1st Edition
Brexit and the Migrant Voice EU Citizens in post-Brexit Literature and Culture
Brexit and the Migrant Voice provides a platform for the perspectives of European citizens and migrants living and working in the UK by assessing their representation in British and European cultural productions (literature, drama, the media) and by foregrounding their attitudes, their fears, and their concerns about Brexit.
The book looks at Brexit through the eyes of Britain’s European citizens (‘Europe in Britain’), while also looking at European perceptions of Britain as a nation (‘Britain in Europe’), via a geographical journey – from West to East –across Europe. The book assesses how these countries, their citizens, and their cultural productions engage with the questions and challenges posed by Brexit. It brings together an exciting line-up of European academics and scholars, both early-career and well-established, from a variety of subject disciplines. Some live and work within UK Higher Education Institutions and thus look at Britain from within, while others reside within their countries of origin and look at Britain from the outside. Their chapters assess Brexit via a plethora of cultural outputs – Brexit fiction from their individual countries, opinion pieces, press discussions, but also narratives of compatriots affected by the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. The authors’ individual focal points on fiction, journalism, blog posts, theatre performances, and other cultural productions offer an innovative and comprehensive picture about thoughts on Brexit from around Europe that will fill an important gap in the market.
This book will appeal to the academic market at undergraduate, postgraduate, and academic researcher level in a wide variety of disciplines including Literature, Politics and International Relations, European Studies, History, Cultural Studies, Sociology, and Media Studies.
Part I: Introduction
Introduction: Brexit and the (Lack of) the Migrant Voice
Christine Berberich
Part II: Europe in Britain and Britain in Europe: A European Journey
1 Intimate Borders: Brexit and Ireland
Eugene McNulty
2 Europe in Britain: The Marginalised Voices of EU Migrants in Contemporary British Brexlit
Christine Berberich
3 ‘We’re All EU Citizens, But Some Are More Migrants Than Others’: The Impact of Brexit on the Portuguese Community Residing in the United Kingdom
Helena Carrapico
4 Disoriented Voices over Brexit: The Spanish Experience
Rosario Arias
5 Italian Brexit Blues
Sara Alessio
6 Splendid Consultation: Jochen Buchsteiner Reports on Brexit and Britain
Christoph Ehland
7 Responses to Brexit in Finnish Popular Culture
Jopi Nyman
8 The Eastern European "Other" in Literary Representations of Lithuanian Im/Migrants in Britain
Irena Ragaišienė
9 The Contribution of Polish Writers to the Brexit Debate
Joanna Kosmalska
10 The Voice of the Third Party: Brexit in Romanian "Migrature"
Roxana Patras
11 Russian Writers on Brexit in 2019
Ivan Pilchin
Part III: Epilogue
Epilogue: On Shit-Dollop Lane
M. G. Sanchez
Biography
Christine Berberich is a Reader in Literature at the University of Portsmouth, UK. She has published widely in the field of Holocaust Studies, as well as on National Identity Construction, in particular Englishness.
"This is a timely and highly relevant collection of essays that addresses the myriad ways in which Brexit has left its trace on imaginations of national and cultural belonging in European literature and writing. The voices gathered in this volume perform the crucial task of investigating and challenging the impact of the Brexit referendum on the relationship between Brexit Britain and literary and cultural traditions in Europe. Insightful and nuanced, often melancholic but also hopeful, these essays engage with the new cultural and political landscape as part of the legacy of that fateful day in June 2016 and offer ways of how to navigate and address it culturally. Brexit and the Migrant Voice argues that Brexit is not ‘done’ by a long way and while some of the wounds might be healing, the future of Britain and its relationship with Europe will be shaped by a sense of cultural wreckage and irrevocable loss. Coming together as a community and listening to the manifold voices gathered in this volume will help to navigate the trauma and prise open the doors that Brexit wants to shut close."
Dr Angelica Michelis, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
"This edited collection could not be more timely or relevant to the literary landscapes of both Britain and Europe. Addressing the cultural crisis and social instability in the troubled and troubling aftermath of BREXIT, chapters cover a broad range of materials and perspectives, from the diverse iterations of ‘migrature’ or ‘migrant literature’ produced in response to one of the most baffling political events in recent years, to the ways in which Brexit has been perceived and represented in European journalism.
Recording the voices of frequently forgotten European minorities, the collection’s multilingual scope and polyvocal narratives draw attention to the problematic marginalisation of European languages and literatures within Britain’s cultural industry, whilst, simultaneously, exposing narratives of resistance to Brexit from all corners of Europe."
Dr Monica Germanà, Reader in Gothic and Contemporary Studies, University of Westminster, UK
"As an EU migrant who has lived through Brexit and its aftermath, I highly recommend this compelling book and hope that it receives the acclaim and wide readership it richly deserves. One of the unique aspects about this book is its consistent focus on migrants' voices and perspectives, a dimension which has often been minimised in public and political debates over Brexit. As editor Christine Berberich states in her introduction, ‘it is this very contribution to national culture and the ensuing shaping of it that is an often-overlooked yet inestimably valuable contribution of EU migrants living and working in the UK’. This book features a range of diverse chapters providing powerful insight into the impact of Brexit on European migrant communities, and on literary and cultural production. An essential read for anyone interested in the human consequences of Brexit."
Dr Charlotte Beyer, Senior Lecturer in English Studies, University of Gloucestershire, UK
