Where Are You From? No, Where are You Really From?

by Audrey Osler

A story of migration, identity and belonging, drawing on the stories of people from Audrey Osler's mixed-heritage family, over three centuries. Whether or not we trace our families from beyond the shores of Britain, we British people deserve a better understanding of our shared past, and opportunities to explore and recognise the complexities and contractions of empire. Careless or wilful amnesia has allowed the British migration narrative to begin in the mid-twentieth century, with migrants from India, Pakistan and the Caribbean forming the foundation of present-day multicultural Britain. A racist fixation means that some twenty-first-century Britons fantasise that people of colour arrived after World War Two, without any link to the country, to exploit the British welfare state and British hospitality.For people of colour the questions, Where are you from? No, where are you really from? often imply more than simple curiosity. They are political questions of identity, since the assumption (naive or aggressive) is that to be British and to belong you must be white. Says Audrey 'The British Empire frames and shapes my family's history. Whether born in Britain, like me or my father, or in some other distant British territory, like my mother, we all continue to experience the legacy of this same empire and the impact of its ambitions, politics, and economics. My family story, back to the eighteenth century, across every generation, is one of migration in different directions, over four centuries, journeys prompted by war, study, a global economic crisis, a fresh start, love, and even child abduction. The stories I tell here reveal as much about Britain as they do about the countries of the British Empire. This is not just my history, it elucidates the largely untold history of a nation and of its citizens, both people of colour and white.'

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 7, 2025

Reviews

[Mabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting journey through Audrey Osler's family history. I particularly enjoyed the first third about the experience of being a minority in England from the 50s as a comparison to my own experiences from the 90s. It also gave an enlightening insight into life as a native or Indo-European in colonial India, Malaya and Singapore.

I had hoped for more commentary but it is a short book and the author prefaces it as her journey learning about her family history.

[frouza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard at points, but such an important read !! Education man 💆‍♀️

[I'mogén · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great non-fictiom blend of journalism, ancestry research and Britain's colonisation.


The discussions on identity and ethnicity was interesting and the family history intrigued me also.


Even though we have a different heritage, I feel like Osler's exploration into her family relationship with Britain, ethnicity, war, classism and interracial relationships have answered a lot of questions for my own background.


Pick it up, give it a go & enjoy!

[Allan McCabe · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 stars seems too harsh, as I thought this book was alright. Osler's journey to find out where she's really from takes us from modern day back a couple of hundred years, through wars, slavery and migration. The beginning and end were interesting and engaging, but with a bit of a lull in the middle.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting read which links real life personal stories from colonial times to how race relations have impacted today’s world . I learned a lot of Britain’s past from this book