The Centre for British African Caribbean Studies (CBACS) evolved as a spiritual entity in the 1990s based on the autobiographical research I carry out in a higher education context exploring what it really means to be black (of Caribbean heritage) in Britain.
My life story, as founder of CBACS, is one of pursuing this question as I try to make sense of my life experience in Britain and more importantly as a black academic teaching in a higher education institution. What has surfaced through this research is that the elusive sense of having been dropped into someone else’s life story that has assailed me throughout my life as well as of being left alone to struggle is the outcome of having no life enhancing cultural mentor, guide or guidebook to facilitate me on my journey across the life-course in British society.
Over 20 years of longitudinal research has resulted in the development of a body of knowledge unique to our life experience enabling CBACS to now function as the cultural mentor, guide and/or facilitator to members of this group. In particular CBACS recognises the need, even at this late point of our entry into the society, to facilitate group members into conscious awareness of the cultural adaptation process necessary to making informed choices about our lives.
More recently scholars in the US have acknowledged the fact and costs of ‘failed black assimilation’ both to the individuals/groups assimilated as such as well as for the society as a whole. As historical recipients of this failed black socialisation a primary purpose of CBACS is to support British citizens of Caribbean heritage in understanding how being assimilated as ‘black’ has unconsciously and negatively shaped our life experiences to date. This is with a view to understanding the cultural model currently shaping our life experiences and with important information about the new choices required to ensure a brighter future for ourselves and younger generations.
CBACS provides a range of educational services for group members aimed at this brighter future:
- Cultural Education Parenting Workshops for members of the black Caribbean social category
- Continuous Professional Development Seminars for black professionals
- Personal Mentoring for Unique Self Expression (USE)
Go to ‘Events’ to find out more about these and other educational services