning their cultural specificity. Where the abmiguities also affects their sense of engagement with the state, and their sense of belonging, for this situation makes them recognise their marginal status. Mr. Amidon concluded that the scheme is misplaced because it is ‘not part of the care team, as such, and it is straddled between care and supported housing at MHT, so finds itself cast away’. It is consequently inevitable, to him, that this support service is, as he says, ‘difficult to manage’ due to the unresolved issues at play.6 Outdated staffing structure caused operational problems such as residency of support staff. However, he was not empowered to change working conditions alone because this was a union issue. Such issues are outside of localised control; yet, they served to threaten the stability of the scheme, adding to the aforementioned problems. So issues at the scheme compound due to associations with structural issues that transcend ethnicity and culture but impinge on the localised problems. Other operational problems existed, for Mr. Amidon believed that some of my informants did not fit into the service remit because their issues had grown too complex and perhaps needed more support that the project offered, and they needed more support from a care home. Nevertheless, residency reflected the concerns regarding ethnicity and other complex personal and cultural issues they faced in wider society that residents feared may not be addressed elsewhere. 6  When I returned to the scheme in 2018, policy and practice had changed and the scheme manager post was no longer residential.

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Nevertheless, due to his perception Mr. Amidon asked, Can we support a resident to maintain their tenancy within this environment if they are very confused? That’s why there are confused people in the scheme but they still want to live here. If the tenant is confused, it is difficult to appreciate their circumstances and make the right decision. This is a real dilemma and one faced by the scheme managers.

Mr. Amidon continued, Sometimes the residents see the official in a supporting role as interfering and this can cause friction between them and the support worker. The close proximity within which they operate causes issues so these structures are currently being reviewed. You have no option, unless you want to lose your service, but to review your service. This is as much a vital part of the process as staff undertaking tasks such as training and building inspections, support plans devised and reviewed and residents involved in their review processes.

It is therefore apparent that management issues at the scheme are complex and wide ranging. They are multiple and interrelated and bring out the discord that exists internally in the state structures, the state’s response to staffing issues concerning ethnicity as well as internal dynamics at play between black staff and their ambivalence towards this specialised BME scheme. Consequently, my elderly informants experience marginalisation both through  their interface with the state and internally within their BME community.

Consultation and Conflict Gramsci (1990), a figure of revolutionary left politics in Italy, looked for a way to give the southern peasantry an orientation of its own. So he suggested social unrest would ensue and allow them to take action against the pervasive hegemonic system that excluded them from power and suppressed them (Gramsci cited in Boggs 1976). Consequently, he proposed that social change would emerge from the challenges occurring in everyday life that would eventually overthrow the ruling oppressive state (Gramsci 1990). Importantly, Gramsci thought, ‘the political consciousness defining any movement is shaped by the gradual and diffuse flow of ideas and life-­ experiences, involving an organic fusion of the “personal” and “cultural”

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realms within the political’ (Boggs 1976: 59). Following on, Gramsci envisaged first the intellectuals and then the masses would combine ‘converting the structure of repression into one of rebellion and social reconstruction’ (Boggs 1976: 59). Indeed, Gramsci found that the ruling ideological framework or hegemony rested on shaky foundations, but retained power through the unity of Catholicism. Nevertheless, divisions amongst various city-states and clergy existed, so civil society lacked cohesion and this led to factions and cliques within the society that weakened it. I see parallels within the state response to the issues regarding diverse ethnicities and cultures in Britain, that has resulted in a myriad of policies but they are constantly challenged, for the society appears uncertain about the real management of these differences. Though not the high-ranking intellectuals, the workers in my research are state administrators and ordinary individuals. They both oppose the notions of the ruling hegemony and promote it, thereby creating a clash within the state system that threatens it. So through the clashes and alliances state boundaries are pushed and weakened as my informants and workers assert powerful agency affecting their social relations. This undermines and threatens state control, and paradoxically also informs it. Therefore, although the unifying equal opportunities, inclusion, BME, and lately BAME strategies provided the avenue for unity within civil society, there were factions within the operation that weakened the strength of the oppressed and enabled the state to maintain power that I expand on below. Certainly, it is the official mechanism of consultation prescribed by the state that provides arenas where the clashes and differences surface. Attempts to minimise marginalisation through inclusion and involvement of clients in the planning process involve engaging them in service reviews. In this setting, such reviews are part of support service funding contract7 and associated rules and regulations, for these rules ensured an engagement between the state and service users. However, such reviews, though designed to foster inclusion, proved problematic. Representatives of the funding team, who manage the contract on behalf of Lambeth Council, undertook the reviews and monitored the service by conducting user surveys that provided my informants with an avenue to exert their power and influence on policy, service development, and improvement. The 7  At the time of the doctoral research the Supporting People funding scheme was in place. The Care Act 2014 provided new guidelines for the funding and management of social care service provision that also incorporates a service user engagement strategy.

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consultations also provided a forum through which residents could make concerns known. A consultation meeting took place at the scheme within the prescribed format and involved the use of a set of formal questions about the service. I observed this formal process, when attending the coffee morning gathering where the service user consultation took place. The residents entered the lounge and gathered their ‘goodies’ from the usual display available at their coffee mornings. The coffee morning assumed the usual format except the disc jockey was not playing music,8 and it was quiet. Taking a seat in preparation for the meeting, Ms Bello began, It is my job to find out about your views as customers, concerning the support service that you receive. I want to hear about the good points and things that you think need to be changed.

At first the elderly people were not paying attention and subtly continued to eat and to replenish their plates with food, seemingly ignoring her address. Some of the residents and one of the scheme managers, talked together within the meeting about local concerns. A contractor, working on site, came to the lounge and held a conversation with the scheme manager but it was audible to others. Ms Bello realised that some people were not paying attention, so she made an announcement, asking everyone to eat first and then the meeting would be held at a time when full attention could be given to it. As usual those who spoke were mainly the more vocal and assertive members, and those usually quiet remained so. On this note the area manager commented, Some views only represented a minority of the scheme inhabitants’ concerns.

However, these views are the ones heard and most likely to be considered. No one spoke on behalf of the shy or quiet in that moment and they became marginal in the event, although it was their opportunity to air their views. Eventually, Ms Bello said that she would conduct individual meetings with interested residents. She advised them as follows:

8

 The coffee morning is described in Chap. 6.

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There are other forums in the community you can go to and address your concerns and I encourage you to attend them. There is the Older Persons Forum held in the Town Hall. So you must voice your concerns and not feel that you are causing trouble or want to stir things up, as a group you need to make your voice heard because he who shouts loudest gets heard. Some issues are the same all over because the government makes cuts here and there, and the government assumes things are ok when they are not. It is not always about race.

The area manager also informed them, You can also ask a local Councillor to visit the scheme to hear your concerns and views.

Ms Bello then said, I am speaking to you as a black woman so please make your voice heard and speak up.

However, one resident replied, We tenants, sometimes think that we don’t get things lookable9 because we are black, every year rent goes up, get nothing else. Now paying ‘x’ amount of rent, for ‘x’ amount of nothing.

To which Ms Bello replied, I hear you feel your concerns are not being heard.

Ms Bello then asserted, a reaffirmation of her employer’s rules, Lambeth view this as a unique scheme and would like it to continue as it is, you are part of this special scheme. Your concerns are noted and things can be put in place. So you need to continually bring things up as a group, and also go to the tenant’s meetings every three months. I will consider anything raised there.

9  Using the term ‘lookable’, my informant suggests the council does not ensure that the improvements to the physical fabric of the scheme are sufficient to allow the residents to look respectable and be respected.

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In summary, the meeting was fractious and required skilful negotiation from Ms Bello as chair. Mostly, the residents sat looking disinterested, being quiet and thereby disengaged. Their disengagement appeared to contribute to the difficulties she faced addressing them, and inhibited them airing their views, that remained silent. Conversely, I also consider they might not be that concerned with her topics, underpinned by their lack of faith in their voice being heard. Other impediments include co-­ creating disinterest in involvement as well as some being too shy or feeling unable to voice their opinions. However, there was not a unified response, as several voices aired their concerns. Indeed, Ms Bello’s closing remark, stating, ‘I had a lot of questions to ask but decided to focus on the health and safety section of the form for now’, seems to lean towards a difficulty in undertaking the full course of consultation. I wondered if this process would be completed or become too difficult to end and remain as partial consultation, keeping my informants partially included, and whether this was an ever-present scenario. This is not due to her lack of communication skill, but more due to the formal process, and the jargon-filled process that is unfamiliar to my informants, fuelling their apathy. The elderly residents did exercise some input into the decision-making process about the enhancements to be made to the security measures and services they received. Nonetheless, their input was lively but consequently inhibited involvement of the less confident members. Nevertheless, issues of racism are present to the effect that the elderly people believe they are being treated less equally because they are black.

Ethnicity, Culture, and Staffing Other differences between staff further illuminate the notion that the meeting point creates a crisis scenario. Therefore, through further probing into the scheme manager’s wider workplace network and managerial support, the differences between the workers regarding the BME designation at the scheme and the state’s response to the elder’s ethnicity come to light. So, in the course of investigating the interface between the personal care services supplied to the elders, more compromises, contests, and conflicts regarding the notion of inclusion appear. It is clear that the scheme managers, as frontline workers, are the closest to the residents. Therefore, I interviewed both of the scheme managers, Brenda and Andrea, to ascertain the difficulties that they encountered at

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this BME scheme. My task here was to ascertain their perspectives regarding BME and the coordination of their tasks with their colleagues. Both scheme managers told me that ‘being black and of West Indian origin was specified in the advert’ when they applied for the post, to respond to the provision for African Caribbean  black elderly people, in order to provide for and understand their cultural and ethnic needs. (There was only one African elderly woman resident during my research.) I asked them about the management support received that enabled them to provide this culturally specific service. Their responses served to further highlight the existing problems. First, Brenda explained how she felt when she attended meetings with other scheme managers below. Other scheme managers need more training to embrace diversity. I feel that a lot of them are under this old thinking, of well, we are not really different we are all the same. If a scheme manager is talking about something that is culturally specific then it is as though the rest of the team are not all that interested or they give the impression that you are just moaning on, or thinking why can’t you just do this or that and not complain. The lack of understanding of the cultural things, by others, does make the job harder than it is, and the job is hard enough.

I asked them if they received support from their manager or peers in the department. Andrea replied, The real truth is we do not have the support that we expect.

It became clear that organisational issues regarding staffing and management within the BME context affected the bureaucratic process, becoming silenced within it, and compromised the professionalism expected. Nevertheless, there are some positive points. Brenda added, Before Mr. Amidon, we had 1:1 supervision with our line manager which was ok, but not ok in terms of addressing the culturally specific problems. I felt that at that time the particular line manager did not really have a good grasp of it, or didn’t acknowledge it for whatever reason, and didn’t deal with certain things. The person had a poor understanding of the culturally specific problems. When Mr. Amidon came I was able to communicate with him a lot more, and I feel that he supports me as much as he is able, to but he is not the whole of MHT and he is not an island.

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I asked the two scheme managers if they relied on ensuring they supported each other. Andrea replied, Yes. We tend to use our coffee mornings for catching up with each other. We use to meet regularly to talk about what’s going on but we know about what’s going on with each other, from daily contact. It’s all written down or we phone each other.

