In summary, we sought to examine how Afro-Caribbean identity forms its own subculture within British identity. Immigrating to Great Britain, Afro-Caribbean people brought several features of their culture and identity to the country. Main features, for example language, music and food, of the largest ethnicity group in the UK were investigated. The Notting Hill Carnival in London, as Britain’s major Caribbean festival, served as an example of Afro-Caribbean culture because significant aspects of Caribbean identity are combined in one event. One of these significant aspects is language. Therefore, a close look at Jamaican Creole revealed that some British people utilize it as well. Jamaican Creole plays an important role in British mass media. Besides language, further aspects of Caribbean identity are relevant in British mass media. The analysis of videos about Notting Hill Carnival lends further credence to this idea, as it shows that especially Caribbean features, in particular dancing, music, and cuisine have an impact on Britain. Finally, some unique elements of Caribbean identity could be detected. Numerous British people share the Caribbean taste of music and food as well as try to adopt dance moves and dress styles specific to Caribbean culture.
While investigating Afro-Caribbean contributions to British identity, however, it became obvious that there is a distinct lack of reliable and authentic sources. More specifically, neither opinion surveys about Caribbean identity, Caribbean culture and their influence on Britain, nor analysis about the Notting Hill Carnival could be found. It was also impossible to gain access to qualitative or representative studies related to our topic. Additionally, our attempts to try and contact Notting Hill Carnival’s organizers via e-mail were unfortunately not successful. With these obstacles to obtaining other sources, analyzing video clips was the main source of our analysis. In our opinion, talking to individual people of Afro-Caribbean origin did not appear to be productive for us, because our findings would have been subjective and biased. Consequently, further research about Notting Hill Carnival’s visitors would be preferable. This research could analyze a visitor’s ethnicity, age, gender, social status or political attitude. More research about people’s perception and opinion about Afro-Caribbean culture and identity being part of Great Britain is needed. All in all, we recognized that Afro-Caribbean identity serves as a significant aspect of British identity. Thus, ethnic diversity and multiculturalism in Great Britain offer great opportunities to revise and develop people’s individual identities.
British Identities 