DOCSLIB.ORG

An Exploration of Second Generation High-Achieving British Bangladeshi Muslim Young Women Living in North-East London

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Exploration of Second Generation High-Achieving British Bangladeshi Muslim Young Women Living in North-East London Navigating Histories: An Exploration of Second Generation High-Achieving British Bangladeshi Muslim Young Women Living in North-East London * Shamea Yasmin Mia * A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sociology Department, Goldsmiths College, University of London * October 2014 I declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own. (Shamea Y. Mia, October 2014) 2 Acknowledgements: I would like to thank many people for their continuous love, support, encouragement and good cheer throughout the process of writing and researching. I’d like to thank firstly my parents for their never-ending love, support and patience in so many, many countless ways. This thesis is dedicated to them. Goldsmiths’ Sociology department have provided unbelievable support throughout my years of studying, from my undergraduate years to Masters to PhD. I’d like to thank my fabulous supervisor Vic Seidler, who, from the beginning of it all, allowed me to discover my sense of self, who gave me a platform from which to speak and who taught me so much. David Oswell, towards the end became an important reminder of the value of this thesis. Both my supervisors I am deeply indebted to, without whose guidance and support, a task such as this would have been impossible. I wish to thank my many teachers at Goldsmiths’ who have always been an inspiration. Particular thanks goes to Brian Alleyne, Monica Greco, Nirmal Puwar, Les Back, Pam Odih, Vikki Bell and David Hirsh for being such spectacular guides. I am also grateful to Yasmin Gunaratnam and Michael Keith for their kindness, patience and support. Thank you to Violet Fearon and Bridget Ward who have provided much needed boosting. My friends and colleagues have always been supportive. Special thanks go to Elisa Fiaccadori for her constant encouragement and good cheer. I thank Jaray Singhakowinta, Alex Rhys-Taylor, Jennie Munday, Anamik Saha, Thomas Zacharias and Emma Jackson for their support, for reading early parts of my work and for their suggestions. Thank you to Dimitris Liokaftos, Hannah Jones, Louise Owusu- kwarteng, Michaela Benson, Stephen Jones, Sibille Merz, Miranda Iossifidis and Valentina Alvarez amongst many others, for their pearls of wisdom and encouragement. Very special thanks to the lovely Margarita Aragon for her patience with both my thesis and me and for editing the whole thing. She comes highly recommended! 3 I am indebted to Ania Korszun and Kamaldeep Bhui for allowing me to sit in on fourth year Psychiatry lectures at Queen Mary College, University of London. Particular thanks goes to consultant psychiatrist, Dr. Sandra Evans who took time out of her busy schedule so I could ask her my many questions. I would like to thank consultant psychiatrist Dr. Gurprit Pannu from the very important South Asian Health Foundation, Mental Health division who gave me his precious time to answer my numerous questions. I thank Bengali International for allowing me to attend their cultural events and help me find my Bengali sense of self. In particular, I’d like to thank Dr. Ali Asghar who provided me with advice and moral support. My friends and family have always encouraged me in more ways than they know. My family globally and particularly in Bangladesh have always supported me from afar in body but close by in mind and spirit, particularly my Boro Mama, Mohiuddin Ahmed, who has always believed in me. I’d also like to thank my cousin, Sheefat E Rabbi, for coming to my aid in times of technical difficulties. Finally, I’d like to thank the young women who shall remain anonymous, though not voiceless, and who gave me their time, trust, narratives and friendships and without whom this thesis would not