From Diaspora to Multi-Locality: Writing British-Asian Cities

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From Diaspora to Multi-Locality Writing
British-Asian Cities

• Drs Seán McLoughlin, William Gould
• Ananya Kabir Emma Tomalin
• Religious Studies, History English Literature
• University of Leeds
• www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities

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Overview

• 1) Welcome, Network Background Progress (5
  mins)
• 2) The Cities City Events (10 mins)
• 3) The Website (5 mins)
• 4) Introductions (10 mins)
• 5) Symposium Aims General Themes (10 mins)
• 6) Housekeeping Matters / Q A (5 mins)

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1) Network Background

• To establish forum for scholars/others interested
  in UK South Asian presence
• To compare local, multi-local trans-local
  dynamics of five British-Asian cities examine
  changing representation of (public) identities,
  1960s - 2000s
• How written by different genres of writing
  ethnography local/oral history
  literary/cultural production the media official
  reports.

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1) Network Background

• To reflect upon the (multi)disciplinary
  perspectives of Social, Religious,
  Literary/Cultural Studies, History.
• To consider differently located/empowered
  insiders/ outsiders, scholars/civil
  society/cultural /community
• To establish a steering committee website, hold
  city events a symposium

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2) The Cities City Events

• Bradford
• Northern wool town. Conservatism radicalism.
  Mirpuris, Manningham Mela. Bradford 12,
  Honeyford, Rushdie.
• Tower Hamlets
• Eastenders in global Olympic city. Sylheti seamen
  Brick Lane. Baul singers East London mosque.
  GLC after.
• Greater Manchester
• North-South split Pakistanis in cotton the rag
  trade from riots in Oldham to mixing it up Eid
  on Curry Mile.
• Leicester
• Model of cohesion? Majority minority city. East
  African Twice Migrants. Imperial Typewriters.
  Diwali Golden Mile
• Birmingham
• The second city. Handsworth Sparkbrook, Punjbai
  Sikhs Muslims. Indian Workers Association,
  Bhangra the Balti.

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2) The Cities City Events

• Hidden Histories, Silent Voices?
• Limitations and silences of any project/network.
• Importance of self-awareness and reflexivity.
• Which cities? Major urban conurbations. The usual
  suspects?
• Language English rather than vernaculars
• Gender goes beyond attempts at inclusiveness at
  workshops to focus on public representations -
  not womens histories
• Ethnic religious affiliations dominance of
  certain groups in cities, other groups silenced.
  Reflects how written.

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3) The Website

• www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities
• Anchor network over time, juxtaposing cities
  creating repository for resources (use for
  teaching)
• Records of city events
• Introductory bibliographies
• Links to key texts, other resources / sites of
  interest, new research related projects
• Symposium recording, working presentations
  interactive papers
• Opportunities for networking - register /post
  details. Database of academic non-academic
  contacts.

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5) The Symposium

• Looking back, moving forward
• Reflecting together opening up the conversation
• From diaspora to multi-locality?
• Divergent local regional contexts of emigration
  resettlement (Vertovec 2000). Similarity
  difference?
• British-Asian, BrAsian identities beyond?
• Post-colonial contest of ethnic tropes /
  Britishness but not yet its own name.
  Transformed by conjoining (Sayyid 2006)?
• Writing the politics of representation
• Discourse city image. Gaze, stereotype
  mainstreaming? Genre. Authors. Publishers.
  Audiences.
• Arts/Humanities Social Sciences? Beyond texts?
  Power, materiality, performance identity in
  cultural production.