We Europeans? Mass-Observation, ‘Race’ and British Identity in the Twentieth Century

Bibliographic Data

ID9800929
AuthorsRoss Mckibbin (St. John's College, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume120
Issue489
Pages1464-1466
Publication date2005-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe English Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-8266 • E-ISSN: 1477-4534
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ehr/cei465
OpenAlexW2027576815
LanguageEN
Citations received22

We Europeans? Mass-Observation, ‘Race’ and British Identity in the Twentieth Century, by Tony Kushner (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004; pp. 281. £50). Tony Kushner has already written extensively on race and racism in modern British history and this book to some extent covers familiar territory. Its scope, however, is wide. The book is really about three (and possibly four) things: racial difference and racial constructions, Mass-Observation as a means by which these can be interpreted, and autobiography as ‘literate practice’. It is also, as a sub-theme, about gender difference; about the comparative propensity of women to write autobiographies and their greater willingness than men to reflect on what they say. The book is thus as much about Mass-Observation as about race. Mass-Observation has had a bumpy career. Its founders, especially Tom Harrisson, wished to construct a democratic anthropology in which the ‘observers’ looked at the world as thoughtful bystanders, but also

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