have been possible. Thank you. 4 Abstract This thesis examines the lives of second generation high-achieving British Bangladeshi Muslim young women living in various parts of north-east London (within the M25). My respondents are educated to at least degree level and are in, or aspire to, middle class employment. This research explores their relationships with their families, and in particular their first generation parents. It also looks at school friendships, romantic relationships, issues of travel to Bangladesh and, finally, how religion shapes both the respondents’ sense of self and the ways in which they orient themselves in relation to their nuclear family. My respondents’ accounts are explored through in-depth narrative analysis in the empirical chapters. This research draws from literature examining migrational and postcolonial understandings of psychoanalysis, Bangladeshi communities, relationships between first generation migrant parents and their second generation daughters and intergenerational dialogue. It is qualitative in nature, employing grounded theoretical and ethnographic research methodologies. The data upon which the research is empirically based is drawn from semi-structured, in-depth interviews with twenty young women, which were carried out between 2006 and 2012. This study’s findings suggest that these young women are able to speak from various historical positionalities. By navigating through and between different cultural histories, this thesis argues, such young women have become or are in the process of becoming ‘hybrid’ in their complex and multi-layered identities. This research has the potential to contribute to the study of intergenerational ethnicities and diasporic identities, as well as enriching our understanding of how a sense of self is formed when respondents belong to a number of differing cultures. 5 Table of Contents PREFACE: RESEARCHING SECOND GENERATION BRITISH BANGLADESHI MUSLIM YOUNG WOMEN 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION – HAND HOLDINGS AND (IN)VISIBLE HISTORIES 10 THE INCIDENT OF THE TRAIN PLATFORM AND THE YOUNG WOMAN 13 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ‘I’, THE POSSIBILITIES OF DIFFERING AND THE YOUNG WOMAN ON THE TRAIN PLATFORM 16 QUESTIONS OF FAMILIAL HISTORIES 17 QUESTIONS OF ‘CARRIED HISTORIES’ 18 CHAPTER OUTLINE 20 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW - GIFTS FROM OUR PARENTS 24 SPEAKING OF CHANGE AND SOUTH ASIAN (BANGLADESHI) WOMEN 24 SECOND GENERATION BRITISH BANGLADESHI YOUNG WOMEN CARRYING PSYCHOSOCIAL HISTORIES 31 BANGLADESHI DIASPORIC CARRIED HISTORIES 36 ALONG THE LINES OF ‘BANGLADESHI ADAPTABILITY’…? 42 THE TYPES OF RELATIONSHIPS AND DIALOGUES WE MIGHT HAVE WITH OUR PARENTS AS EDUCATED SECOND GENERATION YOUNG WOMEN 49 BANGLADESHI CONTEXTS – CONCLUSION 56 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY - FINDING VOICES 58 A GLIMPSE INTO LONDON’S BANGLADESHI DEMOGRAPHICS 59 ETHNOGRAPHIC FRAMINGS 60 RESEARCHING THE ‘COMMUNITY’ AND INTER-GENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS 61 FINDING PARTICIPANTS AND SNOWBALLING IN THE ‘COMMUNITY’ 65 QUESTIONS OF THE TOPIC GUIDE 69 PROCESSES OF INTERVIEWING AND COLLECTING NARRATIVES 70 THE MULTIPLICITY OF NARRATIVES 74 THE USES OF NARRATIVE ANALYSIS AND THEMATIC APPROACHES TO THE INTERVIEWS 75 SENSITIVITY, RESEARCH AND ITS ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS 78 THE AMBIVALENCE OF RESEARCH 82 A PLEASANT EVENING OF HORRORS – IDENTIFYING HISTORIES 84 METHODOLOGICAL EXPRESSIONS IN CONTEXT – CONCLUSION 87 CHAPTER 4: SPEAKING BANGLA WITH THE FIRST GENERATION? MOTHERS, FATHERS AND LANGUAGE 89 MOTHER’S ‘REALM’? 89 OF CARDAMOMS, COOKING AND CATS 95 A TALE OF THREE FATHERS 98 WHAT DOES ‘TRADITIONAL’ HISTORIES MEAN TO YOU? 107 INTERTWINING LANGUAGES AND THE EMERGENCE OF ‘BENGLISH’ 110 WE SPEAKERS OF THE BENGALI LANGUAGE? 