A Passage to England

Barbadian Londoners Speak of Home

1992
Author:

John Western
Foreword by Robert Coles

A Passage to England is a very readable, carefully thought-through work. I couldn’t put it down! It is of interest beyond the specialties of geography and social science because it provides the material and addresses the issues of a topic of increasing importance to contemporary society, namely, multiculturalism-what it implies for the world today and for the world’s future.

Yi-Fu Tuan, University of Wisconsin, Madison

John Western teaches at Syracuse University, where in 1987 he won the Daniel Patrick Moynihan social science award and in 1990 the College of Arts and Science’s prize for undergraduate teaching. In 1991 he won a Distinguished Teaching Achievement award from the National Council for Geographic Education. He previously taught at Temple and Ohio State universities, and is the author of Outcast Cape Town (Minnesota, 1981). Raised in England, he lived in Burundi, Canada, and South Africa before settling in the United States. A Passage to England is based upon fieldwork pursued while on leave at the London School of Economics in 1987-1988. Robert Coles is Norman Tishman Lecturer in Psychiatry at Harvard University and the author of Children of Crisis and The Spiritual Life of Children.

A Passage to England is a very readable, carefully thought-through work. I couldn’t put it down! It is of interest beyond the specialties of geography and social science because it provides the material and addresses the issues of a topic of increasing importance to contemporary society, namely, multiculturalism-what it implies for the world today and for the world’s future.

Yi-Fu Tuan, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Informational content is not the only reason to recommend this work to just about any intellectually alert book lover. Western writes with grace and lucidity. Amidst a welcome, questing, growing new literature on the meaning of place and place-making, A Passage to England is a contribution one dare not overlook.

National Geographic Research and Exploration

A vivid account of the experiences, aspirations and achievements of migrant and British-born groups of Barbadians, who speak at length on topics ranging from the migrant and settlement experience to views of ‘home’. Western uses these accounts to highlight not only the obstacles faced by this group in securing work and housing but also the ingenuity and strength of the migrant families in circumventing constraints and making the most of life in Britain.

Transactions

Western’s book, should be compulsory reading for scholars not only of the Caribbean, but of immigration studies in general.

New West Indian Guide