Caribbean Journeys
Conducted between 2017 and 2018, Caribbean Journeys was a Nottingham-based community arts project to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1948 docking of the Empire Windrush. The project was co-directed by the AHRC-funded doctoral researchers Kelsi Delaney (University of Leicester) and Sofia Aatkar (Nottingham Trent University) in collaboration with Museumand: The National Caribbean Heritage Museum. The project was funded by the doctoral training partnership Midlands4Cities and the charity Journey to Justice.
The Caribbean Journeys project recorded the previously undocumented stories of Caribbean migrants living in Nottingham. Members from The Gedling Caribbean Elders group participated in a series of travel writing workshops which explored poetry and prose associated with Caribbean migration, with the aim of recording their journeys between the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. A subsequent further writing workshop was later held at the Nottingham Central Library as part of Black History Month.
The project created a space for members of the Caribbean Elders community in Nottingham to reflect on their experiences of journeys between the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. In recognition of the fact that migration and finding a sense of home are complex and multifaceted processes, the project emphasised the Elders’ relationships with travel as their connections with Britain and the Caribbean developed over the courses of their lives. Caribbean Journeys aimed to provide a platform for the Elders' voices to be heard and to preserve the legacy of their stories for future generations.
Some narratives in the anthology describe journeys from the Caribbean to Nottingham whereas others recall return visits to the Caribbean; some contributions are humorous in tone, but others describe the hostile environment encountered in the UK. The variety of stories within the anthology reflects the diverse nature of migration experiences for those living as part of the Caribbean diaspora.
The anthology was supported by the Centre for New Writing, with a foreword written by Nick Everett on behalf of the Centre.
Journeys
Home
The Caribbean Journeys project recorded the previously undocumented stories of Caribbean migrants living in Nottingham. Members from The Gedling Caribbean Elders group participated in a series of travel writing workshops which explored poetry and prose associated with Caribbean migration, with the aim of recording their journeys between the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. A subsequent further writing workshop was later held at the Nottingham Central Library as part of Black History Month.
The project created a space for members of the Caribbean Elders community in Nottingham to reflect on their experiences of journeys between the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. In recognition of the fact that migration and finding a sense of home are complex and multifaceted processes, the project emphasised the Elders’ relationships with travel as their connections with Britain and the Caribbean developed over the courses of their lives. Caribbean Journeys aimed to provide a platform for the Elders' voices to be heard and to preserve the legacy of their stories for future generations.
About the anthology
The project culminated in an anthology of travel writing in prose and poetry written by the Caribbean Elders. Caribbean Journeys (2018) was edited by Sofia Aatkar and Kelsi Delaney.Some narratives in the anthology describe journeys from the Caribbean to Nottingham whereas others recall return visits to the Caribbean; some contributions are humorous in tone, but others describe the hostile environment encountered in the UK. The variety of stories within the anthology reflects the diverse nature of migration experiences for those living as part of the Caribbean diaspora.
The anthology was supported by the Centre for New Writing, with a foreword written by Nick Everett on behalf of the Centre.
Read the anthology
To read a digital copy of our anthology please click here:
Caribbean Journeys [PDF 15.5MB]
Listen to the collective poems
In addition to the anthology, the Gedling Caribbean Elders contributed to two collective poems. Entitled ‘Journeys’ and ‘Home’, the pieces reflect on the themes explored in the workshops. To watch recordings of the pieces please click below:Journeys
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