Racialized citizenship, respectability and mothering among Caribbean mothers in Britain

Abstract Holy matrimony, nuclear family, attending church, education and good manners are typical markers of respectability. These Victorian middle-class ideological values were transported to the British Caribbean region after emancipation of slavery by missionaries and priests aiming to “civilize” the ex-slaves. As social values they were often transformed or met in opposition with a more complex set of cultural and social values within Caribbean creole communities. Overtime, however, some individuals adopted these Euro-centric values, thus prescribing to a form of racialized citizenship. Upon migration to Britain in the 1960s, some migrant mothers endeavoured to transmit these values among their children, in an effort to integrate and develop a sense of identity and belonging, but also as modes of resistance to experiences of racism and discrimination. This paper illustrates the tensions experienced by two migrant Caribbean mothers, and their concerns that the social values of respectability are being lost among their offspring.