British Asian

Encyclopedia : B : BR : BRI : British Asian

This does not cite its .
You can Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations.

The term British Asian is used to denote a person of South Asian ancestry or origin, who was born in or was an immigrant to the United Kingdom.

Contents

1 Usage
2 Demographics
3 History of Asians in the UK
4 The British Asian influence on popular culture
5 Asian communities
6 See also
7 External links

Usage

In British English the word "Asian" usually refers to those of South Asian ancestry, such as Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans; those of East Asian origin, such as Chinese or Japanese, and Southeast Asian origin are usually not included in the term; this is reflected in the "ethnic group" section of UK census forms and other government paperwork, which treat "Asian" and "Chinese" as separate.

Although increasingly common, the term is, like "Black Briton", somewhat contested. Some consider the term "Asian" somewhat vague given the wide variety of religious, ethnic, and racial groups in both South Asia and Britain, and prefer specific labels based on nationality (e.g. "British Indian"), religion (e.g. "British Muslim"), or ethnic/language community (e.g. "British Bengali"). Others see a certain degree of unity in the South Asian diaspora; the term Desi is sometimes used to name a South Asian person in a manner that avoids any allusion to the specific state of residence, pointing to a common identity, but is more often a word used within the Asian community. From about the 1960s to the 1980s, some British Asians also referred to themselves a "Black," a political term covering British immigrant communities from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Demographics

Sanjeev Bhaskar is a British Asian actor and comedian who worked in the TV series Goodness Gracious Me

According to the [2001 UK Census] there are 2.33 million British Asians, making up 4% of the population of the United Kingdom. This further subdivides to 1.05 million of Indian origin (1.8% of the population), 747,000 of Pakistani origin (1.3%), 283,000 of Bangladeshi origin (0.5%), and 247,000 from other Asian origins (0.4%) (largely of Sri Lankan origin). British Asians make up 50.2% of the UK's non-white population. British Indians tend to be religiously diverse, with 45% Hindu, 29% Sikh, and 13% per cent Muslim, while their counterparts of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin are much more religiously homogeneous, with Muslims accounting for 92% of each group.

British Indians tend to originate mainly from two Indian States, Sikhs are largely from the Punjab region whilst Hindus tend to originate from the Gujarat, Punjab and West Bengal regions. In recent years, there has been significant immigration from South India.

British Pakistanis originate largely from the Punjab region, with the remainder originating from other parts such as the NWFP and Sindh.

A number of British Asians originate from Azad Kashmir (many from Mirpur and surrounding areas), the Pakistan-administered part of the disputed Kashmir region.

British Bangladeshis largely originate from the Sylhet region of the country.

History of Asians in the UK

Parminder Nagra is a British Asian actress who worked in Bend It Like Beckham and the TV series ER

Although some Asians had settled in the United Kingdom, either temporarily or permanently, before the Second World War (including, most notably, the young Mohandas Gandhi), most Asian immigration to the UK took place in the 1950s and 1960s from Commonwealth of Nations countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, at the same time as immigrants from former Caribbean colonies were also moving to Britain.

Although this immigration was continuous three distinct phases can be identified:

Manual workers were recruited to fulfil the labour shortage that resulted from World War II. These included Anglo-Indians who were recruited to work on the railways as they had done in India.
Medical staff from the Indian subcontinent were recruited for the newly formed National Health Service. These people were targeted because they spoke English and held qualifications which were recognized in the UK.
During the 1970s, large numbers of East African Asians, who already held British passports, entered the UK after they were forced to leave Kenya and Uganda. Many of these people had been store-keepers in Africa and opened shops when they arrived in the UK, thereby reviving the traditional British corner-shop which until that point had been in decline.

The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and Immigration Act 1971 largely restricted any further primary immigration, although family members of already-settled migrants were still allowed. In addition, much of the subsequent growth in the British Asian community has come from the births of second- and third-generation Asian Britons.

Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara) was the first British Asian celebrity. He was the lead member of the popular rock band Queen

Naveen Andrews is a British Asian actor who worked in The English Patient and the TV series Lost

The British Asian influence on popular culture

The biggest influence of British Asians on popular culture has probably been the Indian restaurant, though the majority of these are run by people of Bangladeshi origin. A recent poll found that chicken tikka masala has surpassed fish and chips in terms of popularity as the national dish. Chicken tikka masala, like the popular balti, is itself a British Asian invention. These dishes were unknown in the Indian sub-continent until requests from British holiday-makers led to their introduction.

Since the 1970s, British Asian performers and writers have achieved significant mainstream cultural success. The first British Asian to gain wide popularity in the UK and worldwide fame was the late Freddie Mercury, who led the rock band Queen. The TV show The Kumars at No. 42 and the film Bend It Like Beckham have both managed to attract large, multi-ethnic audiences. The comedians Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal and Shazia Mirza are all well-recognised figures in British popular culture. The actress Parminder Nagra has a prominent role in the US TV series ER. The actor Naveen Andrews plays the role of Sayid Jarrah in the US TV series Lost, and also had a prominent role in the award-winning film The English Patient. The broadcaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy, meanwhile, presents the respected Channel 4 News.

Asian communities

Although there are Asian communities all over the UK, towns and cities with particularly significant Asian populations include:

Bedford (Queens Park, Cauldwell)
Birmingham (especially Sparkhill, Sparkbrook, Small Heath, Balsall Heath, Washwood Heath, Saltley, Handsworth, Handsworth Wood)
Blackburn
Bolton
Bradford (Manningham, Great Horton)
Cardiff (Butetown, Grangetown, Riverside)
Coventry
Derby
Dewsbury
Glasgow (especially Pollokshields, Pollokshaws and Woodlands)
Halifax
Leeds (Harehills, Chapeltown)
Leicester (especially Belgrave, Rushey Mead, Highfields, Spinney Hills, Evington)
London (especially Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hounslow, Brent, Southall, Ilford, Harrow)
Luton
Manchester (especially Longsight, Rusholme, Whalley Range and Cheetham Hill)
Oldham (especially Glodwick, Westwood and Werneth)
Oxford
Preston
Rochdale
Sheffield (especially Burngreave, Sharrow and Darnall.
Slough
Wolverhampton

External links

[historytalking.com] is a source of oral history of the Asian community in the UK

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.