On the edge of Britishness: the rupture of a national identity

ABSTRACT

St Helena is a British Overseas Territory. This paper investigates how an imagined and ideological link between Britain and the island was created, maintained and eventually weakened. British citizenship was removed in 1981. Since its return in 2002, many St Helenians have migrated to the UK. Whilst an ideological sense of Britishness has weakened, a sense of lived Britishness has simultaneously occurred. Investigating the feelings, emotions and cultural values within this small migrant community, the islanders are far from deluded about their downgraded national identity and, as a community, are willing to articulate their mixed emotions.

KEYWORDS:

• St Helena
• national identity
• citizenship
• Britishness
• migration
• island studies

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank all those who have assisted with this research, in particular my supervisor Deborah L. Steinberg, and especially to the St Helenians who participated within this research. The research was conducted whilst working for the University of Gloucestershire.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Charlotte Parker is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire. Her research interests include island communities, military communities and transnational communities.

Notes

1 The island’s official status shifted in 1981 from being a British Crown Colony to a British Dependant Territory, and then to a British Overseas Territory in 2002.

2 The 1981 British Nationality Act was passed to prevent immigrants from Hong Kong entering the UK after Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997 (Royle, 2001). However, two of the British Dependent Territories were exempt from the Act, those being the white populated islands of Gibraltar and The Falklands. The Act has subsequently been referred to as ‘racist’ (Moore, 2000 p. 3) and discriminatory (Cohen, 1983a).

3 although Schulenburg (1998) argued the possibility that it wasn’t actually discovered until 1503.

4 For reflections on the islander’s diverse cultural ancestry see Parker (in prep a).

5 The history of the Island, including periods of economic prosperity, has been well documented. See Charlton, Gunter, and Hannan (2002); Cohen (1983a, 1983b); Cross (1980); Drower (1992); Evans (1994); Gillett (1983); Gosse (1990); Royle (2001, 1991); Schulenburg (1998); Yon (2002).

6 Although the recent arrival of the island’s airport is hoped to inject tourism into the island and hence increase the island’s economy (see Parker, in prep c).

7 In 1987 the St Helenian population was recorded as 5,644 (Development and Economic Planning Department, 1997). Between 1999/00 and 2009/10, i.e. following the return of British citizenship, there was a 20 per cent decline in the resident population (St Helena Government, 2012/13). In 2012/13 the island was claimed to have a ‘population of around 4,000’ (St Helena Government, 2012/13, p. 11).

8 On St Helena there were: St Helenians who had only recently moved back to the island after 50 years of living overseas; St Helenians who were born on Ascension, live on Ascension and only visit their ‘home’ of St Helena for short holidays; ‘islanders’ who had married a St Helenian, had St Helenian children, and had lived on the island for decades yet had no St Helenian lineage themselves; St Helenians who lived on the island and had a St Helenian parent, yet they did not self-identify as a ‘true’ St Helenian, in the stereotypical sense, due to their self-recognised difference from the rest of the community.

9 Two people who have lived on the island for a substantial period of time, married a St Helenian and had St Helenian children were interviewed. However, they had no St Helenian lineage themselves. Whilst interesting in their own right, the contrast between their stories and those with St Helenian lineage were striking and so were eliminated from the sample.

10 Previous empirical research on the island has tended to include school children (Charlton, Gunter & Hannan, 2002; Cohen, 1983a; Royle, 1991, Schulenburg, 2002), teachers (Charlton, Gunter & Hannan, 2002; Cohen, 1983a) or ‘key informants’ consisting of Heads of Departments and other professionals as well as the ex-pat Governor (Hogenstijn & Van Middelkoop, 2002, 2005). Exceptions include Cohen (1983b) who surveyed the general public and Yon (2002) who interviewed the St Helenian ‘100 men’ who migrated to England as farm labourers.

11 Two 17-year-olds agreed to an interview, following the recommendation of the then Head Teacher of the island’s secondary school.

12 Demonstrating the hierarchies of class, power and capital that are embedded on the island, as well as how particular narratives can exist for an outside audience (Schulenburg, 2002, p. 26), some islanders argued the research was including the wrong ‘type’ of islander and directed the research towards particular St Helenians on the island, for example, those St Helenians with higher or professional status.

13 I was employed as a Research Assistant at the University of Gloucestershire, for the then Head of the St Helena Link, Professor Tony Charlton.

14 I am not St Helenian and had never been to the island before. As an ‘outsider’ I would be unaware of who was avoiding me within this small, close community.

15 Although one of these left one week after the interview to start employment on another island

16 There is no documented evidence which states the number of St Helenians residing within the UK, nor is there information about where they live. However, high numbers of St Helenians are known to live in Cheltenham, Gloucester, London, Southampton, Oxford, Reading and particularly Swindon (commonly known by the St Helenian community as Swindelena).

17 A popular form of migration, particularly for St Helenian women, was to work in service for the British gentry as ‘domestics’ in domestic service (Cohen, 1983b). This started in the 1940s and continues to the present day.

18 On St Helena, a St Helenian nurse or teacher can find themselves working alongside a higher paid, yet less experienced ex-pat nurse or teacher. A St Helenian teacher or nurse can earn more as a cleaner on Ascension Island or in the UK, than when they are working within their profession on St Helena.

19 The 1981 British Nationality Act shifted British nationality from the principles of jus soli (birthplace) to the principles of jus sanguinus (blood law) (Cohen, 1995).

20 As Royle (2001, p. 141) has noted, ‘whole islands have been purchased … Islands have even been swapped’. Thus, the disposable and precarious nature of islands should not be underestimated.