Conrad Bryan writes:
This new exhibition will involve research of archives, official documents, autobiographical recordings and photos. As the Irish dimension is under–researched we would like to ask our Irish and mixed communities to contribute if they have any historical stories or photos they would like to share with us.
This project is part of the wish of the Association of Mixed Race Irish to raise more awareness of the mixed race Irish communities and achieve more recognition of them as an integral part of an evolving Irish community.
I have worked closely with the Irish Community in the UK for several years and have always been interested in the histories of the Irish Diaspora here, and how they integrated within British society.
One aspect of the Irish migration story that needs to be explored more are the stories of white Irish people who have mixed with other ethnic groups here such as the Asian, Indian, African and Afro–Caribbean communities. How do they identify, what part of their mixed cultures do they celebrate, what discrimination did they face?
Dr Chamion Cabellero and Dr Peter Aspinall have already created a Digital Museum to showcase the histories of racial mixing in Britain. They founded the Mix-d Museum in 2012 as means to share more widely and permanently the findings of small British Academy–funded research project they undertook in 2007. This looked into official accounts and first–hand experiences of racial mixing in 20th century Britain.
The project identified a range of material from national and local archives that included official documents, autobiographical recordings, photos and film materials. These furthered our understanding of how social perceptions of racial mixing and mixedness emerged during this period and the effect they had on the lives of mixed race people, couples and families themselves, as well as their place in shaping contemporary ideas and experiences.
The findings inspired and formed the foundation of the critically acclaimed BBC2 series Mixed Britannia (2011) and were further explored in the book ‘Mixed Race Britain in The Twentieth Century’ (2018) published by Palgrave Macmillan.
If you know of anything or anybody who should be included in this new exhibition, the Association of Mixed Race Irish would love to hear from you. Email mailto:mrimuseum@gmail.com