Changes in Attitudes to Immigrants in Britain, 1841-1921

From Foreigner to Alien

By: Ben Braber

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Hardcover | 25 November 2020

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Hardcover
132 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.5

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This book reviews changes in attitudes to immigrants in Britain and the language that was used to put these feelings into words between 1841 and 1921. Using a historical and linguistic method for an analysis of so far for this purpose relatively unused primary sources, it offers novel findings. It has found that changes in the meaning and use of the word alien in Britain coincided during the period between 1841 and 1921 with the expression of changing attitudes to immigrants in this country and the modification of the British variant of the English language. When people in Britain in these years used the term 'an alien', they meant most likely a foreigner, stranger, refugee or immigrant. In 1841 an alien denoted a foreigner or a stranger, notably a person residing or working in a country who did not have the nationality or citizenship of that country. However, by 1921 an alien mainly signified an immigrant in Britain - a term which, as this book shows, had in the course of the years since 1841 acquired very negative connotations.

Industry Reviews

The book highlights how corpus linguistic methods (that is, computer-aided analyses of large collections of text) can uncover regular patterns of usage in historical texts. What is especially striking is how some of the discourses prevalent in nineteenth-century outlets find echoes in contemporary press coverage of immigration. [...] The book does well to weave together a compelling narrative regarding the role the British press played in pushing pro/anti-migrant positions during a period of significant cultural and economic upheaval. [...] For historians of British (im)migration, this book will undoubtedly be of value, particularly because of how well it sets out the cultural context against which alien emerges as a political identity category.-Midland History

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