What are the advantages and problems for South Asians

Migrants from the Indian subcontinent to Britain have a long history, but it was not until after World War Two that there was a dramatic increase in the both the scope and scale of South Asians travelling to this country. Due to labour shortages in the 1950s and 1960s, the number of visible minorities rose substantially and families reunited during the 1970s resulting in permanent settlement.The effects of chain migration between kinship and family networks resulted in distinct communities that were "very successful in reproducing much of their social and cultural world", mainly concentrated in London, Bradford, Birmingham and Manchester (Lewis, 1994: 17). By the 1990s, ethnic minorities were approximately 10% of the total population but in mainly self-contained communities.

Unfortunately, colonial stereotypes persisted and Britain's white majority have racialised British South Asians as outsiders with limited recognition of their distinctiveness.To adopt a 'black' identity is clearly not an easy process in an historically racist and imperialist nation within a secularised, Western culture. Advantages for South Asians in Britain adopting a black identity could slowly emerge in the 21st century as second generations establish new ethnicities within the binary oppositions of 'Asianness' and 'Britishness' (Dwyer, 1999: 11). This article aims to explore the issues facing British South Asians, in particular since the Gulf Wars and Salman Rushdie affair of the 1990s, which resulted in media hype about the presence of ethnic minorities.After a brief description of recent political challenges to Asian communities, the stereotypes which have developed in relation to gender roles are considered, in addition to an exploration of the contested and reconstructed identities of second generation British Asians.

Identity Identity is never static, but constantly evolving in relation to local, national and global influences. According to Giddens (1991), contemporary society enables individuals to adopt an identity described as a reflexive project by choosing from a range of lifestyles, presented in the media as part of a mass culture.However, ethnic minorities have less freedom in an often racist, discriminatory environment, which has been heightened since the public burning of The Satanic Verses novel by Bradford's Muslims (Lewis, 1994: 154). The Gulf Wars and September 11, 2000 terrorist attack has led to further suspicion and resentment towards religious differences, especially fundamentalists.

In addition, racial attacks dramatically increased from 300 reports in 1988 to 832 in 1993 (Saeed et al, 1999: 834).Thus, the options available to South Asians in Britain to assert a social identity, often centred around religion, are contested between two cultures. Until the 1980s, South Asians were labelled as belonging to a 'black' political identity in mainstream discourse to include all non-whites. It was assumed there were similar struggles, among Afro-Carribeans, those of African origin and migrants from the Indian sub-continent, against racism. However, the political hegemony of 'blackness' was incorrect since it ignored the ethnic diversity of South Asians.

Modood (1994) postulated a number of reasons why 'black' is an inaccurate description, including its narrow focus on colour discrimination and ignorance of cultural racism towards growing, cohesive Asian communities. By the late 1980s, the media had begun to recognise diverse ethnic groups, and the 1991 Census also included more options for individual identification of ethnicity. However, these limited political adjustments are just the beginning for a necessary wider social acceptance of difference in Britain by the majority culture.Stereotypes It is important to recognise "that stereotypes derive their content from their social context, but operate as objectified knowledge" (Burr, 2002: 836). Common assumptions about a particular ethnic group develop from everyday observations and social interaction on a local scale, but then fabricates into a general 'rule' that is assigned to all Sikhs or all Pakistanis.

For centuries, Westerners have been keen to categorise everything from animal species to food and now distinct groups of people.However, cultural stereotypes are generally negative and this was highlighted in Burr's (2002) recent study of mental health care professionals' attitudes towards depressed South Asian women in a northern England town. Nearly all responses were linked to Said's (1978: in Burr, 2002) Orientalism describing the Far East as exotic and 'other'. South Asian women were perceived as subordinate due to a patriarchal culture which expects women to adopt repressive, tradition-bound and primitive feminine roles.The mental health professionals believed that Asian culture was an actual predisposing factor for depression since women were expected to be mysterious, quiet and 'living in the dark'. Due to an opposition between Western, liberated values and a rigid society, it was reported that assimilation would be an effective treatment for depression in women from different cultures.

One white GP claimed "they don't fit in; should all go home; and are swamping the country" (Burr, 2002: 835). These stereotypes are particularly negative but highlight the problems associated with categorisation and racism.Many British remain ignorant towards the complexities involved in the individual and social renegotiation of identities between two diverse cultures. It is difficult to avoid stereotypes even in a white majority culture which places too much emphasis on generalisations such as, 'fat people are lazy' or 'models don't eat', suggesting it is impossible to escape assumptions regardless of race or class. However, despite political attempts to portray Britain as multicultural, there are still problems with the media drawing special attention to issues of 'us' and 'them'.

