Chris Searle (born 1 January 1944) is a British educator, poet, anti-racist activist and socialist. He has written widely on cricket, language, jazz, race and social justice, and has taught in Canada, England,

Tobago Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

and Grenada. He has been associated with the

Institute of Race Relations The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) is a think tank based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1958 in order to publish research on race relations worldwide, and in 1972 was transformed into an "anti-racist think tank". Proposed by ''Sund ...

since the 1970s, and is on the editorial board of ''

Race & Class ''Race & Class'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal on contemporary racism and imperialism. It is published quarterly by Sage Publications on behalf of the Institute of Race Relations and is interdisciplinary, publishing material across the h ...

''. He writes a weekly column on jazz for the left-wing newspaper '' Morning Star''.

Life

Chris Searle was born in Romford, Essex, in 1944. He was a young cricketer for England, and graduated in 1966 from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. That year he went to

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...

, Canada, where in 1967 he completed an M.A. in English Literature at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

, which included a thesis on the East End of London poet

Isaac Rosenberg Isaac Rosenberg (25 November 1890 – 1 April 1918) was an English poet and artist. His ''Poems from the Trenches'' are recognized as some of the most outstanding poetry written during the First World War. Early life Isaac Rosenberg was born ...

. He became a schoolteacher in Canada, and then in 1968–69 taught English at a secondary school in

, in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

. His 1972 work ''The Forsaken Lover: White Words and Black People'', which won the Martin Luther King Prize, is based on his experience in Tobago.

Stepney School strike

On returning to England in 1970, Searle taught in the East End, and was involved in the Stepney School strike of 1971 in the borough of

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...

. He was dismissed from the John Cass Foundation and Red Coat School when he published ''Stepney Words'', a collection of his pupils' poems; however, he was reinstated after his pupils went on strike in protest.

Later life

He spent 1977 and 1978 working in

Nampula Nampula is the capital city of Nampula Province in Northern Mozambique. With a population of 743,125 (2017 census), it is the third-largest city in Mozambique after Maputo and Matola. The city is located in the interior of Nampula Province, approx ...

Secondary School in northern Mozambique during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. His book ''We're Building the New School! Diary of a Teacher in Mozambique, published in 1981, presents his experiences in diary form. Searle spent time in the early 1980s in Grenada, and wrote and edited several books about that Caribbean island, including, in 1981, ''Grenada: Education Is a Must!'' with Grenada's Prime Minister

Maurice Bishop Maurice Rupert Bishop (29 May 1944 – 19 October 1983) was a Grenadian revolutionary and the leader of New Jewel Movement – a Marxist–Leninist party which sought to prioritise socio-economic development, education, and black liberation � ...

. Bishop had been involved in March 1979 with a coup by the Marxist

New Jewel Movement The New Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation, or New JEWEL Movement (NJM), was a Marxist–Leninist vanguard party in the Caribbean island nation of Grenada that was led by Maurice Bishop. Established in 1973, the NJM issued i ...

, which suspended the country's constitution, and established a

People's Revolutionary Government The People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) was proclaimed on 13 March 1979 after the Marxist–Leninist New Jewel Movement overthrew the government of Grenada in a revolution, making Grenada the only socialist state within the Commonwealth. ...

. Searle also edited ''In Nobody's Backyard: Maurice Bishop’s speeches 1979–1983''. He taught at the Earl Marshal School in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

between 1990 and 1995. Later he was a lecturer in education at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

, London. In 2007, Searle was a visiting social sciences professor at

York University, Toronto York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and staf ...

. According to

John Berger John Peter Berger (; 5 November 1926 – 2 January 2017) was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel '' G.'' won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism '' Ways of Seeing'', written as an accompaniment to the ...

: "At his best Searle's compassion, anger and sense of historical morality as a storyteller are reminiscent of the early

Gorki Gorki may refer to: * Gorki Águila (b. 1968), Cuban rock musician *Gorki (band), a Belgian band of Luc De Vos * Gorki (Kazan Metro), a station of the Kazan Metro, Kazan, Russia * Gorki Ridge, a ridge in Antarctica * Gorki, Russia, several inha ...

. I can see no other writer in Britain with whom to compare him."Profile of Searle
at Inpress publishers.

Bibliography

*''Stepney Words'' (editor), 1971 *''Firewords'' (editor), 1971 – a national anthology of children's poetry *''Poilu: a novel'', 1971 *''Elders: a collection of poems by elder citizens'' (editor), 1972 *''The Forsaken Lover: White Words and Black People'', Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972 (Penguin Books, 1973) *''This New Season: Our Class, Our Schools, Our World'', 1973 *''Mainland'', 1973 – poems *''Ferndale Fires: a children's story'', 1974 *''Classrooms of Resistance'', Writers and Readers, 1975 *''The Black Man of Shadwell: four stories'', 1976 *''The World in a Classroom'', 1977 *''Beyond the Skin: How Mozambique is defeating racism'', 1979 *''Grenada: "Let those who labour hold the reins"'', 1979 – interview with

Bernard Coard Winston Bernard Coard (born 10 August 1945) is a Grenadian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister in the People's Revolutionary Government of the New Jewel Movement. Coard launched a coup within the revolutionary government and took power f ...

