Leicester Migration Stories
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Leicester Migration Stories Disclaimer Runnymede: This publication is part of the Runnymede Perspectives series, the aim Intelligence for a of which is to foment free and exploratory thinking on race, ethnicity and equality. The facts presented and views expressed in this publication are, Multi-ethnic Britain however, those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the Runnymede Trust. ISBN 978-1-906732-94-3 Runnymede is the UK’s leading independent thinktank on race First published by Runnymede in November 2012, this material is © equality and race relations. Runnymede. Through high quality research Acknowledgements and thought leadership, we: We would like to offer our thanks to the pupils and teachers of Judgemeadow Community College and the young people and staff at the • Identify barriers to race Somali Community and Parents’ Association in Leicester for participating in this project. We are also grateful to their family members and other equality and good race interviewees who agreed that their words could be included in this booklet. relations; Special thanks go to: Holly Walker, who did much of the research and text • Provide evidence to support preparation; Matthew Battey for conducting early research for the text and Rebecca Waller for assistance with picture sourcing. action for social change; • Influence policy at all levels. Open access. Some rights reserved. The Runnymede Trust wants to encourage the circulation of its work as widely as possible while retaining the copyright. The trust has an open access policy which enables anyone to access its content online without charge. Anyone can download, save, perform or distribute this work in any format, including translation, without written permission. This is subject to the terms of the Creative Commons Licence Deed: Attribution- Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales. 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For more T 020 7377 9222 information please go to www.creativecommons.org E [email protected] www.runnymedetrust.org Contents Preface 2 Introduction 3 China 4 Mongolia 5 Sri Lanka 5 Africa 6 Somalia 6 Zimbabwe 8 Nigeria 8 The Caribbean 9 Eastern European communities 11 Poland 12 Kosovo 12 Portugal 13 Ireland 13 Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community 14 Middle East/Arab communities 15 Turkey 15 India 16 East African Asians 17 Kenyan and Ugandan Asians 18 Pakistan 19 Bangladesh 20 What’s special about Leicester 22 Photo Acknowledgements 23 Notes and References 24 Preface During 2012 Runnymede, together with Professor Claire new roles as young community historians, what they Alexander from the University of Manchester, has run a have discovered about their families and what they have series of workshops with young people aged 12 to 14 learned about their communities. years from schools and community groups in Leicester, Some of the communities included in this book Sheffield and Cardiff. These workshops formed part of are those represented by the young people who have an oral histories project involving schoolchildren across worked with us on the project, or the people they have the UK. In these workshops we built on the processes of chosen to interview. Others, though, are communities researching and conducting oral histories developed in an with long-established historical roles in the unfolding story of Leicester. There are other groups whose historical earlier work called the Bengal Diaspora. journeys to Leicester have not been included this time. The children who participated in this project For those whose arrival is a relatively recent phenomenon, interviewed, filmed and recorded their parents, uncles, reliable data about their migration was unavailable at aunts, grandparents, teachers and members of their the time of writing. What we have presented, this time, communities, charting their journeys from the various is a brief description of the many and varied groups parts of the world to the cities in which they are now whose presence in Leicester has been recorded locally settled. Leicester is one such city, and in this booklet we in museums and archives and, most importantly, by our are highlighting the historical stories of migration and young emerging community historians. settlement of the various communities that now live and work there. We have included quotes from the young people Debbie Weekes-Bernard Senior Research and Policy Analyst in which they talk about what they have observed in their Runnymede We’ve learnt why people have migrated due to their experiences in life, such as natural disasters, poverty, war and family. Also, we’ve learnt to respect people’s reasons for moving to Leicester and understand why they did it - Pupil from Judgemeadow Community College, Leicester 2 Introduction Leicester, as noted by its Council, is a ‘modern 21st- century global city’ given that it has a historical legacy of migrant settlement and is home to an array of diverse minority ethnic, religious and new migrant communities. Statistics relating to the diversity of its population speak for themselves. For example, currently 42% of Leicester’s population is from a black and minority ethnic (BME) background, the largest proportionately in the whole of England and Wales, and just over a third of its residents were born outside the UK. Twenty-eight percent of those living in Leicester are of Gujarat Indian heritage, and another large proportion of Leicester residents are originally from East Africa. An even greater The Jain Centre number of Leicester schoolchildren have a minority ethnic background – 57% of them are BME – and 50% the UK, Leicester has played host to communities that of all primary school children in the city speak another are arriving here in response to conflict or as a result language at home, compared to just 16% of primary of expulsion, settling in areas where many post-war school pupils nationally. Home to 240 faith groups across migrants, from countries similar to theirs, had already 14 different faiths, Leicester hosts 123 Christian places established themselves. The impact that its East African of worship, 42 mosques, 23 Hindu temples, 2 Sikh Asian communities have made on areas such as Belgrave Gurdwaras, 2 Jewish synagogues and 1 Jain temple. is notable, but other migrant groups, such as those Indeed the latter is the first consecrated Jain temple included in Cynthia Brown’s oral history collection,1 outside India, and is a much visited architectural wonder. have spoken about arriving as refugee children from the It is little wonder then that Leicester has often Basque country in 1936, and settling in areas such as been described as the first city in the UK where its Evington. As with the stories, interviews and films made minority residents are projected soon to become the by the young people who took part in this project, these majority. The movement of groups to and from this city testimonies shine a light on the experiences of those who has been continuous, with some of its newer arrivals have travelled huge distances, both geographical and coming from places that include Zimbabwe, Poland, emotional, to set up new lives in Leicester and become Portugal, Slovakia, Congo and Iraq. Like other parts of part of its Migration Story. 3 China Chinese people make up around 1% of the population restaurants and other catering businesses have become of Leicester, with just over 100 new immigrants arriving significant members of the local community, helping to each year. The people of the Chinese community, who organise social events and other activities. In the 1980s, arrived mainly after the 1950s, are well integrated and when the agricultural sector collapsed in Hong Kong, spread out across all areas of the city.2 Migrants arriving there was an increase in the numbers of Chinese people in Leicestershire from China in the 1960s did so to seek travelling to the UK to start businesses. Today, when out better opportunities for themselves and their families, migrants from China come to study in the UK’s many many of them going into catering.3 Those running universities, many choose Leicester as a learning centre. Leicester Chinese Christian Church 4 Mongolia A small Mongolian population in Leicester is becoming one of the fastest growing in the city. Until the 1990s the Communist regime had made Mongolia a difficult country to travel from. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 allowed more freedom of travel, and some Mongolians have since left the country and travelled to European countries. In 2001, the national Census recorded that there were 299 Mongolians in Britain. Although urban myth asserts that Leicester’s small population of Mongolians was founded when one Mongolian man stayed in the International Hotel for a period,4 it is now more reliably recorded that between 50 and 100 Mongolians live in Leicester, one of the largest Mongolian populations in Britain.5 Sri Lanka A small nation south of India, Sri Lanka has been suffering many years of civil war, with 25 years of violence between Flag of Mongolia warring ethnic groups. Sri Lankans have recently begun to settle in Leicester, travelling to the UK either directly from Sri Lanka, or via Germany,6 and in 2011, 447 children in Leicester schools have been registered as speaking the Sri Lankan Tamil dialect.7 5 Africa Somalia Somalis have been living in the UK since the late 19th century, when they came as seamen or traders.