113 THE CHANGE OF OUR GENERATION 116 VOICING GENERATIONS – CONCLUSION 118 CHAPTER 5: THE FRIENDS WE MADE IN SCHOOL AND SOME LATER 120 ‘BEING CAREFUL’ – MAKING FRIENDSHIPS WITH BOYS 121 HAVING NON-BENGALI FRIENDS FROM DIFFERENT CULTURAL HISTORIES 125 6 SHARING HISTORIES WITH BENGALI FRIENDS 130 OUR CHOICE OF FRIENDS? 133 PARENTS’ INFLUENCE IN CHOOSING THE FRIENDS WE CHOSE…? 136 COMFORTABLE FRIENDSHIPS, COMFORTABLE HISTORIES? – CONCLUSION 142 CHAPTER 6: DESIRES FOR A PARTNER? ON MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS 144 RE-VISITING THE YOUNG WOMAN ON THE TRAIN PLATFORM… 145 HISTORIES AND WHO I AM ATTRACTED TO 147 THOUGHTS OF THE (MAINLY FIRST GENERATION) COMMUNITY 151 ARRANGED MARRIAGE AND WHO DO YOU WANT TO MARRY…? 160 FUTURE CHILDREN OF THE SECOND GENERATION 167 NAVIGATED LOVE – CONCLUSION 170 CHAPTER 7: NAVIGATING TRAVELS - EXPERIENCES OF RELIGION AND CULTURE 172 SOME PRECONCEIVED EXPECTATIONS OF THE FIRST GENERATION 173 OUR EXPECTATIONS AS (WESTERN?) DAUGHTERS? 175 GEOGRAPHICAL CLOSENESS - OR NOT 178 ‘THE BEAUTY OF BOTH’ 185 ‘IF IT GETS TOO MUCH’ - HOW RELIGION CAN POTENTIALLY BE A FORM OF ESCAPISM AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF RELIGION AND BENGALI CULTURE GET ‘MIXED UP’ 187 INTEGRATION AND SPEAKING INTO SOMETHING NEW? 197 CULTURAL HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS – CONCLUSION 199 CONCLUSION: NAVIGATING INTO THE FUTURE 201 NAVIGATING FURTHER – FUTURE PROJECTS 212 BIBLIOGRAPHY 215 7 Preface: RESEARCHING SECOND GENERATION BRITISH BANGLADESHI MUSLIM YOUNG WOMEN The idea for this project emerged over time, through conducting other similar projects at both undergraduate and Masters’ levels. It also emerged after a brief but revealing interaction I had with another young woman, which I will discuss further in the Introduction. My undergraduate project examined how second and third generation children belonging to an organisation called Bengali International understood their relationship to Bangladeshi culture whilst living and going to school in North East London. As such, it looked at who their friends were, which languages they spoke with friends of their parents and how they felt when they travelled to Bangladesh. The data for this study was gathered in the
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ethnic Variation in Outcome of People Hospitalised During the First COVID
    Open access Original research BMJ Open: first published as 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-048335 on 18 August 2021. Downloaded from Ethnic variation in outcome of people hospitalised during the first COVID-19 epidemic wave in Wales (UK): an analysis of national surveillance data using Onomap, a name- based ethnicity classification tool Daniel Rh Thomas ,1,2 Oghogho Orife ,1 Amy Plimmer,1 Christopher Williams,1 George Karani,2 Meirion R Evans,1 Paul Longley,3 Janusz Janiec,4 Roiyah Saltus,5 Ananda Giri Shankar6 To cite: Thomas DR, Orife O, ABSTRACT Strengths and limitations of this study Plimmer A, et al. Ethnic Objective To identify ethnic differences in proportion variation in outcome of people positive for SARS- CoV-2, and proportion hospitalised, hospitalised during the first ► Secondary analysis of data obtained through routine proportion admitted to intensive care and proportion died COVID-19 epidemic wave national COVID-19 surveillance. in hospital with COVID-19 during the first epidemic wave in Wales (UK): an analysis ► Studies relying on clinician reported ethnicity con- of national surveillance in Wales. tain high proportions of missing and poor quality data using Onomap, a Design Descriptive analysis of 76 503 SARS- CoV-2 tests data. name- based ethnicity carried out in Wales to 31 May 2020. Cohort study of 4046 ► Using a proven name-based classifier, we were able classification tool. BMJ Open individuals hospitalised with confirmed COVID-19 between to assign ethnicity to nearly all participants. 2021;11:e048335. doi:10.1136/ 1 March and 31 May. In both analyses, ethnicity was While sensitivity and specificity of the classifier bmjopen-2020-048335 ► assigned using a name- based classifier.