Not having significant higher tier senior management support they also felt challenged by the recent changes to the working practice. New administrative systems prove burdensome under the recent changes in the funding framework that brought new accountability mechanisms. These provide an added layer to a demanding job, so adjustment challenged their perspectives in relation to working in the scheme. Brenda described her feelings, I feel that I have been consumed with paperwork and that the social aspect of my job, which was the reason that I wanted to do this job in the first place, has totally been put aside.

I hold my hand up to MHT there are lots of courses on offer. We have to do the first aid, manual handling, elder abuse, record keeping, support planning and administration and so on. The new funding structure requires a lot of attention, with tasks that are time consuming. We are continually sent a draft of this and that and we have to find the time to meet with the clients and explain the form in a way that they would understand. Plus, residents do not understand the jargon, because they are West Indian and older, and the cultural thing but they are clear about the service, they should get judged by what they need in a practical sense. Although a lot of the tenants have been here a long time they are still very Jamaican in how they talk, perceive, and understand things. I have really got to break it down and go beyond a plain kind of English to make them understand. Not sure how much of this is understood by our management as well as the enormous amount of time that it takes to process the enormous amounts of paperwork that arrives daily.’ For sure, being able to mediate between the state processes and the elderly residents requires a high level of interpersonal skills and personal judgement, because it includes understanding the cultural nuances of the West Indian (predominantly Jamaican) elderly people. The situation is

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further compounded with the fact that the revealing issues also became ‘additional issues’, and the problematic policies and structures guiding the service provision remained. This dynamic escalation of issues adds to the strains and constraints of the scheme manager’s role and is highlighted within the following statement from Andrea, who shared, where the state provisions, regulations, and culture merge it is difficult. For example, a tenant has needs that make her vulnerable and qualify her to come into the scheme, but having said that she is also perfectly able to supervise the grandchildren that are coming to visit her. This practice is commonplace in our culture. But they cannot stay with her for long periods due to policy. To get any change to this policy, I suppose you would have to make representations to the Housing Corporation. I don’t make the rules. You would have to be represented in your numbers. What you need is a balance because if we are really saying that we want people to live normal lives, domestic lives with support in their own flat, then you have to look at the thing holistically not just in terms of health and safety rules and laws. It’s part of it but you need a balance somewhere. The BME aspect still needs to be developed because there is a difference between the structure and human need.

This statement highlights the complexity and difficulty that working cross-culturally brings to the managers. The BME designation is therefore paradoxical, because the culture of cultural diversity is intertwined with the desire to acknowledge difference on one side, and the inability to fully address it on the other. This situation was not reconciled, placing my elderly recipients uneasily between the two positions getting caught up in the incongruities. Therefore, the position of my elderly informants consequently remained inconclusive regarding inclusion into mainstream society. Similarly, Andrea exposes other issues with the BME service by stating, We have got a housing officer that doesn’t see the need for the scheme to be a black scheme. We got certain scheme managers that haven’t actually voiced it but it is the same thing. A lot of people don’t feel the need for it. I don’t think Metropolitan see the need for it either. There will always be a need for black sheltered housing, there will always be a need because black elders are living longer and black elders have the same needs as white elders, so need help. If a black person wants to go into mixed sheltered housing, fair enough, but if they want the choice of going somewhere where it is there own culture, so be it.

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When I asked, how do you try to cater for their cultural difference given the ambivalence towards this by fellow workers? Brenda answered, saying that ‘sometimes, they take the initiative and I let the residents dictate their needs’. She explained, When I first came it was, ‘whatever you say dear’ and it was quite difficult to get them out of that. They would also say, “You are the Warden,10 you make all the decisions”. Now, we are at a really good stage where tenants are planning and organising things off their own back, but still having respect by coming to us and saying, “We are going to plan a barbecue and we would like to do the cooking. Can you print invitations for me?” My attitude is that, I will try to encourage the tenants to socialise but I will not force them. People ask, “What do they do?” Students who come here to study us have remarked, “It is quiet today”, and I say they are living their lives doing what it is they want to do. I understand how to assist and motivate them and communicate with them culturally and staff must to be able to do this.

Ambivalence and Ambiguity Towards Ethnic Difference As stated above it transpired some staff disagreed with the scheme being a specialist BME service provision. In reality, the services applied were not any different to mainstream services but adapted by residents and staff to suit their needs. The scheme managers allowed the elders to do so in recognition of their difference to the mainstream elderly, so navigate the procedures accordingly. I suspect that this is what the BME designation expects in this context, that is why the two scheme managers and the residents’ race and cultural heritage are complementary, in order to understand the differences and address them. A problem arises in this line of thought because there are legal sanctions to rule breaking, and as part of the adjustments rules are manipulated but I am sure rule breaking is not intended. I therefore surmise that the BME designation is partially employed, and stops at the level of resident occupation and complementary staffing, and the rest requires further development. Particularly because ‘people of African ancestry are obscured in the one size fits all solution to social equalities’ (Henry 2007:21). Therefore, missing particular attention and resolution, I  The title of the job changed from Warden to Scheme Manager.

10

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suggest my informants remain in a structurally subsidiary position within British society. A temporary Housing Officer Ms June, a black woman of West Indian origin, said, Many residents have difficulty with reading and writing and this makes it additionally difficult for them to engage in the high level of bureaucracy that the service generates.

Ms June further indicated that this results from the class bias or education level bias in the state system that excludes such people, and in this instance adds to the cultural differences and distance between the elderly people and the state. As seen above, the scheme manager spends a lot of time navigating the cultural differences. In the role of an enabler, the scheme managers are the go-between, so moderate the links between the care services and the elderly residents, and it is also their role to help to resolve issues. Therefore, their job also involves providing general advice to the residents and signposting them to other organisations in the community who can advocate on their behalf and advise them on any problems that arise. The scheme managers can also refer the elders to organisations such as Age Concern and the Citizens Advice Bureau to assist them with legal, financial, and other advice. Unquestionably, the government set out initiatives so that different departments and organisations that provide complementary services can work together, under the notion of joined-up working. In reality, the services often appear to work independently, and sometimes duplicating against each other, rather than  complementing work together. They often collide with each other and bring the elderly people along through the endurance of an uncomfortable ride. The support provided by the scheme manager is therefore placed in the role as monitor for the resident, for they are the first state officials whom my elderly informants call for immediate assistance. Therefore, part of their responsibility is to construct a support plan with the elders to ascertain the help required to overcome difficulties. Yet, Brenda explained, We talk with the client regarding what they think their support needs are, and what I the scheme manager feel their support needs are. With this we carry out a risk assessment to minimise harmful risks to them.

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I simplify the language on the forms and ask them how they feel about the carer, and the service they are getting. I ask them, “Do you think you need extra support?”, but sometimes the client doesn’t understand the differentiation between support and care.11 I ask them about their health and well-being, is their eyesight failing, if they are slowing down, do they need help to move around the flat. I explain things. I do daily calls to them and if I find the support needs have changed, I make a referral back to social services saying that this client needs an increase in their care package. The social services will reassess the case. They also have access to a local housing officer to sort out their rent payments, the legal jargon and related policy. However, I have to interpret things and relay responses from the elders, depending on how well the other workers understand their language and culture.

Another important factor emerges that shows how the language barrier threatens their BME status as a unifier, and the joint-working relationship between the scheme manager and the housing officer. For two concerns arise: first, the housing officer’s ambivalence towards their language difficulties, that appears incongruent because he shares their same ethnic and cultural heritage background; second, his personal views surface as paradoxically unsympathetic and oppositional to their language difficulties. It transpires that the housing officer encountered difficulties in communicating with the elderly residents, or agreeing with the concept of a BME scheme. Mr. Clark is a black man whose parents came to England from Jamaica. However, his heritage was not a determinant for the post because the housing officer role is generic and he visits various schemes, so he is guided by the general BME ethos. His tasks are about housing management and relate to maintenance of the building, tenancy management and ensuring the rent is paid but it does not include the provision of support in other areas of their lives. However, he says that communication sometimes proved difficult because, some find it hard to understand English, they speak in patois. Sometimes they rely on the scheme manager to explain information because she uses a language they understand. Although some of the residents have been in England since they were 10. Also, white people live in Jamaica so why do they need to live apart from the rest of the community? There should be a scheme where we house peo11  Support work identifies and coordinates their support needs. Care refers to the actual hands on provision of the domiciliary care service.

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ple who have a housing need. We can cater for everybody within one scheme. We can share and take on other cultures to grow – no specific culture can survive on its’ own. This specific black scheme is isolated from others, so if culture is important to you, you should share it.

In summation, three issues appear. First issue is that mainstream policies and procedures are applied to this BME specialist service with dubious effect towards ensuring inclusion. Secondly, there is a split between workers, as some workers straddle between the local needs and their application of mainstream policy. The housing officer would not readily adapt to the elderly regarding their difficulties and differences, but expected the elderly people to conform to mainstream modes of expression. Meanwhile other workers, specifically the scheme managers, disagree and allow my elderly informants to adapt communication to suit their needs. Thirdly, the different approaches put the workers on opposite sides in relation to these issues and contribute to the diversity and incongruities within the BME strategy. This situation thereby limited the development of a sound basis for inclusion into mainstream British society for my informants, but assisted fixing them in a subaltern position.

Personal Care and Cultural Differences In addition to the above conflicts in the designation of the BME status at the scheme and the different views regarding it, I found conflicts also occurred within the delivery of the personal care services, similar to that which Gramsci (cited in Boggs 1976) highlighted with reference to state control. This is because the state’s administration processes were eventually challenged as resistance to the power and control it exerts (Gramsci 1990). Table 7.2 shows residents who were in receipt of help from Social Services. It transpired that men and women were assisted by a carer because they have significant health and mobility issues, with one man and one woman being housebound. One-quarter of the men received the meal-delivery service because they were unable to prepare their meals due to their lowlevel cooking skills. Women who suffered ill-health or had mobility issues also received help from their carer to assist them prepare a meal twice a day, this being mostly breakfast and their evening meal. Interestingly, 75% received the services of a carer, in conjunction with caring received from

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Table 7.2  Help from social services Client

Meal delivery

Mr. Melvin Mr. Bailey

✓

Mr. Earles

✓

Carer

✓

✓

✓ ✓

Mr. Griffiths Mr. Truman

Meal preparation by Carer

✓

✓ ✓

Mrs. Chambers Mrs. Jarvis

✓

✓

✓

Muriel Johnson

✓

Mrs. Baker (a)

✓

Ms. Duncan

✓

✓

Mrs. Jarvis

✓

✓

their family. However, the issue of culture as well as ethnicity also emerged from within these service provisions. The Brokerage department within social services purchase domiciliary care on behalf of the department from the private sector.12 As a result, the Brokerage department have an administering role. Although they do not provide the carers themselves, they do discuss complaints and difficult cases with Z Care13 and another mainstream agency as the care providers. The Brokerage Manager, Ms Jones, informed me, We try to ensure there is an appropriate match of carer to the client. However, this match is driven by workforce ability and the practicalities of work, such as staff availability and travelling time. Alternatives may be ­allocated because we can train staff to work with clients who have a different ethnicity to their own. But the new carer job applicants are most often African – some West Indians are less receptive to having African carers but white and Afro-Caribbean carers are declining, so African carers are often allocated to West Indians.  The integrated service diagram is in Chap. 3.  A company owned by Caribbean people.

