Writing the City in British-asian Diasporas

This book revisits the study of South Asians in Britain and beyond. It looks at the concept of diaspora by probing the ways in which the South Asian diaspora could be re-conceptualised as comprising communities whose identity, on both individual and collective levels, is grounded in a sense of rooted and connected locations that do not necessarily privilege the homeland. The meaning and importance of the local, multi-local and trans-local is explored through a comparison of five British-Asian cities, with ‘the local’ speaking simultaneously to precise regions people have migrated to and from. The various contributions show awareness of ‘multi-locality’ – being at once connected ‘here’ and ‘there’ – as well as attention to ongoing ‘multi-local’ circulations and networks, captures the divergent flow of experiences, cultural capital and mobilising energies of particular Asian groups in Britain. At the same time, the influence of translocal forces and imaginaries, such as pan-Islamism, which are deconstructing the very idea of a ‘South Asian diaspora’ in Britain is acknowledged. The book provides an innovative analysis of the growing South Asian communities and their multi-local identities in Britain today.

Sean McLoughlin is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Leeds. He has published extensively on Islam and Pakistani Muslims in Britain, Europe and South Asia.

William Gould is Senior Lecturer in Indian History in the School of History, University of Leeds. Current research includes the history of Indian citizens’ experiences of the newly independent state of India between 1947 and 1964, the politics of religious conflict and ‘communalism’ in South Asia, and the historical narratives of South Asian migrants to the UK after 1947.

Ananya Jahanara Kabir is Senior Lecturer in Postcolonial Literature at the School of English, University of Leeds. She works on the relationship between political and cultural representation and the relationship between national feeling and competing axes of belonging. She has also written extensively on the cultural and emotional consequences of the Partition of India.

Emma Tomalin is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds.