ABSTRACT

World War II nostalgia in the UK is mired in a postcolonial melancholia that not only fuels Brexit nationalism, but carries implications for how the UK relates to the European Continent. This paper presents an empirically engaged examination of Gilroy’s concept of postcolonial melancholia by exploring how British migrants negotiate this “complex ailment”. Engaging with empirical research conducted with British migrants in Berlin, I will examine how migrants negotiate this form of nationalism through their relationships with family members in the UK. The particular position of the British migrant in Germany illuminates how postcolonial melancholia’s entrenchment shapes British nationalism and Britain’s relationship to mainland Europe. It explores discourses of British exceptionalism before examining how Brexit’s foregrounding of empire nostalgia pushes migrants to redefine their relationship to Britain. Meanwhile, black British migrants inhabit a different orientation to the postcolonial through their practical engagement with complex colonial histories.

摘要

英国的二战怀旧深陷后殖民忧郁症的泥潭，这不仅助长了英国退欧的民族主义，而且对英国与欧洲大陆的关系产生了影响。本文通过探讨英国移民如何应对这种“复杂的疾病”，对吉尔罗伊的后殖民忧郁症概念进行了实证研究。参与在柏林对英国移民进行的实证研究，我将研究移民如何通过他们与英国家庭成员的关系来协商这种形式的民族主义。英国移民在德国的特殊地位说明了后殖民忧郁症的根深蒂固是如何塑造英国民族主义和英国与欧洲大陆的关系的。在研究英国脱欧的帝国怀旧前景如何推动移民重新定义他们与英国的关系之前，它探讨了英国例外论的话语。同时，英国黑人移民通过与复杂的殖民历史的实际接触，对后殖民地的居住方向有所不同。