Cultural Integration

January 26, 2007

Hindu Council UK <office (AT) hinducounciluk (DOT) org> wrote: "Hindu Council UK" <office (AT) hinducounciluk (DOT) org>

"Media & Press" <media (AT) hinducounciluk (DOT) org>

CC: "For Your Information Only" <fyi (AT) hinducounciluk (DOT) org>

Cultural Integration

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:02:11 -0000

GLA conference on "A World Civilisation or A Clash of Civilisations" at the QEII Hall Westminster

Is Britain becoming more segregated? My personal and instinctive view is that we are not. However I have some ambivalent views about the issue, so this has to be noted in the context of what I am about to say.

In any cycle of immigration to a country, people experience economic, social and cultural segregation as they initially tend to gravitate to cities and areas where they can find people from their own groups for support, information and eventually employment.

Once they achieve relative prosperity, there is immense pressure from within their own community and family groups to ensure the legacy of their own culture. How to balance this with educating their children within the national norms, and to what extent to integrate in the mainstream is a burning question for most elders. Added to these forces are the complexities of class and national origins, which can affect the aspirations and life choices of the younger generations.

National origin is an interesting issue – I came from Kenya as a teenager and settled in London many years ago. My parents too were born in Africa. Therefore I think for us it was even more important, because of the ‘double migration’ effect, to ensure we kept our traditions, customs and culture alive and meaningful to our children and grandchildren. Our economic and social integration has led to confidence in leaving the ‘fold’ of the community, to move to better areas, housing and life prospects. There is though a geographical limit to this dispersal for some communities; my community for example tends to be concentrated in mainly urban areas in the south, the east and the Midlands.

Cultural integration though is seen as the last frontier by many minority ethnic communities – led by a critical view of the national culture’s values; fear of losing their own cultural identity and the break-up of the bigger family group and associated loyalties. This has certainly been my experience both within extended family and community.

What we need to acknowledge is that segregation may not just exist in the physical sense – it may also be present in the mental and spiritual sense. What I mean is that some groups may not be able to ‘share’ common values in the national sense of being, because their cultural or religious values are not in synch with those of the nation. You can integrate in the physical sense but not necessarily in the mind and spirit. This you may say is normal and natural – living side by side in a multicultural society, where people understand and appreciate the differences and commonalities between others. The trouble with this perhaps naïve commentary is that as an immigrant, long settled here, I admit there have been many times when I have felt frustrated, and asked why it is that I have been ignored, passed over and experienced the feeling of being left behind as an onlooker – whether it was good service I wanted, or a job, or promotion, when I felt I was as good as others who

somehow always fared better. I know this feeling is shared amongst many in my community. Never mind ‘glass ceilings’, we feel we’re trapped on ‘sticky floors’. Why is it, we ask, that despite over-representation at lower levels in public sector jobs, we are not progressing to executive or even non-executive positions?? Discrimination has been driven underground – this in many ways is more dangerous than overt racism.

We cannot take integration for granted, just because some minority groups are growing more affluent, functioning well in the wider community, and no longer live in a physically segregated environment. Underlying this, there may be problems of segregation which, because they are hidden, are not addressed. It may take a crisis to expose the problems and then the wider community is shocked to find out how very different - and possibly incompatible - are the views and perceptions which these groups may hold. An example is self-adopted segregation within higher education. One can assume that segregated groups have low involvement in higher education, and in the main I think this is true. But, it is possible to go through the entire educational system without engaging with others on a social and cultural level. So yes, higher education may lead to economic integration by entry into the professions, but this does not guarantee social and cultural integration with mainstream

society.

On the positive side, my personal and family values have given me the strength to get on with life, despite the economic and social struggles faced in my early years. An important cultural value for me as a Hindu is that along with rights come responsibilities, and that we have to put something back into society. I am a lot less lazy now about learning about the national and political history, the heritage, pastimes, and the British way of doing things. I have a strong network of friends from many racial and ethnic backgrounds, and together, I think we can be good role models for our next generation. This doesn’t mean I have lost my ethnic or cultural identity, rather I think I co-exist with others within a hyphenated identity, moving back and forth with ease.

Finally, I think we can have many arguments about the practical meaning of terms like multiculturalism, pluralism and egalitarianism to the ordinary woman or man on the street, but these remain topics of interest to the media only when we have major national events that shake our confidence in humanity. What policy makers need to do is ensure that out of egalitarian intent come measurable outcomes, not just opaque rhetoric.

Nilam Vyas

Executive Representative - Women's Equality

Hindu Council UK

Note : Hindu Council UK is a national network of the Hindu temple bodies and cultural organisations co-ordinating all different schools of Hindu theology within the UK

HCUK Admin Office:Boardman House, 64 The Broadway, London E15 1NG. T: 020 8432 0400 W: www.hinducounciluk.org F: 020 8432 0393

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