Segregated Britain. Farhaan Wali
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I actively used the knowledge of my Muslim heritage to interpret the social world of British Muslims. I integrated my knowledge of British Muslims in a number of ways into my research. Firstly, I used it to cut through programmed and robotic rhetoric often stated to ‘outsiders’. Secondly, most of the respondents I interviewed shared similar social experiences and backgrounds to me, which allowed me to ask more penetrating and targeted questions.
I decided to use narratives as one way of exploring Muslim experiences, primarily related to growing up in Muslim enclaves. As Peterson (2006, p. 721) asserts, there is a need to study the ‘intersecting experiences’ of activists. By drawing on the personal experiences of British Muslims, I was able to explore segregation and its multiple intersections with class, religion and ethnicity. The concept of ‘intersectionality’, as framed by feminist scholars, sheds light on the intersection between different social categories – such as gender, ethnicity, class and so on – making it possible to observe the social divergences that exist amongst people (Davis, 2008, p. 67). It is essential to look at the multiple categories of differentiation amongst British Muslims because Muslim enclaves have formed in different and diverse locations. As the data revealed, Muslim identities appear to revolve around ethnicity and religion. This would, in theory, suggest that Muslim identities are largely formed in similar ways across the country. As the narratives will show, the experiences of first- and second-generation respondents fell in large part between the intersections of ethnicity and religion. After contextualising their experiences, it became clear that their upbringing were critical features in their narratives. However, it would be a mistake to assume that British Muslims share similar life experiences, as they do not emerge from similar social backgrounds. In particular, the Muslim experiences in Dundee ←33 | 34→demonstrate how national belonging can hinge on geographic differences. This makes it vital to study Muslim experiences from different geographic locations around the UK, as this will provide a more comprehensive glimpse into Muslim segregation patterns. For this reason, in order to understand why Muslim segregation takes place amongst British Muslims, requires looking at how these individuals and communities have been shaped by class, ethnicity and religion. Therefore, by utilising intersectionality, I will be able to understand the different intersections of Muslim experiences.
The assembly of data entailed ethnography, in-depth interviews and surveys. The ethnographic method lasted two years, during which time I had access to different Muslim communities. Besides, as I will describe, I conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 112 enclave residents, providing a rich and stimulating source of data. After I had completed the ethnographic and interview stages, I began administering a series of surveys. As Bryman (2001, p. 274) points out, it is vital for the researcher to use more than one ‘source of data in the study of social phenomena’.
My fieldwork started in a hands-on manner because I wanted to observe residents’ activities, thinking that this would provide insight into the social world of British Muslims. However, in documenting the types of interaction, it soon became apparent that there were other, much more important issues to be examined about the causes of segregation. It became clear I needed to conduct interviews, in part to examine some of the ideas that were emerging from the ethnography. It became evident that respondents were displaying different identities, which illustrated distinct differences in socialisation patterns. Thus, trying to paint a portrait of a typical British Muslim in as accurate and vivid a manner as possible was extremely difficult. In the end, then, detailed interviews were undertaken, in some instances, more as conversations in a series of natural settings. The interviews conducted with the first- and second-generation respondents revealed a rich source of data concerning the social world of Muslims in Britain. These qualitative accounts concentrate on life narratives: to be exact, their social background and upbringing, with attention given to the context of ethnic and religious identity.
After interviewing forty-seven first-generation Muslim respondents and 175 second-generation respondents, my findings uncovered some ←34 | 35→common themes. A recurring theme, which emerged in the accounts from my respondents, is that of identity; and how their current identities seemed greatly dependent on their past and present experiences. The goal of my research was to map out the sources of identity construction. Consequently, each of the respondents I interviewed exhibited a distinct social world of lived experience. The results of my fieldwork indicated that common traits existed in certain individuals. I identified a host of recurring characteristics within all the respondents. Firstly, first-generation immigrants faced similar challenges and endured significant discrimination, which increased their frustration and anger towards the larger culture. These frustrations at being externalised led to their reliance on fellow immigrants, and thus the enclave offered a strong sense of belonging and security. Similarly, among second-generation respondents, enclave residents struggled to adapt the social world beyond the enclave, which would suggest that respondents’ current identities are the outcome of a failure to integrate with the wider social context. In this respect, the respondents needed the enclave to gain a sense of belonging.
After I conducted my interviews with first- and second-generation residents, it became incumbent upon me to verify this information. I sought to determine whether the views and experiences expressed by my respondents were representative of the wider population. Therefore, I quickly recognised the inescapable necessity for administering a series of surveys. More importantly, the surveys became a key mechanism for unlocking the sense of belonging individual Muslims exhibited. I needed to understand the nature of the social embeddedness of Muslim residents. In other words, residents are fixed and rooted in multifaceted social realities that define and confine their social identities. Thus, from a social perspective, my fieldwork has demonstrated that most Muslim identities are fashioned from their social experiences, interactions and backgrounds. This sociological analysis provides an alternative way of looking at the developments that have taken place amongst the British Muslims I observed. Traditionally, sociologists are interested in identifying the relationships between social structures and processes, as they place greater emphasis on individuals moving from one social setting to another (Erikson, 1950). Therefore, I sought to expand and distil upon the key sociological features of Muslim ←35 | 36→community membership – such as class, age, gender, ethnicity and nationality, and religion. By focusing on these interrelated components, I was able to formulate a quantitative image of different Muslim identity-types, which included ethnic, religious, western and hybrid.
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The East End Muslim Enclave I: Early Immigrant Experiences
Throughout history, the East End of London has accommodated a large number of immigrants and refugees, all of whom have added a new dimension to the religious and cultural terrain of the area. Today, the Bangladeshi population of the East End stands out quite vibrantly. This seemingly apparent physical segregation has been facilitated over the years by the emergence of distinct religious and cultural practices. In the last several years, the white indigenous population of the East End has begun to voice their concerns regarding the large-scale settlement of Bangladeshis in the East End of London. They claim the Bangladeshi presence has eroded the cultural landscape of the area, which has increased local concerns. A project about the East End conducted by the BBC discovered that a new dialect combining Bangladeshi and Cockney is replacing the traditional Cockney accent (BBC, 22 August 2005).
During my initial encounters in the East End, I began to notice a visible difference between early Bangladeshi immigrants and their children, who were often born and raised in the UK. It seemed clear that the second generation would not necessarily follow the same patterns of social engagement and interaction as their parents’ generation. This is mostly because when the early immigrants first arrived in the UK, the social landscape they encountered was entirely different. As a result, they consciously chose to negotiate the social world they encountered by retaining their ethno-religious customs and identities from their countries of origin. In contrast, the second generation grew up within the closed setting of the East End Muslim community, which means their identity construction naturally developed differently. It was in the context of exploring this divergence in identity development that I realised I needed