Since the publication 20 years ago of reports, which identified parallel living between
diverse communities in northern towns, including Bradford, there has been
increasing concern about how difference can be accommodated alongside
commitment to a collaborative, national enterprise. I examine this conundrum, with
the assistance of a cohort of 18 people whose families hail from India and Pakistan,
from the perspective of the Council of Europe’s recognition of the duty of the
immigrant to integrate. I do this by considering how a sense of ethnic social group
identity may constrain meaningful engagement in wider society. Framing this sense
of ethnic social group identity is distance of the heart, the term coined by one of the
cohort to explain ongoing emotional ties to homeland, long after migration, which
have the potential to distract from total commitment to society here. My primary
question was: what factors, inherent in ethnic social group identity, and elaborated
by the term distance of the heart, may have shaped the experience of integration of
Asian communities in Bradford? My secondary research questions explore how sense of belonging and home, parallel living, religion, heritage language usage,
cultural endogamy, and caste and clan allegiances may impact integration. Utilising
a critical realist approach I identify factors, or mechanisms, underpinning ethnic
social group identity, which help to sustain minority exclusivity and result in a sense
of living on the edge. However, my findings challenge assumptions about the
dangers of parallel living by suggesting these can be trumped by agential choice. I
found that while cohort members have a strong sense of ethnic identity, and
commitment to minority community, they also engage with people from other
communities and describe a British identity, which encompasses their ethnic
identity. This demands a more nuanced response to parallel living, which treats it as
a characteristic of, rather than a barrier to, cohesion.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/19044 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Wall, Judy |
| Contributors | Chesters, Graeme, Delderfield, Russell |
| Publisher | University of Bradford, Peace Studies & International Development |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, doctoral, PhD |
| Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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