12 13

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The Brokerage department also monitor the contract of Care provision against the terms of the contract and resolve problems that arise, if unresolved by the manager of the contracted agency. The Manager Ms Green highlights some of the issues encountered between the West Indian black clients and African carers. She says, You have to talk to those on both sides to address the problems, under the contract and under equal opportunities14 and hear both sides of the story. Sometimes the client just does not like the person because they do not fit into their little world. I talk to one then the other and see who is dissatisfied. If the carer is feeling that they are not doing the best for their client they will not want to go in, there will be absenteeism and I do not want this to occur. I do consider the needs of the client and ask them to show the carer how to cook their way. You get some clients who  can be manipulative so I often reassess a situation after two weeks. We do consider all their cultural needs. In terms of Afro-Caribbean’s, some elders may want their hair braiding, some carers can do it some can’t. If it is just stated there is a requirement to comb their hair and not braid in the care package this will be done, if the carer can also braid, then they will get their hair braided. There may be issues around food where some people like fried chicken and rice, some of us are very good at cooking rice and some of us are not. We will try to change the care worker to one who can perform the required tasks. We can’t always offer it but we try as much as we can. If care workers have been in care work for a number of years they have learnt to cook in different styles. Nevertheless, there are other care workers who have not made the venture into different cultural ways of cooking food.

I assume from this outline that some Afro-Caribbean elders may not get their cultural and personal needs met. Further, their needs might be partially met depending on the skills of the carer. It may also be the case that some elders are particular in how they want their need to be met, or perhaps a problem still remains regarding being able to fully grasp and successfully meet their needs. Indeed, something is missing, when a real need is unmet, and a problem arises where the cultural needs are not understood and acted upon. Nevertheless, although black carers were allocated, my informants still raised questions, as Andrea explained, 14  This is referring to the notion of equality within the BME strategy, where services should respond appropriately to the needs of the client reflecting their age, cultural needs and race.

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Carers come from an agency and for some reason it looks like a lot of black people do care work. However, people do not realise that black people of a different nationality have different needs and handle things differently. So they think they are doing the right thing by sending people from a different country to come and do something for a client here, when that person, their food, their style of cooking is totally different. There are problems on that side of it but recently it’s working out better. I’ve been here years and I have only ever seen two white carers.

Although most carers are black, like my elderly informants, some do not share the same culture, so in some instances dissatisfaction crept in towards the service that they received. The comments from my informants indicate some of the issues that arise. Mr. Melvin’s view about his carer is mixed; he comments, She is an African woman and because African people are not one hundred per cent like Jamaicans, “dem work dem brain to leave things part-way”15. She will clean some of the plates and leave some dirty in the sink.

He did not complain but he was glad when she left, remarking, She was replaced by another African woman but she is better because she is British born.

In summation, the agency providing Carers Manager’s view regarding Afro-Caribbean people implied that the cultural differences can be overcome where the cultural difference is minimised, either by staff being of a similar background or training the carer. Ms Bookman, the Social Services Manager, asserts, the resident does have some choice because if they do not like the service provided they can request to have it stopped, or alternatively, not take the service that is available in the first instance. For example, the home shopping service is undertaken by the XY shopping service, and they obtain the goods from Tesco for their clients. If the elderly person does not want shopping from Tesco they will not make use of this service. There is also the issue of feeling a poor services is received from the service providers, where the identified needs are not met, or older people feel they are treated as children.

 They might not complete all of the task.

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Sometimes there is bad time keeping and instances of staff being rude. They may use gloves to provide personal care that is perceived as offensive or leave before the allocated time with the client ends. However, the carers are not always very well trained and are working for a low wage. Nevertheless, the old people do not challenge much because they fear they may lose the service or receive reprisal treatment from the carer.

Certainly, my following field work note describes a typical scenario of quiet dissatisfaction. Mr. Truman will go out and do his own shopping, he also does his laundry and sometimes the scheme cleaner will clean his flat as a favour to him. He does not cook so he is a recipient of the social services food distribution process. The carer brings him frozen food as part of the meals service and the food consists of West Indian, particularly Jamaican, foodstuffs. He receives meals such as chicken and rice, saltfish, and other ingredients such as calaloo, yam, sweet potato, and green banana. Mr. Truman stocks these in his freezer so that he can use them at his convenience, by warming them up in the microwave that was given to him. Yet, he told me that he does not like the frozen food and avoids eating them. Alternatively, Mr. Truman buys food from the West Indian take away shop in Coldharbour Lane, some evenings of the week, and sometimes a neighbour will give him a meal.

Brenda, the scheme manager, explained that the formal processes of food distribution to people who live in sheltered housing schemes are standardised. If it is apparent to social services that an elderly person needs help in preparing meals, then a meal delivery service will be provided to them. As described above, this service consists of precooked frozen dinners. Alternatively, the carer may prepare a meal for them in their home at the scheme. Indeed, this client group, consisting of people from the West Indies, creates a specific relevance regarding the type of meals presented to them. Consequently, the meals are designed to be culturally specific and are reflected on the menu. Therefore, as far as the social services are concerned, they have adequately met the needs of this client group through the provision of specific dishes. However, Brenda adds that the elderly residents were not satisfied with the meals and rejected them shortly after receipt. Brenda commented,

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I think for our scheme they should just contact a local Caribbean restaurant that has a good chef, with a good knowledge of preparing diabetic foods and such like. They don’t want the Caribbean meals on wheels, they say it is rubbish.

Even so, a minority of my informants did speak up. One elderly respondent, Ms Duncan, complained of her carer to others, as she did to me, when she stated, The carers do attend to me but they ruin my clothes when they wash them. They do not even do all that they should do. They ruined my hair so I had to cut it off.

Another local system of food distribution met the shopping requirements of this group, but was not part of any official service provision. It was created by a local Afro-Caribbean grocer trading in Brixton market, in collaboration with the residents. She explained how her service worked, I have a few clients in the scheme; mostly those who find walking a strain, but are able to cook for themselves, such as Mrs. Jarvis. I take a shopping list from them and I bring their items the following week. I help them to make the list sometimes by looking in their fridge, as they allow me to check if they really need some of the items desired. I especially make sure they do not order perishable items unnecessarily, such as mangoes, and carrot juice, until their stocks are depleted. I take a caring approach and I am not just here to make money out of them, because I like to look after them as well.

It became apparent that the Care services do not fully meet the needs of my informants according to their likes, so at times other caring provisions and relations supplemented their provisions. I also found that the local state policy concerning food distribution did not include a significant variety of appropriate West Indian, fresh food suppliers, in their contracts. As a result, I found localised informal relations in operation, suggesting service provisions require revising and being more inclusive. It was also evident that the resulting issues can be overcome on an individual basis, as individuals continued to affect changes in their everyday life, more than structurally as proposed by Gramsci (Gramsci 1990).

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Culture or Personality Differences Looking closely at the liaison between my informants and their engagement with African helpers, I found that although there are differences between some of my elderly informants and their African supporters, there were also circumstances where the difficulties were overcome. Mrs. Kamara, the cleaner of the common areas at the scheme (and parts of some flats once a week on request), is from Sierra Leone. She fits well into the scheme because she understands the personalities of the residents whom she has been working with for a few years. She therefore commented, I respect them as elderly people and I try my best to help them, if they ask me nicely and appreciate me, then I do things for them that are over the responsibilities of my job.

In fact, they do ask favours of Mrs. Kamara who has built up a trustworthy relationship with them. For example, they asked her to buy them a drink, or a bag of sugar, and other such small items they need. Or they might ask her to put an item of clothing, such as a jacket, into the washing machine or to launder a bedspread for them in the laundry located in the scheme. In relation to Mr. Griffiths’ flat she remarks, ‘you do it and you do more’. She recognises that he is incapable of undertaking the required cleaning of his home, so gave him extra assistance, that she says she gives from the ‘goodness of her heart’. Mrs. Kamara is a Christian and so says she tries to help those who are in need because she does not like to see them ‘suffer’. She therefore advocates on their behalf by acknowledging their needs, silently or openly, using her agency powerfully. Subsequently, when a carer neglected cleaning homes that required cleaning, she made complaints to the scheme manager on the elder’s behalf because she does not like to see the elderly people in unnecessary hardship, proclaiming, ‘I am a human being, I do feel for other people’. Similarly, the handyman, who is also employed by MHT, ensures that the grounds to the front and rear of the buildings are kept clean, changes light bulbs outside the building, as well as in the communal areas, and checks the washing machines and other domestic appliances are working. He also carries out repairs, if a client needs a minor repair in their flat that does not warrant calling out a contractor. The handyman is also African, from Nigeria, and he too finds it easy to work with the client group. He says,

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I try to help them as much as possible because they are old. I can understand they are challenging at times, but that is part of the experience of becoming old, and feeling ill. As well as getting frustrated that they cannot do some of the tasks they used to be able to do.

From my observations at the scheme he was able to communicate with my informants easily and build a relationship with them based on his personality and the familiarity he developed with them. Through this familiarity they were confident to approach him and also engage in social conversations. This ‘personal touch’, and the similar relations developed between them and Mrs. Kamara, the cleaner, helped to reduce the institutionalised feel within service provision and contributed to transcending cultural differences. As I have previously reported, some of the elderly people are unhappy with African carers. However, they do develop a good rapport with African workers, indeed, the hitherto comments related to their interpretation of the cultural differences within personal care and cooking. However, since the cleaner and a handyman perform more functions that do not engage in any cultural specificity, the differences appear to be more easily overcome. So perhaps the seeming prejudice contains embedded critical analysis of a culture clash that surfaces in some areas more obviously than others. This shows that the elderly experience conflict and incongruence when interfacing with other migrant groups, and other black groups that also draws attention to their cultural insularity, difference, and some prejudice/scepticism towards others. In summation I found Bhabha’s (1994) notion that migrants occupy a subaltern liminal space in society, applicable in this instance. For the negotiations that took place between my informants, workers, and the state led to their paradoxical marginal place, even with their BME designation that intended to make them more inclusive in society. Consequently, in alignment with Gramsci (1990) I found that the responses to state processes, that adversely affected my informants and workers, also threatened state control  of them. Thus, I found the Gramscian (cited in Boggs 1976) notion of the social crisis pertinent, and attack on state processes evident. Consequently, the following five themes arose in the interface between the workers, the elderly black informants, and the state bureaucracy. First, the housing association appeared to not deal with the issue of race and ethnicity and this led to conflicting role interface between staff members and the protocol of line management that became compromised, creating

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a dysfunctional bureaucratic system. Caused by the incongruity of the manager’s position, and in my view, that MHT missed the appropriateness of the BME designation, because  it has wider focus than colour and convenience. Second, as a result, of the blanket application of policies governing the nature and provision of care services to this BME scheme, some personal and cultural needs of the elderly were compromised. Indeed, the real day-­ to-­day real operations of this BME service seemed not to be well incorporated into the overall structure. Third, the peer support afforded to the scheme managers from other mainstream scheme managers felt insufficient and generally did not meet their needs, so perhaps MHT could do more to develop a feeling of integration and enliven the application and execution of the ethos of integration regarding the BME designation applied to the scheme. As a result, workers became individually powerful in their application of service delivery, as individual interpretations of the BME designation arose and were played out locally. Fourth, ultimately, this resulted in a lack of organisational clarity, because there were differing views about the application of the BME strategy, and interaction with the elderly people. This resulted in the development of some ambivalence towards the ethnic and cultural specificity by some of the workers. Nevertheless, some differences were overcome as the scheme managers, some carers, the cleaner and handyman responded to the ethnic and cultural requirements of the elderly people. Fifth, in relation to the elderly people, they too appear to harbour an insular focus as their interface with other migrant cultures proved problematic, thus highlighting the paradoxical nature of the BME designation and application. Further, although MHT and Lambeth council recognised the need for a black specialist scheme for elderly West Indian migrants, there was an absence of sufficient specialist BME policies to guide operations. The paradox led to dual systems of operation, as workers developed practices that were culturally specific, but remained unregulated, though sometimes locally challenged within the scheme. Perhaps this highlights the problematic aspects of the governing ethos of inclusion, valuing diversity and meeting individual needs. However, far from being total outsiders the elderly people were intertwined with the state bureaucracy as residents who sometimes exerted their rights to an appropriate service, even though a crisis situation occurred that was unresolved  but creatively managed. Consequently,

