|
|
|
 |
Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi Communities in GB
The South Asian community in the UK is in fact a diverse community comprising several key communities from the Indian subcontinent. They can be differentiated by several factors, including country of origin, language and religion.
For the purposes of this document, the key categorisation that will be implemented throughout will be that of ethnic origin, as used by the Home Office Census and all other key Government research, namely:
a. Indian
* those from the Indian subcontinent, including the community of East African Asians that migrated from India to Kenya and Uganda and subsequently to the UK
* can also be identified by religion - Hindu, Sikh, Indian Muslim (also Jain, Buddhist and Christian)
* languages spoken vary widely, but can be broken down by region of origin into the following main ones:
o Hindi is the lingua franca of the Indian subcontinent and is also the language of the film industry (Bollywood). Mainly North Indians including Hindu-Punjabis
o Punjabi stems from the state of Punjab. Spoken predominantly by the Punjabi Sikh community. Has a different written script to Hindi, but Hindi and Punjabi speakers communicate well with each other, as there are many common words and phrases
o Gujarati stems from the state of Gujarat. Gujaratis are mainly Hindu (quite a few Jain) and more traditional and orthodox than their Punjabi counterparts. Again, the written script is different and there are also less verbal bonds than between Hindi and Punjabi speakers. The majority of east African Asians now in the UK are originally from Gujarat and may also speak Swahili
o there is a raft of other languages spoken in India, including: Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Multani and Sindhi.
b. Pakistani
* those from the country now classified as Pakistan
* Pakistan was originally part of the whole of the Indian subcontinent until 1947, when at the end of the British Raj, the country was divided into India and Pakistan with separate governments
* a key reason for the partition was separation by religion - Muslims were moved from wherever they lived in India to Pakistan and all Hindus and Sikhs who were resident in the new Pakistan moved to the country then known as India
* the 'partition' as it is known has been a constant reason for community segregation within the UK over the last 40 years
* the Pakistani community speak Urdu (including a dialect called Mirpuri) as well as Punjabi
* the state of Punjab was divided during the partition , and as a result there are Pakistani Muslims who speak Punjabi
* the Pakistani community is the most religious and orthodox of the Islamic communities, following the laws of the Koran very strictly (although there are always exceptions to the rule).
c. Bangladeshi
* Bangladesh was formed from a region that was originally classified as East Pakistan in 1971
* according to the 2001 census, the majority of the Bangladeshi population within the UK, resides in London. Approximately three quarters of the population live in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, with smaller communities in areas like Camden, Newham and Westminster
* most Bangladeshis who reside in these areas are from the Sylhet district of Bangladesh and have strong links back home. They are thus a very close-knit community with strong internal communication networks
* the Sylheti community has a distinctive dialect, which gives them a strong cultural identity. Traditionally their core values centre around the family, community and business.
d. Other
* the category 'Asian - Other' was introduced in the 1991 Census to account for those members of the community that felt that the current classification did not cover them - these include the following groups:
o Tamil
o British-Asian
o African-Asian.
Research compiled by Media Moguls
Unless otherwise stated, the source of information is the 2001 Home Office Census, published February 2003
An historical perspective of the South Asian community in the UK
In order to develop a full understanding of the UK's Asian community, a degree of time needs to be spent looking at the historical background to the communities and their ethnic origins.
There have been people from ethnic minority groups living in Britain throughout history, and therefore the idea of Britain as a multicultural country is not new.
However, the main period of migration for the Asian community has occurred since the Second World War, and the patterns of migration strongly influence their current positions.
This migration formed part of a long tradition of historical links between the former colonies and Britain. Many of the migrants or their relatives had served in the British Army in the Second World War:
* long tradition of serving in the British Army in the Punjab
* both Gujaratis and Bengalis had long traditions of sea-faring
* many of the merchant ships in the British Navy were manned by Sylhetis from present day Bangladesh.
The post-war period of migration was characterised by both 'push' and 'pull', that is negative factors which made people want to leave their countries of origin, and positive reasons specifically to come to Britain.
Negative factors:
* social and economic disruption following partition of British India
* limited employment prospects in East Africa.
Positive factors:
* the desire to have a better standard of living
* the perception that employment prospects and the educational system were better than in their countries of origin
* the desire to provide a better life for their children.
The Indian community:
* migration from Indian subcontinent peaked in the late 1960s and early 70s
* Indian people came mainly from Punjab (mainly Sikhs) and Gujarat (mainly Hindus), from a variety of origins
* some from farming backgrounds with little formal education
* others from towns and cities with vocational or degree level qualifications
* also, a considerable group of people who first migrated from the Indian subcontinent to East Africa (Kenya and Uganda), then came from Africa to Britain in the early 1970s (often referred to as African Asians).
The Pakistani community:
* Pakistani people came mainly from rural areas in Azad Kashmir and Mirpur
* first generation is far more of a homogenous population than Indian migrants, typically holding few formal qualifications
* many Pakistani people in Britain worked in mills and factories when they first arrived and the community has been seriously affected by the decline of manufacturing industry in these areas
* most Pakistanis are Muslim.
The Bangladeshi Community:
* Bangladeshi migration was slightly different from Indian or Pakistani migration
* many Bangladeshi men came to Britain in the mid-60s and waited much longer to bring families to Britain
* the result is that some older men have been in Britain for 20 or 30 years, while their families may have arrived relatively recently, with the peak phase of migration in the 1980s
* most Bangladeshi people in Britain come from rural area of Sylhet in North East Bangladesh
* their family backgrounds were, and still are, in landholding or farming
* like the Pakistani population, they were less likely to have formal educational qualifications than Indian people
* most are Muslim.
Taken from: www.ipa.co.uk/diversity/communities_asian.html
India's post colonial experience
-> New English Literature (written by Indian writers)
-> Bend it like Beckham: clash of cultures?; Indian's lifestyle in the UK
|
|
|
 |
|
|
