Celebrating Black History Month 2022 in the UK
Celebrate this year’s Black History Month in the UK with us, with a curated list of the best books and resources for students and researchers that explore Black history across various fields, including politics, art, history and performance.
Use our code BHMUK22 at checkout and get 30% off our selected books until 30 November 2022!
Plus, you have access to a wide-ranging collection of free resources, from chapters of books and podcast episodes where our authors discuss their work, to books available open access which you can read now.
History, Politics and Sociology
A few of the authors that we’ve recommended went on to the Bloomsbury Academic Podcast to talk about the issues raised in their books – Tune in to our episodes below:
Back to Black with Kehinde Andrews, Part One and Two
Othello with Ayanna Thompson (author of Blackface)
History, Politics and Sociology
Available to read open access
Darcus Howe: A Political Biography
This political biography uses Howe's personal history as a lens through which to explore the British civil rights movement in the years of 1970s and 80s.
Eurafrica: The Untold History of European Integration and Colonialism
'Eurafrica' was a political project from the 1920s that saw Europe's continued role in history as completely bound up with Africa. This book recovers a critical conception of the European-African nexus.
British Activist Authors Addressing Children of Colour
Exploring a history of activists writing for and about children of colour from abolition to Black Lives Matter, the book examines issues such as the space given to people of colour by white activists; the voice, agency and intersectionality in activist writing for young people; how writers used activism to expand definitions of Britishness for child readers; and how activism and writing about it has changed in the 21st century.
Culture, Art, Drama and Fashion
Access free digital resources
Screen Studies
Pioneers of Black Documentary Film, an excerpt from The Documentary Film Book, exploring the history of Black documentary film, its impact and how such productions remained as marginalised as the community who made them.
Britain’s Black Filmmaking Workshops and Collective Practice from Other Cinemas, looking at experimental Black films in the 1970s.
An excerpt on Steve McQueen from New British Cinema includes an interview with the Academy Award-winning film director, with insights on his career, inspiration and impact.
Bloomsbury Music and Sound
Defining Rap from Hip-Hop Headphones looks at the history, origins and African ancestry of rap and hip-hop.
Bring It on Home from The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music and Social Class examines how social class identities inform and influence African American rhythm and blues and soul music of the post-World War II period (1949–1980).
A Different Kind of Selling Out, an excerpt from Selling Out, considers the variation in the way selling out discourse has been used, and what the differences and similarities tell us about the values which underpin it. It offers a focussed study of the case of rap’s relationship to commerce, racial authenticity and selling out.
Race and Racialism in Rock from The Bloomsbury Handbook of Rock Music Research explores the rarely discussed topic of rock music and race.
Human Kinetics Library
Sport and Multiple Identities in Postwar Trinidad from Sociology of Sport and Social Theory.
African Studies
Upcoming events
Free live webinar on A Cultural History of Race with the editors on Friday 7 October at 4:30pm BST.
Black Oot Here in the Parlour at the Ceilidh Place Bookshop in Ullapool on 8 October, starting at 3pm BST with book signing afterwards.
Literature
Explore the key series Blackness in Britain
Blackness in Britain is a pioneering book series covering the breadth of Black Studies in Britain, publishing key scholarly works from a range of disciplines including sociology, cultural studies, politics, history, health and education. Framing Black Studies as a distinct disciplinary field in Britain, it aims to engage with current debates by exploring critical and radical perspectives of Blackness in Britain, giving voice to Black communities who too often have research done to them, rather than in collaboration.
Film & Media Studies
Reference work highlight
How have definitions of race varied and changed over time? What impact have religion, science and politics had on race throughout history, and how has our concept of it been changed as a result?
Comprising six volumes and featuring 61 experts, A Cultural History of Race answers these ambitious questions by drawing from history, sociology, anthropology, literature and medical humanities. The volumes deepen our understanding of our race has developed conceptually and in reality between antiquity and the present day.
* Please note that this set is not included in the discount.
Music & Sound Studies
Read more about our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan and our Staff Networks.
Also interested in fiction, non-fiction and children's suggestions for Black History Month?