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power developed in the scheme among the elderly people, and individual workers who supported the elderly people to negotiate their right to be acknowledged. This entanglement personified in overt but mostly subtle covert ways, wherein the elderly people used complaints as a method to effect changes when the services received were inappropriate, and did not meet their needs, or side-stepped them. Finally, in respect of identity and belonging I found that my elderly respondents were able to assert their identity in the scheme as black West Indian elders. However, at times the state seemed to conflate colour and culture resulting in tensions and frustrations in the interpretation of the strategy that made the elderly informants’ identities ambiguous. In some instances, colour over culture appeared to be of paramount importance. As a result, when colour was addressed it created further issues in respect of valuing cultural identity that consequently influenced their feelings of well-being, inclusion, and sense of belonging. Although my informants are dependent on the state, I suggest the state assumes the role of surrogate family in a more broadened interpretation regarding the notion of fictive family, and social relations influencing associations that are not blood related. Nevertheless, by assisting to maintain the well-being of elders, in place and alongside family, there are tensions and disappointments in this relationship that needs further attention and adjustments. Indeed, integration is often debated with regard to migrant communities, and the elderly West Indian migrants in this research certainly faced exclusion and discrimination along their life cycle in their everyday living. They have been subjected to inclusion, and integration policies, to facilitate their belonging into British society. Nonetheless, they have emerged to occupy their unique place in the British society. With reference to other migrants regarding how they fit into European society and belonging, Olwig (2012) suggests that the word ‘integration’ describes the migrant’s ability to conform to the social norms and cultural values in the society to which they move so that they engage in what she calls ‘proper citizenship’. Consequently, ‘integration’ becomes a determinant of belonging. Therefore, Olwig (2012) found that the Danish welfare system provided integration programmes to incorporate the migrants and was specifically designed to facilitate belonging into Danish society. Thereby, those who do not re-socialise are described as forming ‘parallel societies’, that are in conflict with general society and underpin the conflicts and divisions that occur and interfere with the process of integration. However, the West Indian migrants in Britain did not have an

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integrationist approach to their movement into Britain, but incorporation was forged over time, after arrival and manoeuvres to settle in had already occurred. I suggest, this set their pathway to inclusion on a different way and they remain somewhat in a zone, in a manner that is particular to them.

Conclusion In conclusion, there are policies and processes in place at the scheme to ensure inclusion; nevertheless, problems occur regarding the operation and effects on the elders, with differing opinions among the workers regarding the cultural specificity of the scheme and responses to perceived issues regarding race. Thus, the opposing differences create what I call a ‘volatile friction’ between state policy and the elderly client group that creates ‘disunity’ amongst the group of professionals. Whereby, the professionals and consequently the services they provide are filled with complexity, contradiction and conflict. Even so, the scheme is well managed and maintained to a high standard. Surprisingly, the state seemed to conflate the issues regarding colour and culture, more so addressing cultural issues in service provision. Essentially, though addressing some concerns this often led to the opposite effect of inclusion and the creation of disengagement of the elders from services alongside rising disgruntlements. As a result of the differences, I suggest, there is an ‘oppositional’ reality to the intended BME designation, although the state drives towards unity and inclusion regarding the diverse service recipients. Consequently, the elderly informants were mainly ambivalent regarding consultations that often disengaged them from the formal process regarding change, but often took individual action through complaints. However, they remain regulated by the power of the state through the policies and rules; nonetheless they often manoeuvred around them to exert their self, identity, and manage their well-being.

Bibliography Bhabha, H.K. 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge. Blakemore, K., and M.  Boneham. 1994. Age, Race and Ethnicity: Comparative Approach. Buckingham: Open University Press. Boggs, C. 1976. Gramsci’s Marxism. Southampton: Pluto Press.

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Eisenstadt, S.N. 1968. Introduction. In Max Weber on Institution and Charisma Building, ed. Max Weber. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Fog Olwig, Karen. 2012. The Care Chain, Children’s Mobility and the Caribbean Migration Tradition. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 38 (6): 933–952. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2012.677175. Gramsci, A. 1990. Selections from Political Writings (1921–1926). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Henry, W. L. 2007. Whiteness Made Simple, Nu-Beyond Ltd. London: Blackheath. Papastergaidis, N. 2000. The Turbulence of Migration: Globalisation, Deterriorialisation and Hybridity. Cambridge: Polity Press. Shore, C., and S. Wright, eds. 1997. Anthropology of Policy: Critical Perspectives of Governance and Power. London: Routledge. Supporting People BME Strategy. 2007. www.lambeth.gov.uk

CHAPTER 8

Conclusion

Introduction You can take me out of Jamaica but you can’t take Jamaica out of me.

The above Jamaican idiom reflects the emotional position many Jamaican migrants maintain long after leaving Jamaica, even if they never return. So, acknowledging Chamberlain’s finding, that Caribbean migrants have resisted absorption into British society (2005: 182), I suggest that the elderly people in this study continue to negotiate their position regarding belonging in Britain that harbours local and trans-national influences. Certainly, this research sets out to explore how the roles of kinship and the state influence a sense of belonging amongst elderly West Indian migrants from the 1950s and 1960s within the ‘Windrush’ era of migration, residing in a sheltered housing scheme in Brixton, London. Indeed, the unfolding ‘Windrush Scandal’ exposed in 2018 brought renewed attention to the sense of belonging regarding the Caribbean community in Britain. Hence, it is within the mix of such concerns and the quest to define the British identity that my exploration of how the 26 working-class participants in this research find their position within British society proves pertinent. In addition, their residency in the iconic location of Brixton, London, during what I term, a ‘period of significance’ in black British history is important because of the changes brought by the West Indian migrants, alongside social change and gentrification of the area that also affects the elder’s sense of self and belonging. Of course, how the elders in this research © The Author(s) 2020 A. Allwood, Belonging in Brixton, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54598-7_8

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negotiate their place contributes to the ongoing debate in contemporary British society concerning migrants, their influence, and position in it. The elders are also reliant on the state for both housing and maintenance of their well-being. Thereby engaging in services that seek to respect diversity and promote inclusion for black and minority ethnic communities, I probed into the realities of multiculturalism, and the ethos of inclusion that governs the services they receive and inspected how this affects their sense of belonging. In addition, using Gramsci’s (1990) concepts concerning social change, I interrogated how my informants, and others on their behalf, engage in negotiations regarding belonging. Calling upon Bhabha (1994), I endeavoured to find their placement in British society; however, I depart from his reasoning that they are located on the outside of the contested boundary, at the meeting point of different cultures. Instead, I propose a more heterogeneous response placing them within British society, though still paradoxically acknowledging the differences within the elderly group, and to the host nation state that affects their positioning. This chapter therefore provides a conclusion to the study and intends to excite topical debates that further contribute to the notion of belonging, in particular continuing to look at the impact of migration on the ‘Windrush’ era migrants and their descendants, examining social and cultural continuities and change so that the untold aspects of the journey and residence can contribute to the body of knowledge about this community. Indeed, there have been positive influences into British society from the migrant’s sojourn; nevertheless, there are many areas of concern within the Caribbean community that further debates can address.

The Research Framework Pertinent theory about migration assisted the development of the seven-­ point eclectic framework that I constructed and used to guide data capture, and assess the topical themes that emerged. The seven-point framework consists of (1) looking at the effects of geographical distance/ locality and spatial connections affecting relationships, (2) the effects of globalisation, (3) the resulting personal psychological/emotional factors, (4) my informants’ regional and personal histories, (5) economic factors, (6) their class position, which ultimately brings the involvement of the state in their lives. Indeed, the state attempts to provide services to them in recognition of their ethnicity, and my informants utilise their personal

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agency to assert their identity and affect the service provisions afforded to them. I also include (7) the experiences and adaptations that occur during their life course affecting them as elders. Therefore, the life cycle focus provided the pathway to uncover cyclical patterns regarding gender relations, kinship ties, and belonging within my informants’ families that underpin their contemporary associations, and influence their sense of place. Of course, it is recognised that the migrant’s journey encompasses notions that reflect movement and dispersal attracting the concepts such as identity (Helms 1988), space, and power (Trouillot 1998; Hetherington 1998) to understand them. Wherein identity and belonging have consequently become coupled and cross-referenced. Similarly, those important aspects underscore the gaze of this research because the elders were involved in movement and encounter the consequences on their identity, citizenship, and ultimately belonging. My key research tools, identified in Chap. 1, the narrative and participant observation, proved powerful methods through which my informants could express life experiences. As a result of the multifaceted aspects regarding movement and establishing a sense of belonging to a new place in new communities, complex issues and resolutions were uncovered as they reclassified the idea of home. I applied a mixture of symbolic interaction, phenomenological, and structural approaches, assisted by post-modern and critical theory, discussed in Chaps. 2 and 4, to provide contextual analysis of my informant’s position in relation to the migrant identity. Subsequently, the themes that emerged highlight the paradoxical and complex relationships between the elderly people with each other, as residents at the scheme, their engagement with the state, family, and as migrants within their global and local community.

Research Findings Certainly, the findings show that migration for the elders is about movement, dispersal, displacement, eventually challenging notions of fixity and placement. My findings, in Chap. 3, show that the term elderly is socially constructed from nostalgic expectations held in the Caribbean tradition, alongside that emerging from the age set by the criteria determining entry into the sheltered housing scheme. However, my informant’s views and

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experiences as black elders and residents at the scheme and in the local community show that they form a heterogeneous group, whose elderly status is marginal and ambiguously defined; consequently, they held mixed views concerning their elderhood. Interestingly, some elderly men sought the company of younger women, while paradoxically practicing age discrimination towards other elders, alongside harbouring a multidimensional complexity to their status by being simultaneously continuing fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers. Interestingly, the majority of elderly women did not seek the company of men. Indeed, my informants thought that the state should play a more decisive role to protect them as elderly people. Nevertheless, the state provides them with secure accommodation in which they occupy in individual residential units. Sadly, though elderly, they were also victims of crime, perpetrated by some young people, while other youngsters do support them. Nonetheless, they were secure in their resilient nature and overcame fears and engaged in activities in the community, even though they did not always feel protected, as elders, within it. In Chap. 4, I explored my informants’ formative family relations and examined how migration affected ties. The outcome exposed fragmentation in their formative kin structure, resulting from the profound culture of movement and migration, poverty and exploitation, putting a strain on relations, causing some loss and estrangement with brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles. Indeed, men were often absent or estranged from the kinship ties more than women and both genders experienced a growing sense of individualisation. However, on migration to Britain most held romantic notions concerning returning home, and most with family land connections as proposed by Besson (1979, 1999, 2002, 2005), disengaged from it similar to Solien’s (1959) finding of estrangement and a loss of the bonding power hitherto derived from it. Clearly, the elders had not succeeded in return migration as proposed by scholars such as Olwig (1997, 1999, 2005) because permanent return became unrealistic. Eventually, most attained the status of ‘other’ when attempting to return home that eventually placed them in a subterranean link, similar to that found by Hall (1995). Although a few elders were able to create a place of belonging within the West Indies to varying degrees and length of time, rather than merely being caught in the ‘post-colonial in-betweeness’ (Hall 1995). Overall, I suggest they remained in Britain by default, establishing their residential roots in England, where they receive support from the state and in some cases could look to their children for additional assistance.

