The Accidental Citizens of Bedford: The Representation of Italian Immigrants in Britain
This thesis looks at the history of the Italian community in Bedford and how it has been documented in two films currently held in the University of East Anglia film archive. The first, England May Be Home, is a dramatised documentary directed by amateur filmmakers Richard and Margaret Hodkins. England May Be Home, has a didactic approach as it presents the Italians’ arrival in Bedford from the immigrants’ perspective. The second, Focus on: Bedford, filmed ten years after England May Be Home, in 1966, is a documentary directed by Harry Aldous and created for Anglia television that follows the life of the Conte family, an Italian family in Bedford, and investigates what it calls the ‘self-contained’ Italian community. The present thesis looks specifically at how the films address issues regarding integration and argues that Italian integration in Britain has not been as successful or as straightforward as the scholarship suggests.
History
Date Modified
2022-04-21CIP Code
- 16.0902
Research Director(s)
Charles L. Leavitt IVDegree
- Master of Arts
Degree Level
- Master's Thesis
Alternate Identifier
1311516648Library Record
6184836OCLC Number
1311516648Program Name
- Italian Studies