This ranges from the first 'Black' Oscars in 2003, to an over-the-top attempt at political correctness with 2003 Christmas cards in the Scottish Executive respecting other religions by not promoting a Christian celebration. Bauman (1996) refers to this as "ethnic reductionism", that is reducing people's culture to their ethnic identity and not granting people any agency. It could also be described as positive discrimination by over-emphasising difference. Bauman (1996) further examined the problem of stereotypes in his anthropological study of communities and culture in Southall, London.He recognised two discourses with regard to ethnic groups and one that tried to categorise Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus into independent communities, particularly in politics and the media.

Each group, according to the dominant discourse, has shared attributes and a common culture within neatly defined boundaries. However, Sikhs are divided by internal castes and sects, whereas Muslims have regional, transnational variances. This alternative demotic discourse reflects the diversity of ethnic minorities and assertion of distinctiveness between individuals.One cannot generalise about Christians in Britain, so the religion of South Asians should not be used to stereotype against them since it causes further problems in adopting a 'black' identity if fearful of marginalisation in society. Gender As mentioned before, women are often associated with inferiority and suppression in their country of origin, which is most likely the role women resumed after they joined their husbands for the first time in Britain.

This conservative first generation will have continued to follow South Asian traditions and joined integrated networks of similar ethnicities to strengthen one's social and cultural values.Caste, honour (izzat) and religious practice were closely adhered to, with links "to Bangladesh remaining crucially important and many devote much energy to maintaining economic and kinship links there" (Gardner & Shakur, in Ballard, 1994: 153). For those South Asians who moved to Britain after they had learnt the language of Punjabi or Urdu, etc, felt attached to the culture including dress, manner and religion will have felt shocked by the vast differences in the country they had emigrated to.For this reason, as the minority it will have been more realistic to follow the social and cultural norms that felt most comfortable.

Thus, a 'black identity' would have included (and still does) speaking their language as much as possible, women wearing traditional dress and men working as the head of the family. However, the British-born generation are now centred solely in Britain with everyday interaction in a much wider social arena.Young females have greater problems constructing an identity since they were expected to reflect a family's cultural integrity and have to choose whether to express this through traditional dress, religion and traditional family values. Black identity is part of an overall need for young people to "order their own lives on their own terms" (Ballard, 1994: 32). The difficulty associated with this was examined in Dwyer's (1999) study of two girls' schools in Hertfordshire discussing the over-determination of dress as a signifier of difference.Young South Asians reported the problems of choosing between Asian and English dress since there is a binary opposition between traditional and Westernised.

One was seen as old-fashioned, dreary and boring in contrast to modern, lively and youthful which, clearly for young South Asians would be more confusing when related to the social spaces of home versus school. For some women the hijab is an important aspect of self identity as it would immediately signify a commitment to Islam and the decision to retain a strong attachment to one's heritage.Interestingly, reports of racial and ethnic abuse towards white women wearing the veil has highlighted that race is less relevant when wearing a religious symbol, which is instantly stigmatised as non-conforming (Franks, 2000: 919). Terms such as, 'white Paki' suggest Asians are accepted more when outwardly expressing their religion than the 'unnatural' white Islamist.

Here there has been a shifting boundary of race to include more than skin colour, but also ethnicity, nationality and religion, suggesting a black identity is problematic since it will also have presupposed stereotypes.British society has categorised white and non-white groups highlighting the increased difficulty for young women to assert their own individuality. This could explain why a number of pupils expressed fear about the associations of 'backwardness' with Asian clothes and hoped to create a more hybrid identity. This involved abandoning the supposed 'culture conflict' between Asian and English and to self-consciously negotiate identities and challenge other people's perceptions of them (Dwyer, 1999: 20).The high street shop, Monsoon, is a good example of an attempt to develop a contemporary East meets West fashion for young British Asian women and has interestingly, also been adopted by the majority culture.

Although needing more research, this could suggest there are a number of young South Asian and British women who feel cultural mixing is a realistic option in contrast to static 'black' or British identities. Youth Second generation British South Asians are a dynamic group with a broad choice of cultural traits and lifestyles to adopt and assert, as their own unique identity in the 21st century.From a generalised ideology of race as non-white or white, this could be seen as the potential for an overarching 'black' identity to describe a group who no longer fit into one ethnic group as their parents did but will not (or cannot) assimilate to a British 'white' majority culture either. Saeed et al.

