Natalie Lucy talks about their undertaking mapping the Caribbean Diaspora via the letters of Andrew Salkey.
I’m a PhD scholar at UCL. I began a part-time placement on the British Library in September which completed on the finish of February. I used to be supervised by Eleanor Casson, who, till lately, was engaged on the Andrew Salkey archive and Stella Wisdom, Digital Curator. The intention of the undertaking was to map the Caribbean diaspora via the correspondence of the author, broadcaster and poet Andrew Salkey. Well-known each as a meticulous chronicler and a prolific correspondent, the various fascinating and incessantly poignant, letters in Salkey’s in depth archive replicate a community of Caribbean writers and teachers for whom Salkey served not solely as one thing of a nexus but additionally as a facilitator of their careers. More importantly, although, the correspondence exhibits the motion of those writers inside a wider context of the diaspora, a function which we now have visually offered via the digital functions, Gephi and Kepler.
Why did I apply for this undertaking?
My thesis explores the best way that the trickster character, Anancy, has traditionally been reinvented, primarily at key political factors, to say one thing about heritage and id and the way he emerges within the literature of British writers and artists, significantly these with Caribbean heritage. A big a part of my analysis considerations the ways in which Anancy was appropriated within the writing of the Caribbean Arts Movement, a dynamic group of artists and writers fashioned in London within the mid-Sixties. Andrew Salkey was one of many three founders of CAM, together with John La Rose and Edward Kamau Brathwaite. He had been in London for the reason that early Nineteen Fifties and had already demonstrated his potential affect as one thing of an ‘enabler’, each via his immense generosity in direction of his fellow writers and his connections each throughout the writing world and on the BBC. The undertaking provided an thrilling alternative. Not solely would I have the ability to entry Andrew Salkey’s archive, which might undoubtedly improve my analysis, however the undertaking had the potential to discover the dynamics between the writers and to carry to life one thing of the networks, which have been so key to the institution of a literary and cultural basis.
What are Gephi and Kepler?
Gephi is an open graph visualization platform. It has been utilized in quite a lot of tasks, for instance each social networks, that are evidenced inside correspondence, and historic patterns of motion. In these tasks, Gephi has been used as a solution to make information extra accessible and, by visually animating it, extra partaking.
Static visualisation of the Caribbean Diasporic community present in Andrew Salkey’s correspondence information, utilizing Gephi Visualisation Platform. Credit: CC-BY The British Library
Kepler is an open supply geospatial evaluation software, which was initially created by Uber to map Uber drivers all over the world. This provided a helpful utility via which to map the motion of the Caribbean writers in Salkey’s correspondence throughout key intervals.
Static visualisation of the motion of the Caribbean Diasporic community present in Andrew Salkey’s correspondence information utilizing Kepler. Credit: CC-BY The British Library
Gathering the Data
The first stage of the undertaking was to amass the info that may in the end be used within the visible map of the diaspora. Salkey was a meticulous archivist, retaining a major amount of the letters he obtained; he was additionally a diligent and attentive correspondent. Salkey’s mates have been outstanding Caribbean writers and publishers and Salkey’s archive comprises the letters of Samuel Selvon, his distinctive language paying homage to his groundbreaking novel The Lonely Londoners, George Lamming and Jan Carew.
A collection of letters from Sam Selvon to Andrew Salkey, Add MS 89377/7/54. Credit: CC-BY Samuel Selvon Estate
The preliminary information was restricted to the date and placement of the correspondence, data that might counsel the patterns of motion throughout the diaspora. The concept was that it will present a framework with which to begin to discover the potential of the undertaking.
The letters have been so wealthy intimately, nonetheless, that different data was additionally recorded. I used to be capable of observe when correspondents talked about different nations that they have been planning to go to or after they spoke about different writers throughout the community. This offered an extra layer of data, which helped to broaden the evaluation of the Caribbean diasporic community, linking individuals with one another in addition to with Salkey.
Static visualisation of the Caribbean Diasporic community present in Andrew Salkey’s correspondence information with biographical data. Credit: CC-BY The British Library
One of the recurring themes of the letters was the evident influence that these writers had on one another, not solely as a community via which to advertise their work, but additionally to hunt some type of solidarity. In quite a few letters, Andrew Salkey is requested for recommendation or sensible help. Sometimes this can be a request for a evaluate of their work, or a advice for a lecturing submit, or his opinion on an article. Further clues are revealed by the truth that among the letters additionally comprise Salkey’s further notes, handwritten within the margin or a penned tick beside a request.
What did I Learn?
In addition to the fascinating perception into the essential work that the British Library does, I’ve found one thing about Andrew Salkey himself. What evolve throughout the letters are basically a sequence of tales of friendships, between outstanding writers and artists. Sometimes, the extent of appreciation for Salkey’s generosity in serving to so many different writers and mates will also be glimpsed throughout the, incessantly poetical, phrases on the web page. Samuel Selvon’s letters to Salkey are habitually humorous, however often he steps outdoors his mocking, affectionate type, and says one thing that’s profoundly transferring. In one letter to Salkey on 15 March 1975, he writes: ‘you’ve an ideal reward, Andrew, so nice, that even with these few phrases, and my incapability to precise myself as you do, you’ll perceive and respect what I’m making an attempt to say. That is the quintessence of your genius – that behind the ballad and the episode that different human beings will chuckle kiff-kiff at and revel in you may see with the interior eye and analyse with the distinctive energy that God gave you.’
A letter written by Sam Selvon to Andrew Salkey fifteenth March 1975, from Add MS 89377/7/54. Credit: CC-BY Samuel Selvon Estate
Natalie Lucy was a PhD placement on the British Library from September 2022 till February 2023. In this weblog, Natalie explains her curiosity within the undertaking, growth of the undertaking via the content material of the correspondence, in addition to what she discovered from the location. This weblog is linked with one other submit on the Digital Scholarship Blog, which provides extra element on the digital visualisation functions used for this undertaking.
Linked Blog:
Mapping Caribbean Diasporic Networks via the Correspondence of Andrew Salkey