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Of course, the elders experienced a similar transitory experience to Gardener’s (2002) findings amongst the Bangladeshi elderly community in England, and Nare (2016) because they created a particular sense of belonging due to their migration experience making return home difficult. I therefore suggest some navigated moving out of, and back into the West Indies, then out again, manoeuvring between cultures, with all being fixed in their uniquely adapted cultural space. Ultimately, they developed particular characteristics, setting them apart from others within society and became a minority marginal group, seen as different, with their own peculiarities. In Chap. 5, I explored the elder’s family of procreation, uncovering similar patterns to those experienced in their formative families. This pattern exposed absent paternal kin ties as a result of migration and personal relationships. Some findings are in contrast to Bauer and Thompson (2006), whose research included middle-class families, found extensive help given to kin members trans-nationally located. Indeed, in my sample the male elder was often absent or left the familial home when his children were youngsters. As a result, such elderly male informants experience a high degree of estrangement from their children, resulting from the marginal input they made to the household and family relations when younger, or lost children to social services. Indeed, the relationships between men and women appeared to be surrounded by mistrust of each other. However, there is other evidence of strengthening localised paternal ties in England. Reynolds (2006) found a variety of supportive and powerful connections that men retain in their families with some of their children, even after the relationship with their mothers had ended, but I found one male was central in the lives of his children, while most had not created firmer roles as fathers and grandfathers similar to that recently uncovered in the Caribbean whereby men increased familial input particularly after devastating natural disasters (Philogene Heron 2016), neither did they grow emotionally closer to sons that Chevannes (2001) found, but remained woefully disengaged. Alternatively, my female informants enjoy more contact and ties with their children born in Britain, predominantly being the sole carer. However, it must be acknowledged that the female elders also experienced estrangement from some children who were born prior to migration and who reside overseas. This separation caused differing degrees of engagement to that of children born in Britain. Nevertheless, the culture among West Indians facilitated a matrifocal tendency, as suggested by Greenfield

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(cited in Barrow 1996), as a default position, and one that I described as arising out of traditional practice and ‘practicality’ where mothers were left by the fathers to care for their children. Therefore, influenced by AndersonLevy (2001) regarding the development of the kinship structure in relation to race, class, and gender, I suggest the female elders secured a firmer basis to establish a sense of belonging locally, through closer attachment to their children. In Chap. 6, I turned my attention to uncovering how my informants bonded as a group in the sheltered housing scheme, and through engagement in activities, I explored their engagement to the local community outside the scheme to find out how this influenced their belonging. The differences between them are generally marked by two important opposing themes, respectability and reputation (Wilson 1973), that also generally mirror the gender differentiations and provide a basis on which fear, mistrust, and petty rivalries exist amongst them alongside peer support. However, my elderly informants interwove their West Indian culture into the social activities undertaken within the scheme and joined mainly with other West Indians in pursuits outside of the scheme. Through manoeuvres and skilful negotiations around each other, my elderly informants maintained a sense of a West Indian community, through the establishment of a cultural collective consciousness. Importantly, I found that my informants were positioned by the meeting of two cultures, similar to Bhabha’s (1994) ‘third space’ where they negotiate their place. They creatively maintained their cultural practices, using their agency as well as being assisted by workers to recreate processes governing activities set by the state, to suit their needs in carnivalesque fashion (Bakhtin 1984). Nonetheless, paradoxically some people are marginal within their created spaces, yet find sufficient affiliation to the group. I therefore find a more layered dimension of belonging than Bhabha suggests because this migrant group harbours internal differences. Overall, I found that although the elders harboured differences, dislikes, and bickering based on gender differences, fear and mistrust, some similarity to the notions of ‘respect’ and ‘reputation’, they were also able to provide support and assistance to each other, as well as being held together under a common bond of ‘other’, black, West Indian, and predominantly proudly Jamaican. Chapter 7 further explored how my informants’ ethnicity and culture impacted on their fitting into British society, specifically focusing on the impact of state strategies to include them, but although the host nation tried to cater specifically to their ethnicity and cultural needs, contentious issues arose.

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Interestingly, while some staff embraced the scheme provision solely for black elders, others held differing views towards the appropriateness of specifically catering for black elderly African Caribbean migrants. Nevertheless, workers advocated on their behalf and some of the elderly informants made their views heard, pressed, and navigated through the system and policies to get their specific needs met. However, the policies were often compromised, alongside the differences between staff, the elders, and the state system, that I suggest created a ‘bureaucratic dysfunction’ regarding the ethos of the joined-up working, in this instance regarding inclusion. Consequently, feeling set aside within the mainstream system and somewhat outside of the designated policies available to supposedly advocate on the elder’s behalf. So they used their individual initiative, with sufficient collective action, to powerfully resist their invisibility. Their actions exposed the contradictions and flaws within the existing structure and policies governing services to this BME (black, minority ethnic) community, and this enabled an insular focus to arise, as a way of protection. They maintained cultural points of collaboration as well as many points of difference with the host nation (Said 1993). Further, influenced by Bhabha (1994) and also Sheller’s (2003) recognition of the subaltern position the migrant occupies, I consequently suggest that my informants occupy a place of belonging that is ‘part of’ British society but located in a ‘subsidiary’ position ‘within’ it.

Where the Elders Belong Most of my informants left the West Indies to improve their economic status and then return home, while a minority ‘escaped’, not seeking a return home, and a few just seeking adventure. The former desire is of crucial importance because most were not seeking belonging in Britain, but have continued making adjustments to remaining in Britain due to the circumstances encountered hindering return that changed their perspective. Ultimately, their culture of migratory movement produced a structure of mobility that eventually became constrained, and the migratory process ultimately creates a certain amount of instability. Hindering their ability to return home, and over time they became ‘other’ in Jamaican society. Similarly, they have become the ‘other’ in England because their ethnic and cultural identity largely keeps them apart from the mainstream place.

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However, I understand the elders do express the basic human need for attachment and acceptance. Nevertheless, I question the desire to fully and only belong in England because of their identity, described by Hall as harbouring ‘WestIndianess’. Herein lies what I call their ‘marginal within places’ position where some tried to go home, with all of them negotiating their place in Britain, yet what they have is not quite enough for the mainstream ‘there’ or ‘here’. So the elderly informants paradoxically become ‘novel’ entities from ‘there’ and ‘here’ as they physically and emotionally maintain their ‘the West Indian’ identity away from home. Nonetheless, these elders paradoxically maintain a dual emotional attachment to their former home and to Britain. Ironically, most elders ultimately are gaining residential stability in the elderly part of the life cycle in Britain, while their dependency on the state and the role it plays in their lives determine and secure their local ties, alongside and in some cases more powerfully so than kin. Consequently, I suggest that the elders’ negotiation of belonging is ‘socio-ethnic-psychological’, for it harbours simultaneous infusing and diffusing cultural associations. These components are continuously realigned in response to the changes experienced in society that affects their sense of self, culture, and community. A contradictory liaison therefore ensues in Britain between them exerting their right to belong as black West Indians, alongside their cultural and racial differences that become problematic, and mark them as separate. However, in the quest to maintain their psychological well-being they could group together bound by culture and shared experience, as they recognise their difference, to the rest of the community in their former country and in Britain. Certainly, the migrants’ place is created through the negotiation that takes place between the migrant group, with particular racial and cultural peculiarities, and the country they enter (Bhabha 1994; Said 1993). However, the cultural differences that come into contact with each other remain insignificantly mutually penetrated so the migrant finds belonging in a newly created ‘third space’. A position he suggests is located outside of mainstream society in a liminal space (Bhabha 1994: 44–45). While I found the elder’s position is facilitated by the fluid process of creolisation, culturally adapting, alongside their inextricable bond with the state, so I suggest the elderly people, using their personal agency, created their unique positioning ‘in’ British society. Nonetheless, this ‘in’ place is positioned in society where there are points of merger and separateness with the host culture.

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Therefore, my informants experience rooting that seeks to re-establish them in Britain, although this becomes riddled with inconsistencies and conflict. The BME policies and procedures seek to overcome the woes associated with exclusion, but they become revised with further polices concerned with inclusion and diversity. As the policies continually change, seeking the appropriate ingredients, to support social transformations, and enable the elder’s inclusion. So influenced by Gramsci (cited in Boggs 1976), I suggest they negotiate their position, with the help of others, to resolve their crisis circumstances that manifest. Therefore, the agency of the elders and the workers provide a response to the twists and turns of the state in their quest to assert their identity and get their needs met to maintain their well-being. Indeed, the attempt to foster a sense of belonging in Britain is difficult, due to the difficulties surrounding incorporation, and the complexities derived from the fact that the urban centre they occupy is so multicultural that the nation state struggles to find a British identity within which to incorporate everyone. I therefore propose this situation paradoxically produces, what I term, a ‘disconnection to full incorporation’. As a result, my informants associate with a localised West Indian community. Situating them not in an external boundary but within society in an ‘internal liminal’ subaltern space. Certainly, in opposition to Bhabha, I suggest that this is a recognised place within British society, as an internal segment. My informants are therefore in British society, in a situation where confusions arise out of the meeting of different cultures, and ethnicities that are continually being worked out. Therefore, I am in agreement with Olwig (1999, 2005) that as migrants they develop a local Caribbean symbolic socio-cultural site through their residency and inclusion into Brixton. However, due to the changing worldwide migration patterns and gentrification, their position in Brixton continually moves but their marginality in it is expanding. Yet, this case study shows the elders can come together peacefully under the human condition of love, with their underlying unity being closer than their differences, and amid loss there is joy. Finally, I suggest that it takes more than one generation to become firmly rooted, for my elderly informants are what I call the ‘transitory generation’, that has begun the process of relocating, that encompasses turmoil and seeks resolutions. I suggest that, although future generations will continue this process to establish firm roots, attempting more integration and belonging in the mainstream, conflicts and crisis might still prove to be segmenting mechanisms that need to be resolved.

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Contribution to Anthropology Certainly Besson (2007) defended Crichlow’s (1994) criticism regarding using the plantation institution as the period from which the institution of family land developed; nevertheless the ideas raised sparked my interest, because Critchlow suggested looking at the institution of family land in the post-emancipation period that I considered. Therefore, although this research is not in the immediate post-emancipation era it is in the period beyond it and life experiences and institutions are influenced by it, therefore I suggest the information concerning the elders’ families in this research will contribute to further understanding the changing influence and relationship to family land in the early twentieth century. This research also provides insight into the contemporary lives of elderly migrant West Indians who reside in the sheltered housing scheme in Brixton. It is a unique anthropological study and ethnography about this particular group of elderly lower-class, West Indian, long-term migrants in Britain. This research therefore adds new information about the elderly people as they create new alliances with the state, and new associations of belonging in England through their residency at the sheltered housing scheme, thereby also contributing to information concerning ageing and elderliness. My research position as inside researcher enables topical discussion on this position, as discussed in the preface, and I also suggest the seven-point research framework can be a model frame and applied to researching migrant communities. In addition, my research findings add to theoretical interpretation concerning liminality and the subaltern placement of migrants. I believe this work will be of interest to policy makers within the state administrative processes who devise services for ethnic minorities, particularly to those with an interest in inclusion, diversity, race, and multicultural issues from the migrant perspective. Finding my male informants mainly estranged from their families, particularly when left as sole carer, opens a new avenue for further investigation regarding the interaction of men with their children, wider families, and the state regarding parenting. In order to advance knowledge of the consequences of migration on belonging, it would also be interesting to pursue further research into the issues of dislocation and the effect that this has on the community back in the West Indies. Questions could enquire into how the local rural lower-­ class communities maintain their roots, kinship ties, and sense of

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community amid the mass out migration, as well as looking at the local effect of return migration, particularly in the rural areas from the local resident’s point of view as migrants remain absent. This focus would provide an understanding of the other side of the coin to see how migration affected the roots of the rural lower-class. It would also be interesting to look at successive generations, such as the second, third, fourth generations and beyond, British born of West Indian heritage, to understand their sense of belonging that would provide information on kinship and cultural adaptation, incorporation, and cultural change through the successive generations and to address contemporary concerns, for example, the alarming rate of school exclusions and growing numbers in social care. Further research among working-­ class Afro-Caribbean elderly migrants outside such a scheme would also provide useful insights into belonging.

