Beyond the black Atlantic: West Indian imagery, cultural production and BBC television

My dissertation critically examines the cultural production of West Indian immigrants from a racial perspective by the British Broadcasting Corporation's television service from 1936 until 2001. I argue in this research study that the BBC was unable to provide proper support to these immigrants due to constraints created by xenophobic Britons and the opinions of the dominant press. Criticism from both avenues of discourse caused the BBC to falter in its policies and procedures where racial imagery was concerned. Within this study, I conduct an examination of the origins of television broadcasting by the BBC, which began with a public service agenda. There have been multiple attempts by the Television Service to incorporate Blacks within its programming and through employment opportunities. However, limitations created by a conservative agenda within the dominant press and public hampered the BBC's efforts. Having examined this I have found through ethnographic research that Black Britons were forced to pursue independent productions created by new technologies and other Afro-Caribbeans working within English media. It is only quite recently that British terrestrial television channels have realized the importance of a multi-ethnic audience. As major urban centers like London and Birmingham increase their ethnic populations, organizations like the BBC television service must adapt or lose viewers and subsequent revenue.; Within my dissertation I include an historical discursive analysis, the construction of knowledge by the BBC and I examine broadcast policies that account for notions of what Black immigrant culture "was." A more in-depth analysis is then conducted of the policies regarding race within the BBC television service and the alternate programming agenda of BBC2 television. This information and analysis includes a history of Blacks on the BBC prior to the arrival of the "Windrush" in 1948. West Indians were featured in scientific and social documentaries despite nationalism and racism which placed the immigrant other in a position clearly marginalized from the imagined mainstream of English culture. As an African-American who has worked within American and British media, I have a personal interest in the evolution of these issues and the possibilities that a public service agenda can generate.