Datum/Zeit
19. Dezember 2024
19:00 - 20:00
Adresse
Otto Mauer Zentrum
Währinger Str. 2-4
Wien 1090
Österreich
Treffen der Wiener PRO SCIENTIA-Gruppe mit Vortrag von Esther Zitterl
ESTHER ZITTERL
From Babylon to Britain: Linton Kwesi Johnson’s Poetics – a Continuity of Resistance?
‘Fi wha?’– for what reason or purpose – Linton Kwesi Johnson asks in “Di Great Insohreckshan” (1983), answering in the next breath: ‘i mek di rulah dem andastan / dat wi naw tek noh more a dem oppreshan’ (13–15). These lines encapsulate his poetic response to the Brixton Riots (1981), framing them as a reaction to institutionalised injustice. Johnson’s work stands as a cornerstone of Windrush littérature engagée, articulating the struggles of Black Britons through the Black British vernacular and West Indian literary traditions. His poetry likens Britain’s institutions to Babylon – a dynamic metaphor for systemic oppression rooted in Jamaican dub poetry. As both a historical record and a vehicle for resistance, Johnson’s verse bridges Caribbean and British traditions of defiance.
Most scholarship on Linton Kwesi Johnson’s 1980s poetry has focused on its engagement with the socio-political context of Thatcher’s Britain. However, I argue that Johnson’s use of Black British vernacular and the metaphor of Babylon transcends its immediate context, offering a poetics of resistance that remains vital in post-Windrush Britain. This presentation first examines “Di Great Insohreckshan” within the cultural and intellectual currents of its creation, before considering how its poetics continue to shape responses to systemic oppression today. Reflecting on whether Johnson’s strategies persist or if new critiques of Babylon have emerged, I explore how Windrush literature negotiates evolving forms of injustice.