A Postcolonial People: South Asians In Britain

Edited by N. Ali, V. S. Kalra, and S. Sayyid

Paper, 448 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-70012-2
$32.50

January, 2008
Cloth, 448 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-70011-5
$84.50

British Asian life is diverse and complex and has been celebrated in works of literature, poetry, and film, not to mention the performing arts and music. A Postcolonial People is an innovative and intriguing combination of scholarship and personal narrative detailing the multifaceted experience of British Asians. It covers a wide range of topics, from the evolution of cuisine, pop music, dance, and the tradition of arranged marriages to the discrimination still practiced against Asians and their role in shaping the British cultural landscape. Eschewing both anthropological approaches and overtly theoretical analyses, contributors map out the heterodox impact of British Asians on the United Kingdom, describing achievements and setbacks, points of intersection and divergence, and the everyday struggles of a postcolonial people.

Related Subjects

• European History
• South Asian Studies

About the Author

N. Ali is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Research in Primary Care, University of Leeds. V. S. Kalra is senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Manchester. He is the author of From Textile Mills to Taxi Ranks: Experiences of Migration, Labour, and Social Change and coauthor of Diaspora and Hybridity. S. Sayyid is university research fellow in "race," ethnicity, and postcolonialism in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at The University of Leeds. He is the author of A Fundamental Fear: Eurocentrism and the Emergence of Islamism.

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