An Emotional History of Caribbean Migrants in Postwar Britain

A groundbreaking exploration of postwar Caribbean migration to Britain, Oceans of Feelingoffers the first historical analysis of this defining moment in modern British history using the tools, methods, and theories of the history of emotions. Decoding the emotional experiences and expressions of Windrush-era Caribbean migrants, this book reconstructs the migrant experience by asking not just what happened, but how it felt - individually and collectively - and how these feelings shaped and configured the course of historical events.

Taking cues from spatial studies, the history of the senses, and the history of the body, Ryan Walmsley charts a rich and affectively meaningful course through the experiential content of the migrant condition in a specific historical moment. From the emotional bonds of the ’Mother Country’ ideology to the unique affective-sensory atmospheres of transatlantic liners bound for Britain, Oceans of Feeling reveals exciting new dimensions to Windrush-era migration which have been masked under the canopies of social and political approaches.

A reflection of the history of emotions’ power to revivify historical narratives, this book interrogates the emotional causes and consequences of racist violence. In doing so, it reframes racism as a cluster of specific emotional concepts and expressions, which provides fascinating insights into the lives of Caribbean migrants in this period. This includes linking the disproportionate designation of Caribbean children as ’educationally subnormal’ in British schools to a constellation of emotional stereotypes and experiences. It also explores private spaces, such as dub and reggae house parties, which migrants constructed as emotional refuge from the hostile atmosphere of public spaces, and demonstrates how love and sex were politicised in the increasingly racialised atmosphere of postwar Britain.

Ryan Tristram-Walmsley is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Swansea University, UK. Supervised by Rob Boddice, he received his PhD in 2023 with distinction from the University of Kent, UK and Universidade de Porto, as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Early-Career Researcher.