Synopses & Reviews
The children and grandchildren of South Asian migrants to the UK are living out British identities which go largely unrecognized. This book emphasizes their everyday low-key Britishness, albeit a Britishness with new inflections. It is this sensibility that marks them as Brasians.
Review
"Ignored by politicians and journalists who routinely pronounce the death of multiculturalism this extraordinary book shows how British society is re-made by young people that both carry and redefine the diversity of cultural life. Harris' unique contribution is his attentiveness to quotidian multicultural realities. The lesson--even more important now than when it was first published--is that ethnicity is defined not by the short-hand of identity labels like Sikh, Muslim, Black, White but rather by what people do everyday." --Les Back, Professor of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London
Synopsis
This book analyses the complex interrelationship between language use, ethnicity and culture in London amongst adolescents of South Asian descent, commonly referred to as 'British Asians'.
About the Author
ROXY HARRIS is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Science and Public Policy at King's College London, UK. He has a particular interest in the relationships between language, power, ethnicity and culture and has researched, taught and published on these issues in London for many years.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements * Introduction * Researching Ethnicities and Cultures * Language Use and Ethnicity: Mapping the Terrain * New Ethnicities as Lived Experience * How You Talk is Who You Are * 'My Culture', 'My Language', My Religion': Communities, Practices and Diasporas * Popular Culture, Ethnicities and Tastes * What is Brasian? * Appendices * Notes * Bibliography * Index