Bibliography Anderson-Levy, L.M. 2001. Colliding/Colluding Identities: Race, Class, and Gender in Jamaican Family Systems. In New Directions in Anthropological Kinship, ed. L. Stone. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Bakhtin. 1984. Rabelais and His World. Trans. Helene Iswolsky. Bloomington/ Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Barrow, C. 1996. Family in the Caribbean: Themes and Perspectives. Oxford: James Currey. Bauer, E., and P. Thompson. 2006. Jamaican Hands Across the Atlantic. Kingston: Ian Randle. Besson, J. 1979. Symbolic Aspects of Land in The Caribbean: The Tenure and Transmission of Land Rights Among Caribbean Peasantries. In Peasants, Plantations and Rural Communities IN The Caribbean, ed. M.  Cross and M. Arnaud. Leiden: Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology. ———. 1999. Folk Law and Legal Pluralism in Jamaica: A View from the Plantation-Peasant Interface. Journal of legal Pluralism 43: 31–46. ———. 2002. Martha Brae’s Two Histories, European Expansion and Caribbean Culture Building in Jamaica. Chapel Hill/London: The University of North Carolina Press. ———. 2005. Sacred Sites, shifting histories: narratives of belonging, land and globalisation in the Cockpit country, Jamaica. In Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean.

274 

A. ALLWOOD

———. 2007. Review of: Crichlow, Michaeline, M. Negotiating Caribbean Freedom: Peasants and the State in Development. Contemporary Sociology July, 36 (4): 360–361. Bhabha, H.K. 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge. Boggs, C. 1976. Gramsci’s Marxism. Southampton: Pluto Press. Chamberlain, M. 2005. Language, Identity and Caribbean Families: Transnational Narratives. In Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. Chevannes, B. 2001. Learning To Be A Man. Barbados/Jamaica/Trinidad/ Tobago: The University of the West Indies Press. Crichlow, M.A. 1994. An Alternative Approach to Family Land Tenure in the Anglophone Caribbean: The Case of St. Lucia. New West Indian Guide 68 (1 & 2): 77–99. Gardener, K. 2002. Age, Narrative and Migration. In The Life Course and life Histories of Bengali Elders in London. Oxford/New York: Berg. Gramsci, A. 1990. Selections from Political Writings (1921–1926). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Hall, S. 1995. Negotiating Caribbean Identities. New Left Review, NLR1/209, Jan–Feb 1995. Helms, Mary W. 1988. Ulysses ‘Sail, An Ethnographic Odyssey of Power, Knowledge, and Geographical Distance. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Hetherington, K. 1998. Expressions of Identity, Space, Performance, Politics. London: Sage. Nare, L. 2016. Home as Family: Narratives of Home Among Ageing Gujaratis in the UK. In Transnational Migration and Home in Older Age, ed. K. Walsh and L. Nare. New York: Routledge. Olwig, K.F. 1997. Caribbean Family Land: A Modern Commons. Plantation Society in The Americas 1 (2 & 3): 135–158. ———. 1999. Caribbean Place Identity, From Family Land to Region and Beyond. Identities – Global Studies in Culture and Power 5 (4): 435–467. ———. 2005. Narratives of Home: Visions of ‘Betterment’ and Belonging in a Dispersed Caribbean Family. In Caribbean Narratives of Belonging: Fields of Relations, Sites of Identity. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean. Philogene Heron, A. 2016. Becoming Papa: Kinship, Senescence and the Ambivalent Inward Journeys of Ageing Men in the Antilles. In Parenthood Between Generations: Transforming Reproductive Cultures, ed. S. Pooley, and K. Qureshi. New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books. Reynolds, T. 2006. Volume One: Families, Social Capital and Ethnic Identities of Caribbeans, South Asians and South Europeans. Edited by H. Goulbourne with contributions from Tracy Reynolds and Elizabeth Zontini. London South Bank University, Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group Working Paper No. 20. August.

8 CONCLUSION 

275

Said, E. 1993. Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage. Sheller, M. 2003. Creolisation in Discourses of Global Culture. In Uprootings/ Regroundings, Questions of Home and Migration, ed. S. Ahmed, C. Castaneda, A. Fortier, and M. Sheller. Oxford/New York: Berg. Solien, N.L. 1959. The Nonunilineal Descent Group in the Caribbean and Central America. American Ethnologist 61: 578–583. Trouillot, M. 1998. Culture on the Edges: Creolization in The Plantation Context. Plantation Society in the Americas V (1): 8–28. Wilson, P.J. 1973. Crab Antics: A Caribbean Case Study of the Conflict Between Reputation and Respectability. Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc.



Appendix: Genealogy Charts

© The Author(s) 2020 A. Allwood, Belonging in Brixton, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54598-7

277

278 

Appendix: Genealogy Charts



Mr. Bailey    Figure A

Mr. Bailey

Uncle ____________________ ________ Mr. Bailey’s mother

Roy Mr. Bailey

Grand daughter student who visits him

Key

America

London Deceased

Jamaica Divorced

other England Married

London

Canada

-----Extra-marital affair male -- - - - -

female

Died 21

London Divorced

Jamaica

Died 20 (appendix)

Other England Married

-- - - - - Partner

America

--

male

Canada

Mrs. Baxter

female

London

+ 9 grand children in Jamaica

7 children, 7 grandchildren, 2 in America, 2 in London

2 sons & grand children unknown



Key London Deceased

Died 30 4 children unknown

Mrs. Baxter

  Appendix: Genealogy Charts 

Mrs. Baxter    Figure B

279

Jamaica

London Divorced

Key

London

Mrs. Baker

Married

male

4 children, 4 grand, 1 great grand

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

female

6 children 2 grand children

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

-----Extra-marital affair --- - - - -

Mr. Baker

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



London Deceased

Mr. Baker

280  Appendix: Genealogy Charts

Mr. Baker    Figure C

America

Jamaica

Mrs. Brown

London Deceased London Divorced

KEY

Mrs. Brown

Married

London ------ - - - - Extra-marital affair

male

female

  Appendix: Genealogy Charts 

281

Mrs. Brown   Figure D

Key other England London Divorced

Deceased

Manchester

Married

London

London

Mrs. Coleman

- - -- - - -- - - - -- - -- - ------------------

Jamaica

Mrs. Coleman

-- - - - Extra-marital affair - -----

male

Brixton

female

London

282  Appendix: Genealogy Charts

Mrs. Coleman   Figure K

America

Jamaica

Canada

Mr. Earles

other England

London

male

female



Key

Unknown another Parish

Mr. Earles

  Appendix: Genealogy Charts 

283

Mr. Earles    Figure E

Key

Canada

America

married

Jamaica

Virgin Is.

St. Lucia

NY

Barbados

Miami

London

male

Barbados

female



NY

Mrs. Evans

Father from Guyana, mother from Trinidad, grandmother from Panama

Mrs. Evans

284  Appendix: Genealogy Charts

Mrs. Evans    Figure F

London Deceased

Jamaica

. London Divorced

other England

Married

London

Mr. Graham

male

female



Key

Mr. Griffiths

  Appendix: Genealogy Charts 

285

Mr. Griffiths    Figure G

London

Deceased

London

Jamaica Divorced

America

Married

London

Mrs. Harris

-- - - - - Partner

male

female

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Key

Mrs. Harris

286  Appendix: Genealogy Charts

Mrs. Harris    Figure H

America

Mr. Harvey

Jamaica

Married

London -- - - Extra-marital affair -----

other England

Don’t know much, Lots of scattered children

London Deceased London Divorced

Key

Afro West Indian

male

female



Unknown

Unknown Portuguese

-------------- ---------------Scottish born Jamaican Died aged 28

From Aberdeen Scotland

Mr. Harvey

  Appendix: Genealogy Charts 

287

Mr. Harvey    Figure I

-------

London

Key

Deceased

Other England

mentally unwell

London Divorced

Jamaica

No contact

Married

London -- - - - - Partner

Germany

---

male

female

---



---

Died as a child

Mr. James

Father died when Mr. James aged 4, & mother when aged 1

Mr. James

288  Appendix: Genealogy Charts

Mr. James    Figure J

London

Deceased

Jamaica

London Divorced

Cuba Married

America

Mr. Melvin

-----Extre-Marital -- - - - -

Died when Mr. Melvin 1 month old

- - - - - -

- - - - - - -

male

female



Key

Cuba

Mr. Melvin

  Appendix: Genealogy Charts 

289

Mr. Melvin    Figure L

Jamaica

other England

London Deceased London Divorced

Key

3 grandchildren

- - - -

Married

London -- - - - - Partner

male

7 children, 4 in England unknown

2 children

female

don’t know nephew 7 children

5 children



Mrs. Parker

5 children & grand children unknown

Mrs. Parker

290  Appendix: Genealogy Charts

Mrs. Parker    Figure M

London

Jamaica

Deceased London Divorced

Scotland

Married

---

London

-- - - - - Partner

other England

Lancaster

male

mother’s family unknown, died early

- --------------------------------------------------------

female

Mrs. Scott



Key

Fathers family unknown From another district

Mrs. Scott

  Appendix: Genealogy Charts 

Mrs. Scott    Figure N

291

London

Deceased

Divorced

Jamaica London

--

America

-

Married

London

Mr. Smith

----- - - -

- - - -- Partner

-- - - - - Extra-marital affair ------

male

------------------------- ---- -------------------- - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - --------------------------- --- ---- --- --- --------------------------------- --- ----- -------------

female



Key

Mr. Smith

292  Appendix: Genealogy Charts

Mr. Smith    Figure P

America

Deceased London

Key

returned to Jamaica

Divorced

Jamaica - - - -- Partner

male

other England

3 children to other women

-----------------

Canada Married

Mr. Truman

female

London

Panama

--------

7 children, 7 grand unknown



Born after he migrated and had Children unknown

Lived in Jamaica & S. America

Mr. Truman

  Appendix: Genealogy Charts 

Mr. Truman    Figure Q

293

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Index

A Absent, 162, 266, 267 Acceptance, 62, 270 Accepted, 203 Accommodating/accommodation, 128, 203 Activists in Brixton, 60 Activities, 268 Actors, 57 Adaptation/adapting, viii, 39, 270 Adjustments, 269 Adventure, 269 Advocate, 269 Affectionate, 44 Affinity and acceptance, x African and Caribbean war memorial, 24 African concept of landholding, 47 African Diaspora identity, 39 African heritage, 41 African presence, 41 African retentions, 43 Afro-Caribbean, 273 Afropolitan, ix Age, 265

