ABSTRACT
In any analysis of identity formation and subsequent notions of 'belonging', awareness of one's own existence only becomes significant in relation to the 'other': Liverpudlians to Mancunians, Irish to English, blacks to whites. Constructions of 'N orthemness' have emerged out of specific historical, social and economic conditions that distinguish it from 'Southemness' - itself a result of historically specific conditions. Thus identity is something that is negotiated through the prism of social and political relations and takes place within the confines of broader capitalist social relations. The focus here will be on the complexity, fluidity and ambiguity of identity as a social construct, in the context of twentieth-century Liverpool. This chapter will discuss the notion of 'Scouseness' as a predominantly inclusive, white working-class 'microculture', 1 whilst simultaneously considering how this has historically excluded black people - a symptom of their wider social, economic and political marginalization. There is also the issue of those who straddled both black and white Liverpool, such as white Liverpudlian women who took black partners and had black children. What of their identity in this context?
