Black Arsenal

Arsenal is special. Its uniquely convivial fandom reflects the changing city that surrounds the club, and over decades of fielding Black footballers who have made iconic contributions to the English game it has formed a special relationship with Black British popular culture. It might not have set out to become one, but Arsenal Football Club has become a powerful symbol for what multiculturalism can mean, its everyday realities sustaining hopes and dreams of a better world. To examine and celebrate this phenomenon, Black Arsenal looks at the story of the club since the early 1990s, on the pitch, in the terraces, in the changing rooms and in the streets and pubs of north London. Featuring astonishing reminiscences from bona fide legends like Ian Wright and Paul Davis, critical appraisals from Sean Jacobs, Paul Gilroy, Gail Lewis, and personal responses from artists like Tayo Popoola and Ezra Collective, along with an incredible bounty of never-before-seen archive images, it sheds new light on how a north London football club became a beacon of belonging. ''Victory grows out of harmony'': here''s how.

Préface
An exploration in essays and photography of the contribution of Arsenal football club to Black British cultural history

Auteur

Matthew Harle is a writer and curator from Islington, North London. His work explores cultural histories, cities and identity in books, exhibitions, and events. He has worked at the BFI, Barbican, and is now Curator of Artistic Programmes at the Warburg Institute. He attended his first Arsenal game in the 1993/4 season.

Résumé

Arsenal is special. Its multicultural fandom reflects a changing city and a unique relationship with Black British popular culture. Thanks to its decades of fielding iconic Black players on the pitch and the storied and diverse histories of its terraces, Arsenal has emerged as a powerful symbol of what an organic and convivial multiculture can be.

From the earliest hints in the late 1960s that something remarkable was happening, up to Arsenal's ascendence as a global organisation, Black Arsenal is the first dedicated exploration of the club's relationship to contemporary Black identity and culture. It sees the club's affinity with Black identity transcend football and spread across cultures: in the media, music, fashion, politics and everyday social experiences. Explored through a combination of stunning photography and rare archival images, Black Arsenal examines how a new Black iconography emerged at Arsenal at key moments in British history that became crucial to the creation of new forms of Black identification.

With contributions including former legends Ian Wright and Paul Davis, critical appraisals from Paul Gilroy, Gail Lewis and Clive Chijioke Nwonka, and personal responses from Clive Palmer, Ezra Collective, Amy Lawrence and others, Black Arsenal encounter the moments, stories and experiences of how Arsenal became an important and underexamined feature of modern Black British culture and identity.