Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Ben Aaronovitch’s Urban Fantasy Cycle Rivers of London

Abstract

Drawing on Paul Gilroy’s discussion of postimperial melancholia and conviviality, this article aims to examine Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London as a voice in the discussion on British multiculture. Contextualised through a comparison to a popular culture spectacle and discussed within the theoretical framework of urban fantasy, the narrative is read as consciously challenging the “habits of Whiteness” (Young 2016) of fantasy fiction. The analysis focuses on the diversions from the white-centric paradigm by discussing the construction of the mixed-race protagonist, the juxtaposition of postimperial and convivial attitudes and the use of the fantastic to expose various approaches towards difference.