(1999) discovered that the majority of Glasgow-Pakistani respondents (63 total interviewed) used dual identities to describe themselves as Scottish-Pakistani or Scottish-Muslim (80%).It is interesting to note that these South Asians in Scotland do not even subscribe to the label of 'British', which is most likely due to the increasing salience of Scottishness or Welshness as distinct nations than a 'British' culture. The pattern of pupils finding a link between past and present biographies of their family is described by Hutnik (1991) in Saeed et al, 1999) as the most likely identity strategy to be adopted.This is referred to as acculturation, which "allows minority groups to 'fit in' while still maintaining links with their ethnic or religious background" (Saeed et al. 1999: 837). However, one cannot ignore the potential problem of 'culture conflict' which is expressed by many social workers, teachers and in the media to suggest that young Asians will never be able to settle into Britain completely.

This is because they may find a contention between traditional home life and parental pressure to ensure the preservation of religious practice and even the language from the country of origin, in contrast to Westernised, liberal values with little religious adherence and more freedom for individual expression.The conflict between home and school was clearly portrayed in Southall when there were heated discussions about the religious content of assemblies by parents, teachers and mosque leaders (Bauman, 1996: 177). Of 57% South Asians in the area in 1991, there were Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims each with their own religious practices, but schools had successfully adopted a format of inter-faith morning assemblies since the 1970s, which most children accepted.The young expressed a convergence of all religions with similar beliefs and that "each religion [merely] has its own peculiar Diwali or Easter, prophets and priests, and its own inventory of a limited set of rules or injunctions" (Bauman, 1996:179). This passive approach does not suggest a decline in respect for the individual's own religion but merely diverging interests of the young and their parents, who will have grown up in very different cultural surroundings.

Bhangra music is a clear example of the different cultures experienced, conveying British Asians taking advantage of their minority but important, status in Britain and enjoying a relatively liberal attitude towards new music. A fusion of Punjabi folk, rap and electronic synthesisers has rapidly grown in popularity in the last few decades suggesting Asian music as a cultural activity can help shape the identity of South Asians in Britain. Bands from Kula Shaker and Cornershop to local Joi Bengla in Southall, can generate new ethnicities and transcend national boundaries and former stereotypes.As expressed in Jang (an Urdu London daily), "if you are confused about your roots and identity, it might be worth giving this enthusiastic group (Fun-da-mental) a try" (Lewis, 1994: 180). Music appears to be an effective medium to transmit feelings shared among young South Asians of isolation, uncertainty and excitement for the potential of creating new identities.

Ballard (1994: 32) optimistically suggests young Asians are "skilled cultural navigators in and out of the ethnic 'colony', but they must also access each situation carefully to code switch smoothly".His study of ethnic minorities in Britain has clearly led him to conclude that within a relatively small suburb where non-whites are well represented, young people are not experiencing cultural conflict. In contrast, they are taking advantage of their position in society to cross the boundaries of two cultures between the home and school. His use of the term 'code switch' explicitly reflects the differences between the British and Asians in terms of language, religion, history and traditional values but suggests young South Asians can learn both and choose the extent to which they become 'anglicised'.Conclusion Multiple and changing identities are evident among British South Asians who for many are not torn between a binary opposition of British and Asian, but are renegotiating the possibilities of adopting aspects from both cultures.

The term 'black' to politically generalise about all non-whites in Britain was shunned by the early 1990s to acknowledge the diversity of cultures, religions and communities from around the world.A dual identity is more relevant for young South Asians born in the UK by creating new labels of British-Asian or Scottish-Muslim to recognise their past, but also developing a sense of belonging to the majority culture. Despite obvious problems of racism, stereotypes and cultural discrimination towards ethnic minorities, there is evidence of resistance identities willing to assert their own distinctiveness, whilst being aware of the importance to balance the majority and minority cultures.A fusion of styles to enrich the lives of South Asians in Britain include Bhangra music, wearing the hijab with school uniform, The Kumars No 42 (BBC) and mosques present in most cities.

Adopting a black identity has advantages and challenges and it could be that "the impact of the arrival of South Asian and Afro-Carribean settlers on the British social order will eventually prove almost as great as that precipitated by the arrival of William of Normandy in 1066" (Ballard, 1994: 2).