Another Country: A narrative of Jamaican's within the West Midlands

  • Dylan Burke

Jamaicans have been coming to the UK since the Empire Windrush docked at the Port of Tilbury in 1948, and now form a 300,000-strong proportion of the African Caribbean demographic. Many early immigrants settled in the West Midlands, particularly around Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Sandwell, and successive generations have made an immense contribution to the local culture and economy. In his documentary, Another Country, Dylan Burke tells the story of this community through a series of first-person narratives featuring some of the original migrants, their British-born children and grandchildren, and more recent arrivals from the West Indies, as well as descendants of a Jamaican heritage who have become Britain Jamaican success stories, including internationally-acclaimed photographer Vanley Burke. He explores issues of identity and integration and examines the positive impact that Jamaica has had on the indigenous society, particularly in terms of the absorption of its music, language and food.