    [Show full text]
  • Diasporic Fashion Space: Women's Experiences of 'South Asian'
    Diasporic fashion space: women’s experiences of ‘South Asian’ dress aesthetics in London. Shivani Pandey Derrington Royal Holloway College PhD Geography 1 Declaration of Authorship I, Shivani Pandey Derrington, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed:____________________ Date:______________________ 2 Abstract This thesis responds to the emergence of a ‘diasporic fashion space’ in London, examining its implications for women of South Asian descent and their lived experiences of dress. It draws upon in-depth qualitative research in which women provided testimony about their dress biographies, wardrobe collections and aesthetic agency. The aim is to complement, and advance, past research that considered the production and marketing of ‘South Asian’ fashions and textiles in Britain (e.g. Bhachu 2003, Dwyer & Jackson 2003) through a more sustained analysis of the consumption and use of styles and materials. The research is situated in relation to both specific bodies of scholarship – such as that on contemporary British Asian fashion cultures – and wider currents of thought – in particular on diasporic geographies and geographies of fashion. The approach taken draws especially from work within fashion studies that has sought to recognise lived experiences of dress. The thesis develops its argument through four complementary perspectives on the testimonies constructed in the empirical research. First, it considers the role of dress in inhabiting what is termed ‘British Asian fashion space’ and ideas of British Asian identity. Second, it then examines how dress functions as a technology of diasporic selfhood, focusing on the practice of dress choices both in everyday life and in significant ceremonies such as weddings.
    [Show full text]
  • Conclusion 60
    Being Black, Being British, Being Ghanaian: Second Generation Ghanaians, Class, Identity, Ethnicity and Belonging Yvette Twumasi-Ankrah UCL PhD 1 Declaration I, Yvette Twumasi-Ankrah confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Table of Contents Declaration 2 List of Tables 8 Abstract 9 Impact statement 10 Acknowledgements 12 Chapter 1 - Introduction 13 Ghanaians in the UK 16 Ghanaian Migration and Settlement 19 Class, status and race 21 Overview of the thesis 22 Key questions 22 Key Terminology 22 Summary of the chapters 24 Chapter 2 - Literature Review 27 The Second Generation – Introduction 27 The Second Generation 28 The second generation and multiculturalism 31 Black and British 34 Second Generation – European 38 US Studies – ethnicity, labels and identity 40 Symbolic ethnicity and class 46 Ghanaian second generation 51 Transnationalism 52 Second Generation Return migration 56 Conclusion 60 3 Chapter 3 – Theoretical concepts 62 Background and concepts 62 Class and Bourdieu: field, habitus and capital 64 Habitus and cultural capital 66 A critique of Bourdieu 70 Class Matters – The Great British Class Survey 71 The Middle-Class in Ghana 73 Racism(s) – old and new 77 Black identity 83 Diaspora theory and the African diaspora 84 The creation of Black identity 86 Black British Identity 93 Intersectionality 95 Conclusion 98 Chapter 4 – Methodology 100 Introduction 100 Method 101 Focus of study and framework(s) 103
    [Show full text]
  • Cricket, Diaspora, Hybridity and Divided Loyalties Amongst British Asians
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Leeds Beckett Repository “Who do ‘they’ cheer for?” Cricket, diaspora, hybridity and divided loyalties amongst British Asians Dr Thomas Fletcher Carnegie Faculty for Sport Leisure and Education Leeds Metropolitan University [email protected] This article explores the relationship between British Asians’ sense of nationhood, citizenship, ethnicity and some of their manifestations in relation to sports fandom: specifically in terms of how cricket is used as a means of articulating diasporic British Asian identities. I place Norman Tebbit’s ‘cricket test’ at the forefront of this article to tease out the complexities of being British Asian in terms of supporting the English national cricket team. The first part of the article locates Tebbit’s ‘cricket test’ within the wider discourse of multiculturalism. The analysis then moves to focus on the discourse of sports fandom and the concept of ‘home team