The Meaning of Whiteness and Immigration

As the BBC prepares to air a series of television programmes concerned with the supposed alienation of the white working class, a definition of whiteness and what it is to be white in Britain in the 21st century will emerge. Judging by last night's farcical debate on Newsnight, the satisfaction of such a definition is likely to be debatable.

It is not my intention to define whiteness in Britain in the 21st century just yet; for the moment, I'll leave that to more established scholars, academics, commentators &c. to grapple with, before offering my opinion. Prior to my hearing about the BBC's forthcoming programmes on whiteness, I submitted a features article to my newspaper (scheduled to be published this coming Monday (March 10 2008)) with regard to immigration, under the title "The Linguistics Barrier of Immigration: Breaking Social Segregation Along Lines of Language". For the benefit of persons who are not students in Liverpool, and don't have access to a hard copy of LX News, the article, which I consider to be more of an editorial, is reproduced here. As usual, all comments are welcome:

The issue of immigration into the U.K. is constantly on-going. It seems every other week the government is announcing a new initiative to help people who have arrived in the country from less developed nations. Migration into the U.K. from Asia and Africa has been added to in recent years by people entering the country from new European Union member states such as Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

One of the most noticeable results is a sharp increase in the number of languages now spoken here. In towns and cities across the U.K. languages as diverse as Tamil, Hindi, Cantonese and Telugu (how many native British people have even heard of that last one?) are regularly spoken amongst the various ethnic groups. Somewhat worryingly, it is estimated that 70% of people living in Britain speak English monolingually. With so many other languages comprising the other 30%, the inevitable consequence is social segregation along lines of language.

Change is necessary. There has to be a sharp linguistic shift in coming years, otherwise the small communities currently being forced -- by linguistic barriers -- to keep themselves to themselves will be isolated. The growth of completely separate societies in British cities is simply not compatible with national unity. A national identity cannot be forged in this way.

The national media constantly stresses what it is to be British. The traditional definition is no longer a viable one. I personally doubt that it ever was. One of the first things people point to is the language. The “to be British is to speak English” mentality is a naïve one at best. It negates the marginal languages of Cornish, Gaelic, Irish and Welsh, even though the people who speak these languages (monolingually or otherwise) are accepted as being “British”.

The cultural benefits of having people from different parts of the world living in the U.K. do not, hopefully, need to be explained. Their varying customs and traditions all contribute to what it is to be British in the 21st century. Furthermore, they compliment the Anglo Saxon customs which have existed here for many centuries, and make Britain a richer place to live.

For the full cultural benefits to be reaped, however, the linguistic barriers which are currently in place need to be broken down.

As part of broad citizenship tests, the government announced last month that the testing of migrants’ English language skills would be one of many tests for migrants to “prove their worth”.

At the same time, the availability of English lessons to new migrants is falling. Being able to communicate meaningfully in English is an important skill, but it should not be made compulsory as part of a process to achieve official citizenship status. If English was strongly recommended to new migrants, and benefits were given to migrants who achieved a certain level of ability in English, then socially at least the tension could be eased between communities. By making English compulsory, the government makes it appear that the mother tongue of the migrant, which they have spoken since birth, is not welcome in the U.K. Such unnecessary hostility from the government only heightens tensions and increases the alienation of the communities.

By learning to read and write English, the migrant does not lose anything. The migrant is still able to communicate with people from their country of origin in their original language, but the addition of English means they can participate in activities outside their own community. The English language, it should be remembered, does not replace in any way the original language of the migrant. The migrant can only benefit from learning English, and the benefits are multiplied by the fact that English remains one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

Many students from abroad who study at U.K. universities usually have either a good or excellent understanding of English when they arrive in Britain. To speak on a general level, the foreign student community is a good example of the possibilities of migrants having knowledge of English in addition to their mother tongue. In lectures and seminars, foreign students more often than not display a brilliant command of the English language, sometimes putting people of Anglo Saxon blood to shame.

Once they are out of that formal situation, though, they often revert to their first language. I spend a lot of time on the lower ground floor of the Aldham Robarts LRC at John Moores University, and it is fascinating to hear students communicate in such an array of languages.

Yet the hypocrisy of the Anglo Saxon mentality scars relations between white British people and immigrants from foreign lands.

There is a general consensus that migrants should learn English if they want to live here for any period of time. Yet in places such as Benidorm, Torremolinos and the Algarve there are large British Ex-patriot communities that thrive in isolation from the rest of the place. You can walk through the streets and see shops marketing “traditional British fish & chips,” and ale houses boasting to be “traditional Great British pubs”. The people who live there are all English. The only language they speak is English. The vast majority usually have only a rudimentary understanding of Spanish or Portuguese, Moreover, if you want to meet a Spanish or Portuguese citizen, then you have to literally take a bus ride to another part of town. The double standard is shocking.

A future national identity rests upon the banishing of the language barrier. Once it has been eradicated, migrants will find it easier to understand “British” customs and the “British” way of life. Whether or not British natives will ever adapt in order to understand the culture of migrants’ homelands remains to be seen.

Yours, wherever you may be,
Daniel C. Wright