S.A.S.S. are opening discussions for South Asian womxn

Image by Rahul Puri (@rahulp.photography)

Saturday 16th November saw a crowded room of 99% South Asian women captivated by presentations and a panel discussion with four academics: Professor Sundari Anitha, Dr Megha Rajguru, Dr Maya Parmar and Dr Fatima Rajina. We spoke of the ‘double diaspora’ (of twice migrants having travelled from India to East Africa and then to Britain), of institutional racism, of a lack of representation in the visual arts, and of South Asian protestors, to name a few. Anitha, Rajguru, Parmar and Rajina delved into our lost, forgotten and untold histories. Bringing us all together in solidarity was South Asian Sisters Speak (SASS) founded by Shirin Shah and Sheetal Mistry three years ago.

Here’s what went down.  

What do we mean by “British history”?

The main reason for creating this event and why it was so greatly welcomed, is that there is a lack of representation of brown people in the stories we are told of Britain. As the millennials and Gen Zs of today, we’ve navigated our childhood and teenage years learning about a predominantly white history that supposedly shaped the Britain we live in. But what about the thousands of South Asian voices and political acts that have fed into our collective image of Britain?  

Our narratives shouldn’t be marked as “somewhere else”, explains Dr Maya Parmar. Because they are deemed as different and distant; they’re instantly othered. Yet they make up Britain’s history. On the one hand we need to reclaim our stories but we also need to reconfigure what we mean by “British history”. We learn about British history, yet we rarely see ourselves reflected in the British curriculum. This needs to change.

Dr Fatima Rajina says: "anyone who tells you teaching isn't political is lying...teaching is the most political act that has the power to shape your entire viewpoint". South Asian histories are lost in the education system; it’s time we reclaim them, learn about them, and share them with pride.

It’s not enough to bring a South Asian person in.

Institutional racism came up in the panel discussion, particularly with regard to higher education. The panel were discussing a race audit: it’s all well and good inviting a PoC into conversations about race and inequality at university, because the white person leading has limited knowledge of our experiences. But what happens after that? This tokenistic approach achieves nothing if South Asians are merely invited into a group. Their voices may be heard but the work here just scratches the surface. Institutional racism has much deeper roots which need to be addressed and tackled.  

Rajina explained that a fellow white academic was teaching a module about the Bangladeshi community and he wanted her to join. Why was that? Because, as a Bengali-speaking woman, she had the knowledge that he lacked, and so wanted and needed for his module to thrive. He wanted an interpreter, not an academic equal. In this exchange his overbearing ignorance pushed Rajina’s intellect and respect further to the ground. In his eyes they were not equals. She denied the embarrassing offer. If you want to “specialise” in a culture/people/country, learn their language.

Image by Rahul Puri (@rahulp.photography)

Are we complacent?

Is it our fault that our histories are left untold? Is it because of our complacency that British Asian memories remain hidden?

On the ground we’re doing well to bring our stories back to life. The sold out event proves this. But, as Rajina says, it’s the dominant discourse that remains problematic. We need to challenge our social group and the damaging stereotypes and traditions they perpetuate. Only then can we morph the dominant discourse into a narrative that showcases and celebrates the powerful South Asians that form our British history.

We need to continue speaking about our pasts, histories, traumas and experiences to normalise the narrative. Our parents and grandparents that emigrated to Britain may not voice any of this. From a personal experience, I’ve had to seek out their stories, which in itself can be upsetting, confusing and frustrating. Perhaps it was a survival technique to not talk about the racism and ostracisation they faced when they moved to a country with a completely different language, culture and landscape. The ‘motherland’ that promised to give them safety and security. They focussed on culturally assimilating, and on achieving a middle class status that many left behind in India or East Africa, as Parmar explains.

S.A.S.S. made this event happen. They found some of the most interesting and engaging academics to share their stories to a sea of (mainly) South Asian women. People who had signed up to a sold out event looking for answers and insights into crucial, yet hidden, histories. People who came to the event in solidarity with fellow South Asians. People who - it’s fair to say - need more events like this.

Resources:

-       Striking Women - an educational site about migration, women and work, workers' rights, and the story of South Asian women workers during the Grunwick and Gate Gourmet industrial disputes.

-       Reading cultural representations of the double diaspora, Dr Maya Parmar

-       Making Britain - a database of over 450 South Asians in Britain from 1870 to 1950, the organizations they were involved in, their British connections and the major events in which they participated.

-       Our Migration Story - the often untold stories of the generations of migrants who came to and shaped the British Isles.

-       What We Did - a timeline of key events in British Indian history

-       The Untold Lives blog - including Dr Maya Parmar’s piece ‘Picturing 400 Years of Asian Britain’