Strange familiarity

ABSTRACT

This essay suggests that we can think about the autobiographical techniques of Stuart Hall’s Familiar Stranger as an experiment in history writing. The article uses Familiar Stranger as a lens through which to consider some of Hall’s key ideas, particularly around the nature of historical conjunctures. It suggests how historians might use this approach to think, in particular, about the connection between historical processes and ‘inner life’.

KEYWORDS:

• Stuart Hall
• Postcolonial theory
• diaspora
• race
• history
• autobiography

Acknowledgment

This work was funded by a Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust [ECF-2016-813];