Creolisation of London Kinship

In the last 50 years, the United Kingdom has witnessed a growing proportion of mixed African-Caribbean and white British families. With rich new primary evidence of ‘mixed-race’ in the capital city, The Creolisation of London Kinship thoughtfully explores this population. Making an indelible contribution to both kinship research and wider social debates, the book emphasises a long-term evolution of family relationships across generations. Individuals are followed through changing social and historical contexts, seeking to understand in how far many of these transformations may be interpreted as creolisation. Examined, too, are strategies and innovations in relationship construction, the social constraints put upon them, the special significance of women and children in kinship work and the importance of non-biological as well as biological notions of family relatedness.

“This study throws light on social constraints and possibilities at a time of increasing national debate on migration, race and ethnicity. Bauer yields important new information of value to policymakers – with implications for multi-ethnic, multi-cultural areas everywhere.” Elizabeth Thomas-Hope, Professor of Environmental Management and Director, Centre for Environmental Management, University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica “Given the great numbers and growth of mixed African-Caribbean and white British families in Britain, Bauer’s book provides a valuable and insightful study of extended mixed families and kinship in the UK.” Miri Song, Reader in Sociology, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent, United Kingdom “Elegantly bringing together family sociology and ethnic/racial studies, and in a historical perspective, Bauer examines how, in confronting racism during the making of creole kinship, families become sites of resistance.” Stéphanie Condon, National Demographic Institute (INED), Paris, France

Elaine Bauer is an anthropologist focusing on aspects of international migration, race and ethnic relations and family and kinship. She is co-author of Jamaican Hands Across the Atlantic, a fellow at the Young Foundation and an associate fellow at the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London.