Postcolonial Migrants and Identity Politics

These transfers of sovereignty resulted in extensive, unforeseen movements of citizens and subjects to their former countries. The phenomenon of postcolonial migration affected not only European nations, but also the United States, Japan and post-Soviet Russia. The political and societal reactions to the unexpected and often unwelcome migrants was significant to postcolonial migrants’ identity politics and how these influenced metropolitan debates about citizenship, national identity and colonial history. The contributors explore the historical background and contemporary significance of these migrations and discuss the ethnic and class composition and the patterns of integration of the migrant population.

These transfers of sovereignty resulted in extensive, unforeseen movements of citizens and subjects to their former countries. The phenomenon of postcolonial migration affected not only European nations, but also the United States, Japan and post-Soviet Russia. The political and societal reactions to the unexpected and often unwelcome migrants was significant to postcolonial migrants’ identity politics and how these influenced metropolitan debates about citizenship, national identity and colonial history. The contributors explore the historical background and contemporary significance of these migrations and discuss the ethnic and class composition and the patterns of integration of the migrant population.

List of Figures and Tables
List of Abbreviations

Introduction: Postcolonial migrations and identity politics: Towards a comparative perspective
Ulbe Bosma, Jan Lucassen and Gert Oostindie

Chapter 1. Postcolonial Immigrants in France and their Descendants: the Meanings of France’s "Postcolonial Moment"
James Cohen

Chapter 2. Postcolonial Migrants in Britain: From Unwelcome Guests to Partial and Segmented Assimilation
Shinder Thandi

Chapter 3. Postcolonial Migrants in the Netherlands: Identity Politics versus the Fragmentation of Community
Gert Oostindie

Chapter 4. Postcolonial Portugal: between Scylla and Charybdis
Margarida Marques

Chapter 5. Return of the Natives?  Children of Empire in Postimperial Japan
Nicole Leah Cohen

Chapter 6. Postcolonial Immigration and Identity Formation In Europe Since 1945: The Russian Variant
Allison Blakely

Chapter 7. The Puerto Rican Diaspora to the United States: A Postcolonial Migration
Jorge Duany

Bibliography
Notes on the Contributors
Index