advantage’. I argue that sports venues represent significant sites for nationalist and cultural expression due to their connection with national history. I highlight how supporting ‘Anyone but England’, thereby rejecting ethnically exclusive notions of ‘Englishness’ and ‘Britishness’, continues to be a definer of British Asians’ cultural identities. The final section situates these trends within the discourse of hybridity and argues that sporting allegiances are often separate from considerations of national identity and citizenship. Rather than placing British Asians in an either/or situation, viewing British ‘Asianness’ in hybrid terms enables them to celebrate their traditions and histories, whilst also being proud of their British citizenship.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring Honour and Shame for South Asian British Muslim Men and Women
    EXPLORING HONOUR AND SHAME FOR SOUTH ASIAN BRITISH MUSLIM MEN AND WOMEN A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2017 NASREEN MANSOOR School of Environment, Education and Development LIST OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES 9 LIST OF TABLES 9 LIST OF GLOSSARY 11 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 13 ABSTRACT 14 DECLARATION 15 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 16 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 17 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Chapter Overview 18 1.2 Researcher’s Personal Experience of Honour and Shame 18 1.3 Researcher’s Professional Experience of Working with Honour and 21 Shame Issues 1.4 Researcher’s Academic Interest in Honour and Shame 22 1.5 Reasons for the South Asian Diaspora Selection 22 1.6 Setting the Study into Context Nationally and Internationally 24 1.7 Honour and Shame as a Worldwide Issue 24 1.8 Honour Based Crimes and Killings 26 1.9 Honour and Shame as a UK Issue 27 1.10 Precis of Honour and Shame 29 1.11 Research Process 29 1.12 Research Questions, Aims and Objectives 32 1.13 Researcher Insider/Outsider Positionality and Reflexivity 32 1.14 Reflexivity 40 1.15 Summary 41 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Chapter Overview 42 2 2.2 Literature Review Aim 42 2.3 Literature Review Process 42 2.4 Honour 45 2.4.1 The Definition of Honour 45 2.4.2 Islam and Honour 46 2.4.3 South Asian Culture and Honour 47 2.4.4 Gender and Honour 48 2.4.5 Individual Honour 51 2.4.6 Collective Honour 52 2.4.7 Internal Honour 54 2.4.8 External Honour 54 2.5 Shame 55 2.5.1 The Definition of Shame 55 2.5.2 Islam and Shame
    [Show full text]
  • Agenda for 28 November 2006-11-28
    PRESIDENT HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES THE BRITISH ASIAN TRUST – INDIA DIRECTOR RECRUITMENT The British Asian Trust is seeking to recruit a dynamic leader to grow and lead our work in India. The successful candidate will work closely with our Chief Executive and Indian Advisory Council to substantially scale up the programmes, profile and influence of the Trust in India. This role will be based in Mumbai or Delhi but will involve travel around India and occasional travel to the UK. We are looking for someone who is entrepreneurial, who will be able to grasp and develop a range of creative financial instruments and approaches, but who also has a passion for social development and improving the world for disadvantaged and marginalised people. You will be highly adaptable – able to network with credibility at the highest levels of government and business and also able to build strong relationships with grassroots organisations. If this is you, we look forward to hearing from you by 28 June 2016. Richard Hawkes Chief Executive THE BRITISH ASIAN TRUST The British Asian Trust is the main international organisation linking the British Asian Diaspora to programmes supporting and empowering the poorest communities in South Asia. We were founded in 2007 by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, together with some of the most influential Asian business leaders and entrepreneurs in the UK. Our main programmes are in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and the thematic areas in which we work are anti-trafficking, education, livelihoods and mental health. We partner with local organisations that address these issues in practical and sustainable ways to make a lasting impact on the lives of thousands of people.
