ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the demographic significance of Black Africans in contemporary Britain and explores the Black middle classes in the United Kingdom, highlighting the formation of Black middle-class masculinities as a worthy extension of the literature. It shows that the diffusion of neoliberal logics of aspirations across multiple social institutions can inspire “aspiration anxieties”. The chapter considers the ways in which Britain’s national aspiration agenda is mobilized in the lives of Black African boys in South London to shape trajectories of middle-class masculinities. It focuses on the local, while noting the influence of national and global imperatives in shaping Black African boys’ aspirations for middle-class manhood. The chapter explains how they influence the experiences of African immigrants in Britain—noting how Black Africans, especially mothers, mobilize neoliberal logics of meritocracy and individual self-uplift to justify their migration to Britain, influence the development of middle-class masculinities, and counter racist claims of Black African inferiority.
