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The paper examines how Tom Nairn's nationalism critiques the optimism of British multiculturalism and its assumptions.

May 5, 2026

British multiculturalism and Tom Nairn's Two Englands.

Key Points

The paper examines how Tom Nairn's nationalism critiques the optimism of British multiculturalism and its assumptions.
Analysis of a letter exchange between Tom Nairn and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown from 2000
Discussion of Nairn's concept of 'Two Englands' within the framework of Marxist-nationalism
Examination of territorial dimensions of political identity in late twentieth-century Britain.
Nairn's view challenges the dominant, London-centric perspective of multiculturalism.
His analysis highlights the intersection of racial and regional disparities under British rule.
The work suggests a need for a unified approach to understanding economic life and political identity in Britain.

Abstract

This roundtable contribution begins with a brief letter exchange between Tom Nairn and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in 2000. It explores how Nairn's nationalism challenged the liberal optimism of Britain's multiculturalist moment-and what he saw as its London-centric assumptions. Returning to Nairn's account of 'Two Englands', it suggests that his Marxist-nationalist commitments, though not without problems and limits, can help us think in new ways about the spatial politics of economic life in late twentieth-century Britain. Nairn's nationalism draws attention to the territorial dimensions of inequality and political identity, urging us to bring into a single frame the racial and regional peripheries of British rule.

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