Age discrimination, 266 Ageing, 75, 83, 272 Ageism, 86–90 Agency, 57, 59, 181, 196, 201, 204, 256, 268, 270, 271 Ahistorical, 56 Alderhood, 75 Alienation, 59 Ambiguous, 93 Arrival, 39, 40 Assessment framework, 64–65 Assimilation into England, 55 Assistance, 266 Attachment(s), viii, 46, 47, 49, 119, 270 to back home, 53 and belonging, 50 B Back home, 38, 46 Bakhtin, 204 Balance authenticity, xvii Behaviour, 50 Beliefs, xviii

© The Author(s) 2020 A. Allwood, Belonging in Brixton, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54598-7

309

310 

INDEX

Belong/belonging, 37, 49, 53, 59, 259, 264, 268, 270, 272, 273 to a community, 63 through family land., 49 and identity, 60 Bhabha, H. K, 5, 59, 181, 183, 189, 191, 194, 226, 232, 237, 264, 268, 270, 271 Bilateral kinship system, 46 Birth mothers, 43 Black, 106, 268 Black British history, 263 Black community, xiv Black Cultural Archives, 23 Black culture, 60 Black elderly African Caribbean, 269 Black elders, 82–83, 266, 269 Black people, 61 Black Workers, xiv BME, 227, 229, 247 Bonded/bonding, 191, 268 Bond with the state, 227 Boundary, xvii Brexit, 58 Britain, 38, 48, 61 adapt to life in, 66 British cultural identity, 39 British identity, 39, 263, 271 British laws and customs, 39 British Nationality, xii British nationality status, 52 Britishness, 57 British society, 39, 59, 106, 264, 271 British state, 49 Brittle, 44 Brixton, xv, 1, 14, 26, 37, 40, 61, 80, 137, 216, 271, 272 Brixton Pop, 29 Brixton Village, 27 Bureaucratic dysfunction, 269 Bureaucratic process, 244

C Camaraderie, 62 Capitalist expansion, 52 Care, 268 for the elderly, 38 homes, 45 services, 228 Carer, 250, 252, 272 Caribbean, 57 Caribbean communities, 44, 61, 263 Caribbean Diasporas, 55, 61 Caribbean kinship, 40–45 Caribbean population, 62 Carnivalesque, 204, 268 Centrality, 93, 157 Central roles, 50 Challenges to the state system, 66 Changes, 51, 255, 271 Changing contexts of the creolisation process, 64 Changing discourse, 60 Changing influence, 272 Children, 38, 45, 50, 266 Church, 41, 211–216 Circular-transmigration, 56 Circulatory migration, 136 Citizens, 64 as a concept of attachment, 64 Citizenship, 49, 139, 265 Civil unrest, 52 Clash, 240 Class, 3, 38, 45–46, 169, 264 Co-existing, 43 Coffee morning, 190, 191, 193, 205 Cohesion, 138 Collective consciousness, 268 Collective personal agency, 66 Colonisation, 52 Commonwealth citizens, 52 Communal activities, 182 Communal lounge, 184

 INDEX 

Communal spirit, 190 Communities, 38, 41, 190, 269 building, 182 of origin, 2 spirit, 79 Complex, 75 Caribbean society, 38 cultures, 54 experience, 54 issues, 40 life experiences, 37 negotiations, 54 traits, 44 Complexities, 39, 42, 225, 246, 260 of belonging, 1 Complex patterns of relations, 46 Concepts, 264 Confidence, 61 Conflict, 40, 49, 260, 271 Confusion and flux, 54 Connect/connected/connections, xiii, 2, 51, 55, 63, 110, 119, 266 with Brixton, xiii with their children, 50 with family, 51 Connectivity, 110 Consequences of the elders’ sojourn, 53 of mass migration, 55 Constant transformation, 126–127 Contemporary concerns, 273 Contemporary experiences, 2 Contemporary lives, 272 Contextual analysis, 265 Continual conflict, 53 Contradictions, 269 Contrasts, 63 Contribute, 272 Co-operative, 44 Co-residential, 41 Cosmological, 130

311

Counter-hegemonic, 57 Counterposed and interlocked principles, 185 Creating belonging, 43, 59 Credibility, xvii Creole culture, 41 Creolisation, 38, 270 Crisis, 57, 58, 189, 232, 237, 243, 257, 258, 271 Critical thinkers, 62 Cross-culturally, 246 Cultural adaptation, 273 Cultural and social development, 38 Cultural change, 273 Cultural compression, 54 Cultural continuities and re-inventions, 57 Cultural difference, 183, 258 Cultural identification, 39 Cultural identity, 39, 66, 226 Cultural lifestyles, 57 Cultural practices, 268 Cultural shift, 50 Culture, viii, 39, 57, 182, 225, 268, 269 Cyclical patterns, 265 D Daily life, 40 Decolonisation, 52 Default, 139, 158, 266 Definitions of citizenship, 63 of family, 42 Dependent relationship, 124 Descendants, 264 Destabilisation, 54 Detachment, xviii, 46 Deterrorialised nation state, 55 Development of self, 61

312 

INDEX

Diaspora, 44 Differences, x, xvii, 39, 42, 181, 182, 268 Different approaches, 63 Differing views, 269 Dignity of elders, 93 Direct circumstances, 145 Disappointments, 129 Disconnection, 110 Discrimination, 59, 60, 63, 128 and exclusion, vii Disengaged, 266, 267 Disjuncture, 42, 55 Dispersal, 121, 265 Dispersed familial structure, 124 Dispersed family, 110 Dispersed kin networks, 37 Displaced, 60 Displacement, 265 Distance, 110, 119, 123 Diverse, 40, 44 Divorce, 45 Dominoes, 190, 204–206 Dual gender position, 158 Durkheim, 130 Dysfunctional bureaucratic system, 258 E Eclectic cultural fusion, 12 Economic and social change, 53 Economic migration, 121 Economic reasons, 52 Effect of migration, 2 Ego, 53 Elderhood, 83, 86, 89, 266 Elderliness, 272 Elderly, 75, 265 Elderly men, 45 Elderly migrants families, 37 Elderly migrant West Indians, 272

Elderly people, vii Elders, 38, 48, 59, 266, 267, 271 Emotional attachment, xii, 125 Emotionally determined, viii Employment, 127 Empowerment and marginalisation, 59 Enfranchisement, 46 Engaged, 266 Engagement, 42, 52, 268 Engaging children and grandchildren, 150 England, 109, 269, 272 Entrepreneurialism, 45 Entry of children, 51 Equalising family binding mechanism, 47 Equalities ethos, 225 Equality, 58, 170 Equal opportunities, 105 Equal opportunities policies, xiv Escape, 127 Estranged, 168 Estrangement, 266, 267 Eternal hope, xii Ethical detachment, xviii Ethnic communities, 264 Ethnic group, 44 Ethnicity, 264, 268 Ethnographic, 37 case study, 37 An Ethnography of Migrant West Indian Elders in Brixton, London, 1 Ethos, 269 European influence, 41 European traditional, 214 Everyday life, 37, 255 experiences, vii Evolving, 57 Excluded, 48, 128 Exclusions, 40, 58, 82–83, 182, 271 Exert their power, 58

 INDEX 

Existing order, 57 Experiences, 266 Exploitation, 266 Explore belonging, viii–xii Extended, 126 connections, 42 family, 119 External boundary, 271 Extra-residential, 44 F Factions, 182, 190, 196 Factual, xviii Faithful concubinage, 43 Familial engagement, 42 Familial form, 42 Familial home, 267 Familial input, 267 Familial structure, 114, 150 Families/family, 2, 38, 45, 50 affect belonging, 2 bonding and belonging to a place, 66 connections, 40, 115 experiences, 42 form and connection, 46, 49, 110 household, 43 land, 47, 266, 272 members, 2, 43 of orientation and family of procreation, 168 of orientation and procreation, 64 of orientation patterns and connections, 111 of procreation, 143 organisation, 47 patterns, 41 relations and gender differences, 143–178 structure, 110

313

ties, 45 units, 41 Fantasy adventure, 126 Fascination, 57 Fatherhood, 49 Fathers, 267 Father-son bond, 50 Fear, 268 Female, 267 Fields of relations, 110 Financially supported, 50 Five-year plan, 51 Fixity, 265 Flaws, 269 Fluid, 90, 270 Foreclosure, 48 Form, 44 Formalities, 228 Formative, 109 families, 43, 267 family relations, 266 households, 50 Fractions, 52 Fractures in connections, 51 Fragility, 161 Fragmented family connections, 37 Freedom, 56, 126 Freedom of movement, 52 Friends, 2 Friendships, 42 Function, 44 Funeral, 205 Future, 39 G Gender, 3, 38, 106 differences, 149, 268 equality, 47 patterns, 49 roles, 49

314 

INDEX

Genealogies, 6 Genealogy charts, 144 Generational loss, 158 Gentrification, 14 Geographical distance, 264 Geographical separations, 118 Global, x Global community, 265 Global economy, 52 Global encounter, 55 Globalisation, 4, 264 Governing services, 269 Gramsci, A., 5, 57, 58, 181, 189, 191, 196, 201, 226, 237, 264, 271 Grandparents, 45 Grass roots, 60 Group, 268 Grow old, 44 H Hardship and oppression, 56 Health, 38 Help from social services, 251 Heterogeneous, 75, 85, 106, 264 Historical claim, 40 Historical perspective, 64 History, 45, 61 Home, 124, 270 Hostile environment, 139 Hostile environment policies towards immigration, 63 Host nation, 268 Household, 54, 267 Household group, 44 Housing scheme, 38 Hybrid persons, 59 I Iconic, 1 Idea of home, 39 Identification, xvi

Identity, 38, 53, 60, 125, 194, 226, 259, 265, 269–271 and citizenship, 49 and fixity, 53 Illegitimacy, 43 Immigration control, 51 Immorality, 43 Impact of migration, vii Impediment, 40 In-between place, 195, 232 In-between space, 60, 194 Include, 268 Inclusion, 40, 58, 228, 243, 258, 269 Inclusion Policy, 226 Inclusive, 82 Incongruity, 158 Inconsistencies, 271 Incorporation, 54, 273 Increasing involvement of men, 50 Independent, 125, 126 Individual, 42, 266 Individualisation, 125, 160, 266 Individualised, 54 Individualistic focus, 125 Individualistic identity, 126 Individually powerful, 238 Influences, xviii, 44 Influential ideas, 60 Informal networks, 61 Informants, 144 Inheritance, 47 Inside, 59 Inside Brixton Village, 28 Insider researcher, xvi Insight, 272 and blindness, xvii Institution of family land, 47 Institutions, 39, 41, 58 Integrated, 117 Integrated care provision, 77 Integration, 58, 127, 137, 138, 258, 271

 INDEX 

Interest in belonging, viii Interface, 2 with state services, 37 Intergenerational care, 56 Inter-generational pattern, 178 Interlocking influences, 3 Internal, 109, 123 Internal subaltern placement, 222 Interplay of culture, 183 Interpretations, xviii Inter-related events, 37 Isolation, 59 Issues, 40 J Jamaican, 268, 269 Joined-up problems, 83 Joined-up working, 248, 269 Journeying, 54 K Key features, 110 Kin members, 59 Kinship, 159, 263, 273 event, 49 structure, 160 ties, 272 using their agency, 64 L Lambeth Town Hall, 21 Land, 38 Layered dimension, 268 Legacy, vii, xii of the ‘Windrush’ migration, 1 Life course, 37, 42, 83, 265 Liminal/liminality, 257, 272 Limited kin associations, 124 Linkages to a place, 46

