ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ways in which cultural difference has been constructed through artistic modes of representation in Britain during both the colonial period and postcolonialism. This relationship between past and present is explored by an analysis of novels and films produced during the inter-war period and recent contestations involving artists and community activists who seek to represent the social and cultural identity of minority ethnic groups in contemporary multicultural Britain. Attention is paid to London in particular, given its key role as the centre of national and colonial government and its development as a global city, whose increasing cultural diversity has been shaped by postcolonial migration.
