Memory History Identity

Today, more than ever, in Britain, as well as in all the developed Western countries, the concern with immigration, the Diaspora of the Other, has acquired such shrill and racist discourse that the public political fora have managed to gain substantial support for this cause from their voting citizens. This was evident from the vote for British exit from European Union. In this game of identity politics, the entire discourse is focused primarily around economic migrants and refugees. All migrants, thus, are lumped under the exclusionary discourses, ignoring completely the myriad complexities of migrants' background, the structural reasons for their migration, and the substantial economic contribution they make to the countries where they settle down. Against such a discursive context, my research among the South Asian immigrants in South Wales in Britain has provided an alternative and delicately nuanced way of understanding the issue of migration in general and South Asian migration to Britain in particular. This research should help shed some light on the links between memory, history and identity in the lives of communities and their struggles for belonging.