315

Link with children relationship status and gender differences, 148–149 Lobby, 58 Local and global, 60 Local community, 63, 181, 265, 268 of residence, 2 Local experiences, 60 Localised West Indian, 271 Localities, 182 Local placement, 37 Location, 60 London, 37, 39 Longstanding professional, xii Long-term migrants, 130, 272 Loss, 38, 51, 123 Loving, 44 Lower-class, 58, 272 Lower-class black family, 40–45 M Maintaining connections back home, 55 Maintaining kinship, 46 Male lineage, 50 Male marginality, 49 Management tool regarding inclusion, 60 Managing diversity, 105 Manoeuvres, 268 Manoeuvring, 38 Map of Brixton, 20 Marginal, 268 group, 267 input, 267 place, 106, 241, 257 Marginalisation, 76, 239, 240 Marginalised/marginalising, 45, 59, 86 within Brixton, 221 Marginality, 93 Married, 45

316 

INDEX

Material space, 57 Maternal kin, 118 Matrifocality, 3, 49, 118, 157 ‘Matrifocal tendency through practicality,’ 178 Mayor in Lambeth, 62 Meeting, 52 Meeting point of different cultures, 264 Meet their needs, 54 Membership, xvii Memories, 8, 39 Men, 266 Merger, 270 Middle-class, 56, 267 Migrants, 40 Migration, 37, 48, 50, 52, 109–139, 266 and belonging, 51–52 on the individual, 66 journey, 56 process, 39 Minority, 267 Mistrust, 268 Modern kinship systems, 55 Monogamous unions, 41 Mother–child inter-generational bonds, 174 Motherhood, 45, 129 Motivation to travel, 127 Move, 53 Movement, 43, 52, 55, 110, 143–178, 265, 269 and settlement, viii Multicultural, 271 Multicultural community, 137 Multiculturalism, 60, 138 Multidimensional complexity, 266 Multifaceted views, 76 Multi-layered approach, 1

Mural ‘Remain, Thriving,’ 22 Mural ‘Stay in Peace,’ 21 Mutual aid, 195 Mutual support, 38, 195–198 Myths, 53, 131 N Narratives, 7 Navigate/navigated/navigation, ix, xi, 39, 54, 267, 269 Navigated connection, 63 Needs, 269 Negotiate/negotiated/negotiations/ negotiating, 1, 37, 49, 264, 268, 271 their belonging, vii of their identity and culture, 59 their needs, 57 their place, 40, 183 sense of belonging, 119 Network, 110 Neutrality, xviii New alliances, 272 New associations, 272 New information, 272 New place, 39 Nine-night, 195 Non-conformity, 191 Notion of belonging, 37, 38 of elderliness, 83 Nuclear family, 44, 126 O Objectification, 57 Objectified in objects, 8 Objective, xvi Older people, 53

 INDEX 

Operational policies, 229 Operational problems, 238 Opposing faces, 204 ‘Oppositional’ reality, 260 Organisational shape, 44 ‘Other,’ 132 Outcast, 61 Out-migration, 109, 113 Outside/outsider, 59, 159, 269 P Paradox/paradoxical, 85, 86, 105, 106, 158, 170, 222, 228–230, 237, 240, 249, 257, 258, 268 circumstances, 124 images, 76 uncertainties, 53 Parenting, 272 Parenting roles, 43 Parties, 205 Partners, 45 Paternal, 118 Patterns, 112 of relatedness, 50 of relations, 37–38 of relationships, 44 Peculiarities, 42, 267 Peer support, 194, 258, 268 Period of significance, 15, 263 Permanent move, 130 Personal agency, 60, 61, 226, 264–265 Personal and academic interest, vii Personal care services, 250 Personal choice, x Personalised mindset, 42 Personality, xviii Personal perspectives, 52 Personal psychological, 264

Personal relationships, 267 Personhood, 159 Perspective, 269 Petty rivalries, 268 Place, 38, 40, 46, 264 Placement, 60, 264, 265 Place of belonging, 47, 269 Planting roots, 139 Plural society, 45 Points of merger, 54 Polarities, 59, 130 Policies, 229, 230, 250, 258, 260, 269, 271 applications, 60 of inclusion, 66 Politically engaged, 46 Political structures, x Position, 138, 264, 271 Post-colonial in-betweeness, 266 Poverty, 266 Power of separation, 55 Power relations, 66 Practical, 118 Prejudice, 128 Present, 64 Privatised, 54 Problems, 252 Procedures, 228, 230, 250 Process, 230 Professionals, 225 administration, xiii self, xvii Promiscuity, 43 Psychological dislocation, 134 Psychological traumas, 54 Q Qualifications, xvii

317

318 

INDEX

R Race, 40, 66, 169 and cultures, 52 politics, 40 Racial and cultural background, xvi discrimination, 40 Railton Road, xiii Readjustments, viii Re-align/re-alignment, 38, 51 Re-attachment, 109 Rebellions, 45 Rebuilding, 3 Recent generations, 50 Reconstructions, 46 Recreate processes, 268 Re-establish/re-establishment, 39, 271 Reflexive researcher, xviii Reflexive self-exploration, viii Refocus, 51 Refocusing after migration, 51 Refuge, 125 Re-intervention, 55 Re-inventions, 194 Rejected, 59 Relatedness, 42, 58 Relatedness apply, 42 Relations, 119 with their children, 144 Relationship breakdown, 45 Relationships, 40, 42, 264, 267, 272 Reliant on the state, 51, 123 Relocating, 121, 271 Remained unheard, xv Remaining, 269 Remodel culture, 41 Renewed sense of exclusion, 221 Replaced, 59 Reposition, 58 Reputation, xvii, 45, 184, 187, 204, 211, 268

Research and assessment framework, 55 Research findings, 265–269 Research framework, 37 Research tools, 265 Reshaping, 53 Residency, 50, 54, 110 Residential rights to land, 46 Residents, 37 Resilience, 45 Resistance, 53 Resistant, 59 Resolve problems, 252 Respect, 93–100, 106, 187, 204 and reputation, 268 Respectability, 45, 184, 205, 268 Respectable feminism, 45 Restricted, 48 Retirement, 44 Return, 109, 132, 269 home, 47, 269 to Jamaica, x migration, 273 Revolutionary tradition, 57 Riots in the 1980s, xiii Rituals, 205 Roles, 267 Romantic, 266 ‘Romantic’ fantasy, 130 Roots, 38, 119, 266, 271 S St. Matthew’s Church, 25 Sankofa, 62 Scheme managers, 79 Self, 49, 56, 57 Self-accountability, xvii Self-define their masculinity, 49 Self-determination, 49 Self-determined, 126

 INDEX 

Self-sufficient, 44 Sense of attachment, 39 Sense of being, 57 Sense of belonging, 1, 37, 49, 53, 59, 63, 64, 216, 225, 226, 267 Sense of cohesion, 56 Sense of community, 181, 272–273 Sense of peace, 62 Sense of self, viii, 46, 62, 194 and belonging in Britain, xi Sense of uselessness, 44 Separateness, 270 Separations, 43, 123 Settlement, 40, 60, 62 Seven-point eclectic framework, 65, 264 Shape the elderly role, 76 Sharing, 44 Sheltered housing scheme, 1, 37, 63, 265, 268, 272 communal kitchen at, 78 communal laundry in, 78 integration of services at, 81 professional services provided at, 82 view from the hallway at, 79 Shifting perspectives, 60 Siblings, 123 Significant time in British history, 1 ‘Silently enforced’ migration, 53 Similar heritage, xvi Similarities, xvii Single mothers, 45 Skewed shape, 44 Slavery, 41 Smith, R.T., 49 Social, 58 activities, 187, 188, 268 capital relationships, 49 change, 57, 189, 196, 204, 229, 264 construction of ageing, 76

engagements, 205 and political issues, xvii process, 59 relations, 39, 42, 43 transformations, 271 Socialisation, 38, 144 Socially excluded, 83 Socially marginalised, 12 Society, 271 Socio-cultural boundaries, 54 Socio-cultural differences, 54 Socio-cultural mix, 54 Socio-cultural site, 49 Socio-economic circumstances, 41 Sole occupancy, 44 Sole occupancy households, 42 Solidarity, 49, 132 Space, 267 Spatial connections, 264 Spatial relations, 119 Spatial separations, 112 State, 2, 59, 225, 226, 263, 266, 270, 272 State power, 40 State processes, 257 State services, 2, 42, 225 for support, 66 State social policy, 54 State strategies, 268 State workers, 2, 181 Status and well-being as elders, 50 Stay, 40 Stayed in Britain, 47 Stories, xv Strategic planning, 237 Strengths, 44 Strong, 121 Structural changes, 83 Structural issues, 238 Structure, 114, 269 Struggle for identity, ix

319

320 

INDEX

Subaltern, 66, 257, 272 position, 250 space, 271 Sub-cultural, 44 Subsidiary position, 248 Subterranean, 266 Successive generations, 273 Support, 42, 51, 144, 271 and care services, 231 service, 80, 227 Supporting their children, 50 Supportive, 267 Surrogate family, 226 Survival mechanism, 125 Symbolic, 48, 271 cultural attachment, 49 role, 47 System, x, 269 T Themes, 37–38 and perspectives, 37 Theoretical considerations, 37 Third space, 183 Ties to land, 46 Time, 38 and space, 54 and space as markers of movement, 53 Time-space concepts, 55 Topical debates, 264 Traditional, 42 Traditional boundaries of location, xvi Traditionally fixed, 53 Transcending cultural differences, 257 Transgression, 53 Transitional, 59 Transitions, 39, 60, 136 Transitory experience, 267 Trans-national dispersal, 37 Transnational flying grannies, 45

Trans-nationalism, 53 Trans-national migration, 123 Transnational placement, 52 Trauma/traumatic, 54, 62 Trauma transferred, 62 U Un-belonging, ix, 222 Under researched, vii Understanding belonging, 38–40 Unemployment, 52 Unequal power, 38 Unequal society, 39 Unique anthropological study, 272 Uniquely adapted, 267 Unique position, 56, 270 Unrestricted cognatic descent system, 47 Unrootedness, ix V Values, xviii Valuing diversity, 57 Varied Diaspora, 54 Variety of arrangements, 43 Variety of ways, 118 Views, 265 Villages and towns, 51 Visiting home, 47 Visiting relations, 44 Volatile friction, 260 W Weaknesses, 44 Weber, Max, 229 Welfare of the elders, 52 Well-being, 38, 40, 54, 59, 77, 264, 271 and sense of belonging, 2

 INDEX 

West African polygamy, 41 West Indian community, 268 West Indian family, 49 West Indian heritage, 83 West Indians, 268, 270 West Indian self, 127 West Indian spiritual, 214 West Indies, vii, 38, 41, 56 Where the elders belong, 269–271 Wilson P. J, 184 Windrush, 138 Windrush Day celebrations, 4, 182 Windrush era of migration, vii, xii, 1, 13, 62, 263, 264 Windrush migrants, 58

Windrush Scandal, 3, 138, 263 Windrush Square, 23 Wives and partners, 50 Women, 266 Workers, 238, 268, 271 Working-class, 56 Working mothers, 45 World War II, 3 Y Younger generation, 94 Younger women, 266 Young people, 86–90, 266 Youth centre, 26

321