Writing British Asian cities

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. It contends that the diverse local configuration of Asian Britain has to a large extent remained unexamined in the literature. Having organised community-based events in five English cities, an indication is given of how London's East End, Bradford, Manchester, Birmingham and Leicester have all been ‘written’ and represented across a variety of genres since the 1960s. Bringing the perspectives of the social sciences into conversation with the arts and humanities, the network also prioritised further reflection on certain disciplinary perspectives and cross-cutting themes: history; literary/cultural production; religion; gender. Various working papers and other resources which report in more detail on the project are lodged on an interactive website, while a research group of the British Association of South Asian Studies (BASAS) has also been recently established.

Keywords:

• British-Asians
• diasporas
• locality
• writing
• representation

Acknowledgements

I wish to record my debt to everyone, both academics and non-academics, who participated in the network's conception, management, events and outputs. Very special thanks go to my co-applicants at the University of Leeds, Drs William Gould (History), Ananya J. Kabir (English) and Emma Tomalin (Religious Studies), as well as the other members of the steering committee. Without their insightful contributions and sustained good will, the project would have been impossible. All of the above will also want to thank our postgraduate administrative/technical assistants, Robbie Beattie and Jasjit Singh, as well as the AHRC.

Notes

 1. NB a volume co-edited by the applicants will be published by Routledge in 2011.

 2. See www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/project_participants2.htm.

 3. See www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/index.htm.

 4. The abstracts, presentations, as well as digital sound and pictures from the event, are all lodged at: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/symposium.htm.

 5. For a list of other projects, see: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/ahrc.htm.

 6. For details of the ECMSAS panel, ‘Writing the cities of South Asian diasporas world-wide’, see: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/assets/WBAC_Panel_Final_SMcL.doc.

 7. See Eade's working paper: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/assets/papers/WBAC002.pdf.

 8. See McLoughlin's working paper: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/assets/papers/WBAC003.pdf.

 9. See Ramamurthy (2008), for example, on the Asian Youth Movements (AYMs) in Manchester and Bradford.

10. See Kalra's working paper: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/assets/papers/WBAC005.pdf.

11. See www.connectinghistories.org.uk/collections/indian_workers_association.asp.

12. See Gale's working paper: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/assets/papers/WBAC004.pdf.

13. See Virdee's working paper: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/assets/papers/WBAC006.pdf.

14. See Gould and Qureshi's working paper: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/assets/papers/WBAC007.pdf.

15. See Kabir's working paper: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/assets/papers/WBAC008.pdf.

16. See McLoughlin and Zavos's working paper: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/assets/papers/WBAC009.pdf.

17. See Tomalin's working paper: www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/assets/papers/WBAC010.pdf.

18. See www.leeds.ac.uk/writingbritishasiancities/table.htm.

19. See www.basas.org.uk/research.htm.

20. But see Malik (2002) on ‘black’ and Asian images on television.