    [Show full text]
  • Fertility and Education Among British Asian Women: a Success Story of Social Mobility?
    Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2017 (Vol. 15), pp. 269–291 Fertility and education among British Asian women: a success story of social mobility? Sylvie Dubuc∗ Abstract High fertility among immigrant groups is often analysed as an expression of specific cultural factors and/or lower social status. I hypothesise that differences in educational attainment explain the fertility differentials across immigrant groups and generations in the UK. Building on previous work, and using household survey data and the Own-Child reverse-survival method, the paper presents for the first time total fertility and age-specific fertility estimates by broad categories of educational attainment for immigrant and second-generation British Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, and Chinese women. I use these estimates to analyse how education influences childbearing across British Asian ethnic groups, and compare the fertility patterns of these groups to those of the whole UK population. High levels of educational attainment contribute substantially to the low overall fertility levels of Indian and Chinese women. Higher education also contributes to the lower fertility levels of the second-generation British Pakistani and Bangladeshi women relative to those of the immigrant generation. Some differences between groups remain after decomposing by educational level, which suggests that there are additional influencing factors. The results are discussed in the context of social theories on the incorporation of immigrants and minorities. 1 Introduction In recent years, the body of research on childbearing among the daughters of immigrants in Europe has been growing (e.g. Mileski 2010; Scott and Stanfors 2011a, b; Dubuc 2012, 2016; Hamel and Pailhe´ 2015; Stichnoth and Yeter 2016; Kulu et al.
    [Show full text]
  • British Indian Donors Understanding Giving Patterns, Motivations and Obstacles June 2010
    British Indian donors Understanding giving patterns, motivations and obstacles June 2010 Working in partnership with All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), the copyright owner. About this Research In 2006 CAF commissioned Bina Rani at Connect for Change to coordinate research amongst the UK Indian Diaspora to better understand their charitable giving. This was essentially a scoping exercise for CAF to enhance our understanding of the giving motivations among this population. The initial intention was to use the knowledge internally. However as the findings are still of great relevance to charities and other organisations engaging with the British Indian diaspora it was decided to produce a summary of the original report. The primary research was conducted by Neha Viswanathan and Beverley Bathija. About Bina Rani Bina Rani is a leading authority on Asian philanthropy and diaspora fundraising and speaks at international conferences and forums on these issues. She has been involved in profiling, working with and raising funds for small, grass root level organisations for 15 years. Bina has worked, consulted with and volunteered for a plethora of organisations, she is currently CEO of iPartner India, an organisation that offers the Asian diaspora in the UK a chance to get involved and contribute to creating a more just and equal society in India. © Charities Aid Foundation and Connect for Change, June 2010 Contents 1 Background and objectives ....................................
    [Show full text]
  • How the British Working Class Became White: the Symbolic (Re)Formation of Racialized Capitalism
    316Journal of Historical Sociology Vol.Alastair 11 No. 3Bonnett September 1998 ISSN 0952-1909 How the British Working Class Became White: The Symbolic (Re)formation of Racialized Capitalism ALASTAIR BONNETT Abstract This article offers an explanation of how and why the British working class, from being marginal to white identity in the nineteenth century, came to adopt and adapt this identity in the twentieth century. The changing position of whiteness within the symbolic constitution of capitalism is discussed. More specifically, the transition from whiteness as bourgeois identity within Victorian, relatively laissez-faire, capitalism to whiteness as a popular, or mass, identity, within the more state interventionist capitalism of the twentieth century is used to exemplify the mutable nature, and political complexities, of the relationship between working class and white identities. The paper concludes with some observations on the implications of this argument for the theory and practice of anti-racism. * * * * * [I] never knew that the working classes had such white skins. (Lord Milner on seeing English soldiers bathing, attributed by Cohen 1988: 32) Introduction In the nineteenth century the notion that all Britons were white was asserted with considerably more force and conviction outside Britain than within it. From a colonial distance it was a commonplace to accord a white, and hence elite, identity to every inhabitant of the United Kingdom. On home soil, however, the assertion that everyone was equally white was more problematic. The British working class, for example, was marginal to the symbolic formation of whiteness and, sometimes, as Lord Milner’s remark implies, actively excluded from it.
