Rootlessness and Unbelonging

This chapter focuses on a specific group of Global Majority leaders and the deep and fundamental questioning Afro-Caribbean descendants born in the UK have concerning their identity and place of belonging attached to their perceived 'rootlessness.’ 'Rootlessness' seems important and most evident in the discourse of first-generation children born in the UK descended from the Windrush generation and those second-generation children born in the 80s. 'Rootlessness' means lacking identity, a place of unbelonging or being displaced and being unable to identify a location of reference as a cultural or physical place of belonging or home. A Black historian, Charles Seifert, considered that the lack of knowledge about one's history leaves people feeling 'like a tree without roots' (Seifert in Black like Vanilla. Retrieved from Featured quote From Charles Seifert, Author of “The Negro’s or Ethiopian’s Contribution to Art”: http://blacklikevanilla.com/featured-quote-by-charles-seifert-author-of-the-negros-or-ethiopians-contribution-to-art/ , 1938). Understanding the need for a place of belonging is vital for leadership, as it gives some insight into the perceived lack of stability and belonging from which Global Majority people feel they can enact leadership.