Imagining Citizenship

This dissertation aims to trace a history of state-associated and municipal anti-racism by examining political campaign posters and adverts of three state-affiliated organisations. The three organisations studied are The Greater London Council (GLC), 1981-1986; The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), 1993-2003; and Operation Black Vote (OBV), 1997-2021. Much of the anti-racist history has been underpinned by an interest in representational politics, however, they have largely ignored the visual material produced by anti-racist organisations. This project differs in its approach as the visual material is the driving force of research in the history of anti-racism in the UK. Reading these images attempts to contour ideas and images of citizenship. Taking the 1981 British Nationality Act as a departure point, this dissertation proposes a rethinking of how the anti-racist campaign posters may have been part of a repicturing of the British Citizen. It bridges visual culture and anti-racism in the UK to present a new history of anti-racism. Drawing from an extensive history of anti-racism and anti-racist literature, as well as the particularities of poster making and public relations in the UK, this thesis presents an argument that suggests these two facets are an integral part of civic duty and reconfiguring citizenship.

It is through the publicly disseminated images and the campaign posters that this thesis seeks to investigate,

How have anti-racist campaign posters continually negotiated questions of race and citizenship in the UK? To what extent were the posters able to communicate anti-racism through forms of propagandistic images of race? How did the posters contribute to a changing visual landscape in the UK and subsequently reimagine the nation?