    [Show full text]
  • South Asian Young British Muslims: Identity, Habitus and the Family Field
    South Asian Young British Muslims: Identity, Habitus and the Family Field Michela Franceschelli School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences Centre for Research on the Child and Family University of East Anglia Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2013 © This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract Since the 1950s the incoming flows of immigrants have deeply transformed the social composition of British society which has become increasingly multicultural. Amongst other minority groups the position of Muslims, who are the second largest religious group in the UK, is particularly difficult. The 9/11 and London bombings (2005) have increased the moral panic about Muslims perceived as ‘hard to integrate’ and a threat to western democracies. In this context, the thesis aims to explore the negotiation of religious and national identities amongst young British Muslims from South Asian backgrounds as well as the strategies used by their parents to transmit values. The thesis applies and extends Bourdieu’s (1930-2002) theory of habitus and social field to the study of identity negotiation and intergenerational transmission. In so doing, the study adopts a sociological perspective which is sensitive to individual action, and conceptualises identity as the process of individuals assimilating structural conditions, such as Islam and Britishness, to then produce subjective practices, tastes, values and beliefs.
    [Show full text]
  • Writing British Asian Cities
    This is a repository copy of Writing British Asian cities. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/97875/ Version: Accepted Version Article: McLoughlin, S orcid.org/0000-0002-6004-8036 (2009) Writing British Asian cities. Contemporary South Asia, 17 (4). pp. 437-447. ISSN 0958-4935 https://doi.org/10.1080/09584930903329673 (c) 2009 Taylor & Francis. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Contemporary South Asia on 20 Nov 2009, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/09584930903329673 Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Seán McLoughlin “Writing British Asian cities” Contemporary South Asia Vol. 17, No. 4, December 2009, 437–447 Abstract: This article reports in brief on an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Diasporas, Migrations and Identities (DMI) programme funded network, ‘Writing British-Asian Cities’, which ran between 2006 and 2009.
    [Show full text]
  • RISHI SUNAK SARATHA RAJESWARAN a Portrait of Modern Britain Rishi Sunak Saratha Rajeswaran
    A PORTRAIT OF MODERN BRITAIN RISHI SUNAK SARATHA RAJESWARAN A Portrait of Modern Britain Rishi Sunak Saratha Rajeswaran Policy Exchange is the UK’s leading think tank. We are an educational charity whose mission is to develop and promote new policy ideas that will deliver better public services, a stronger society and a more dynamic economy. Registered charity no: 1096300. Policy Exchange is committed to an evidence-based approach to policy development. We work in partnership with academics and other experts and commission major studies involving thorough empirical research of alternative policy outcomes. We believe that the policy experience of other countries offers important lessons for government in the UK. We also believe that government has much to learn from business and the voluntary sector. Trustees Daniel Finkelstein (Chairman of the Board), Richard Ehrman (Deputy Chair), Theodore Agnew, Richard Briance, Simon Brocklebank-Fowler, Robin Edwards, Virginia Fraser, David Frum, Edward Heathcoat Amory, David Meller, Krishna Rao, George Robinson, Robert Rosenkranz, Charles Stewart-Smith and Simon Wolfson About the Authors Rishi Sunak is Head of Policy Exchange’s new Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Research Unit. Prior to joining Policy Exchange, Rishi worked for over a decade in business, co-founding a firm that invests in the UK and abroad. He is currently a director of Catamaran Ventures, a family-run firm, backing and serving on the boards of various British SMEs. He worked with the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education to use new technology to raise standards in schools. He is a Board Member of the Boys and Girls Club in Santa Monica, California and a Governor of the East London Science School, a new free school based in Newham.
    [Show full text]