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Neither There Nor Here

Factual

David Dabydeen recalls five different stories of mass migration from around the world.

David Dabydeen recalls five different stories of mass migration from around the world, exploring the forces that help and hinder integration.

Neither There Nor Here: Series 1

Neither There Nor Here: Series 1: Welcome to Britain

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

03/03/2017

Welcome to Britain

Series 1

BBC Radio 4 - Neither There Nor Here, Series 1, Welcome to Britain

David Dabydeen explores the migration story of the Asians who came to 1970s Britain.

Writer, academic and diplomat David Dabydeen recalls five very different stories of mass migration from around the world.

They move in times of crisis, fleeing war or instability, poverty or corruption. And then they face a new challenge - how to find a way to survive and prosper in new, often unfamiliar environments. 

David considers to what extent were these migrants were affected by the circumstances of their departure - by the violence they may have witnessed or the economic and political stresses they endured - and who bore the responsibility for their integration. Many different approaches have been tried, from large-scale mobilisation of official institutions to an almost total disengagement by the state. And the results are equally variable, suggesting that there are no easy solutions to this increasingly important dilemma. What does emerge clearly is that race, education and language all play a vital role.

In 1971, Idi Amin expelled tens of thousands of Asians from Uganda - many of them British passport-holders. At the same time, war and famine in Bangladesh saw growing numbers of refugees arriving in the UK. This final episode of the series revisits the challenges faced by women from these two very different communities as they sought to acclimatise to 1970s Britain. 

What measures did the British government take to promote integration? What compromises and sacrifices were Asian women themselves prepared to make? And what more could have been done on both sides to ease the multicultural tensions that have surfaced once again in Brexit-era Britain?


Producer: Hugh Costello
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