*''Red Earth: Poems'', 1980 *''Tales of Mozambique'' (with Chaz Davies and

Ruhi Hamid Ruhi Hamid is a British filmmaker, born in Tanzania of Asian origin, who has made award-winning documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, Al Jazeera International, and other UK, US and European broadcasters. Her films have covered international storie ...

), 1980 *''Bricklight: Poems from the Labour Movement in East London'' (editor), 1980 *''Grenada: Education Is a Must!'' (with

), 1981 *Is Freedom We Making': The New Democracy in Grenada'' (editor), 1981 *''We're Building the New School! Diary of a Teacher in Mozambique'',

Zed Books Zed Books is an independent non-fiction publishing company based in London, UK. It was founded in 1977 under the name Zed Press by Roger van Zwanenberg. Zed publishes books for an international audience of both general and academic readers, co ...

, 1981 *''Sunflower of Hope: Poems from the Mozambican Revolution'' (editor),

Allison and Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in May ...

, 1982 *''Grenada Is Not Alone'' (editor), 1982 *''In the Spirit of Butler: trade unionism in free Grenada'' (editor), 1982 *''In the Mainstream of the Revolution'' (editor), 1982 *''To Construct From Morning: making the people’s budget in Grenada'' (editor), 1982 *''Common Ground'', 1983 *''Grenada: The Struggle against Destabilization'', 1983 *''Wheel Around the World'' (editor), 1983 *''Words Unchained: Language and Revolution in Grenada'', 1984 *''In Nobody’s Backyard: Maurice Bishop’s speeches 1979–1983'' (editor), Zed Books, 1984 *''Calalloo: Stories from Grenada'' (editor), 1984 *''Our City'' (editor), 1984 *''All Our Words'', 1986 *''Poems for Peace by Sheffield Schoolchildren'' (editor), 1987 *''Children of Steel: A Sheffield Anthology'' (editor), 1988 *''Racism and the Press in Thatcher's Britain'' (with Nancy Murray),

, 1989 *''Your Daily Dose: Racism and the Sun'', 1989 *''Grenada Morning: a memoir of the revo'',

Karia Press Norris Chrisleventon "Buzz" Johnson (2 November 1951 – 11 February 2014), generally known as Buzz Johnson, was a Tobago-born publisher and activist who in the 1970s relocated to England, UK. There he set up a small publishing company called Kar ...

, 1989 *''One for Blair'' (editor), 1989 – tribute to

Blair Peach Clement Blair Peach (25 March 1946 – 24 April 1979) was a New Zealand teacher who was killed during an anti-racism demonstration in Southall, London, England. A campaigner and activist against the far right, in April 1979 Peach took part in a ...

*''Remember Hillsborough: a memorial anthology'' (co-editor, with Steve Chew), 1990 *''Freedom Children: a tribute in poetry to the children of South Africa from the children of Sheffield'' (editor), 1990 *
A Blindfold Removed: Ethiopia's Struggle for Literacy
', 1991 *''Outcast England: How schools exclude black children'' (with Jenny Bourne and Lee Bridges), 1994 *''Living Community, Living School: Essays on education in British inner cities'', 1997 *''Changing Literacies'' (with Colin Lankshear, James Paul Gee and Michele Knobel), 1997 *''None But Our Words: Critical Literacy in Classroom and Community'', 1998 *''Pitch of Life: Writings on Cricket'', Parrs Wood Press, 2001 *''An Exclusive Education: Race, Class and Exclusion in British Schools'', 2002 *''Lightning of Your Eyes: new and selected poems'', Smokestack Books, 2006 *''Cosmopolis Toronto'' (editor), 2007 *''Tell It Like It Is: How our schools fail black children'' (with Bernard Coard and others), 2007 *
Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzman
', Northway Publications, 2008 *''Toronto Generations'' (editor), 2008 *''Mandela, Manchester'' (editor), 2009 *
Doodlebug Boy
', 2011 *
Red Groove
', Five Leaves Publications, 2013 *
Footprints: Poems by Peter Blackman
' (editor), Smokestack Books, 2013

References

External links

''Chris Searle: The Great Includer''
October 2009. Special issue of ''

Race and Class ''Race & Class'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal on contemporary racism and imperialism. It is published quarterly by Sage Publications on behalf of the Institute of Race Relations (United Kingdom), Institute of Race Relations and ...

'', a festschrift on his 65th birthday.
"The Stepney School Strike of 1971"
''Spitalfields Life'', 16 August 2011. *Michael h Baldwin
" Tales for Perspiring Teachers. Chapter 2. Revolution in the air"
- In which 900 children go on strike and march to Trafalgar Square. *Fran Abrams

''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 31 December 1995
"Former head chronicles a passion for jazz and justice"
(interview), ''

Sheffield Telegraph The ''Sheffield Telegraph'' is a weekly newspaper published in Sheffield, England. Founded in 1855 as the ''Sheffield Daily Telegraph'', it became known as the ''Sheffield Telegraph'' in 1938. History The ''Sheffield Telegraph'' was founded i ...

'', 14 November 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Searle, Chris 1944 births Living people Alumni of the University of Leeds British poets British educational theorists British socialists British activists People from Romford British male poets 20th-century British male writers 21st-century British male writers