ford madox brown - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

Brown's parents could be described as economic exiles, let down financially by
England and unable to remain in the middle classes unless they moved abroad. The
word 'exile' brings to mind diaspora theories which have traditionally been used to
describe the Jewish community and its plight. However, recent scholarship has
expanded its usage to analyse the cultural experiences of many communities who
have to leave their countries of origin. 8 Although not part of a diaspora community
per se Brown's migrant experiences share similarities with those living within one.
He and his family were part of a minority group of English expatriates, they retained a
strong sense of homeland and like many second generation immigrants, Brown spoke
the language of his parents but also the language of his adopted home. 9 This links
Brown's early work to theories and perspectives which have been used to discuss
diaspora, migration and the formation of national culture by theorists such as Edward
Said and Homi K. Bhabha. 10
The little-discussed facts about Brown's birth place and early migrant upbringing in
France and Belgium have seen him labelled 'an outsider' by other scholars. Kenneth
Bendiner asks the rhetorical question 'wasn't Brown essentially an uncongenial
8
For an excellent overview of global diaspora theories see Robin Cohen, Global Diaspora: An
Introduction, London, 1997 and Thomas Turino, Introduction to Identity and the Arts in Diaspora
Communities, eds. Thomas Turino and James Lea, Warren, Michigan, 2004. 'Hindu Temples and
Asian Indian diasporic Identity in the United States' by Bharat Mehra looks at a community not usually
described as diaspora but, like Brown's parents, who have had to leave their country of origin, for
economic reasons (in Identity and the Arts in Diaspora Communities, pp. 93-102). Likewise, Past
Modern: Paintings by the Singh Twins describes the sisters as artists working within the 'Indian
disapora' (exh. cat., National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, 2002, p. 5). Most studies of diaspora
communities look at twentieth-century cases. Although Brown was born in the nineteenth-century
some of his experiences as the son of English parents but raised abroad are the same as those in
diaspora communities in the twentieth century.
9
Newman and Watkinson describe some of the activities of the expatriate community in Calais, where
Brown spent much of his early life: sometimes they met at Dessein's Hotel' but his mother 'also gave
"at homes" when Ford [sic] would play his violin accompanied by Lyly [his sister] on guitar' (Op. cit.
at note 5, p. 6). Hueffer also mentions an episode in which Brown saw Beau Brummel, who like
Brown's family had been forced to move to France for financial reasons (Op. cit. at note 1, pp. 11-12).
10
Edward Said, Orientalism, London, 1995, first published 1977. Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of
Culture, London and New York, 1994.
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