The Taste of Diaspora

Like all tourists, when I came to the UK I wanted to make sure that before I left I had tried the most popular British of foods. Hungry and curious, I immediately starting asking around, what is the most popular British Dish? Apart from the obvious bangers and mash, mushy peas, hot cross buns, time and time again people claimed that I must try chicken tikka masala. After some investigation I found that this dish was voted the most popular dish in the UK. Also in 2009, motions were being made in the parliament to grant this dish European union status of protected origin in Glasgow, UK. And so I thought hey, that sounds like an opportunity to eat a new tasty meal, and then blog about it after. I was told that you can order this dish in any pub in the UK. So I tested the theory. I went to the closest pub which happened to be the Sunnyside Hungryhorse which is not more than a hop skip away from park campus.

Sure enough, on the menu was the dish I was looking for. So I ordered the chicken I am happy to report that it was deee-lish!

So what does this tasty dish have to do with diaspora? The answer is EVERYTHING!

If you saw the dish before you knew what it was called, you would immediately know that this is not a traditional English dish. Why? Not only because there is actually spice present in the dish, but there is curry. Not only is the chicken smoldered in a tasty curry coconut and masala sauce, but it is also served with naan bread and mango chutney. Naan bread and mango chutney is not traditional English food, but common sides served with South Asian dishes. Being that this particular South Asian dish (just as one example) has made it on the menu in many British pubs, this points to the adoption of South Asian cuisine and culture into British dominant society. This further points to groups of people who have migrated to the UK in the form of a diaspora. The certain ethnic group responsible for the introduction of this fabulous dish are the individuals who migrated from South Asia. The presence of this dish in a traditional style British pub (that is, not specializing in ethnic cuisine) signifies and illustrates evidence of Northampton and the UK in the larger pictures diasporic history.
Diaspora is not just about one group moving into the host society and adapting the ways of the host society, but is also about the host society changing as a result of the newcomers. In this day and age, ethnic cuisine is all the rage everywhere you go. When you are in America you will see countless signs for traditional Japanese, Chinese, Indian or Thai cuisine. In Europe I was pleasantly surprised to see many restaurants specializing in traditional American diner food. Not only is the spread of food to different parts of the world great business but it also often tell-tale of the history of the evolving make-up of a nation of peoples, often pointing to diasporic histories. Therefore, the introduction of new foods is a great example of how a host society can be enriched by diasporic peoples. Chicken tikka masala on the menu in a British pub is a great example of cultural hybridity or Avtar Brah's third space. Also since this dish, which may have been modified in order to cater to the palates of the British is neither fully south Asian nor British but a product of the two cultures mixed in the form of a tasty dish!

A Great Novel

As I posted in the begining of the term, I have a keen interest in South Asain Diaspora; so I decided to pursue this interest and read a novel that had to do with South Asain Diaspora in the UK. Amritvela was written in 1988 and is a very early illustration of the ideas that are present in modern diaspora theory. One major theme in diaspora literature illustrated very well in this novel is the struggle for beloninging that a diasporic individual often faces with difficulty. I loved this novel and if you are interested in South Asain diaspora, or diaspora in general, you should read it too!! Heres a little synopsis of the novel as it pertains to themes relavant to the study of diaspora.

Leena Dhingra’s novel, Amritvela (1988) is about a women’s struggle with her personal identity and spirituality. In this novel, the reader is able to follow Meera’s personal growth by witnessing Meera’s interactions with family and friends, as well as through the journal that Meera keeps. The story begins when Meera, who has lived in London for her whole teenage and adult life, decides to return to India in search of finding answers about who she is and where she belongs. Meera, a middle-aged woman, has not visited India since her parents death when she was at eleven years of age. At the beginning of her journey, Meera holds high hopes of finally finding the place where she feels she truly belongs and hopes to find answers to some of the questions that have been left unanswered her whole life. To Meera’s dismay, she finds out that India, in reality, is not quite the way she had cherished her memories of- and that maybe she had been gone too long, and has become more English that she fully noticed. This means that Meera has idealized her Indian homeland in has created a vision of India that is now in the past, and no longer a reality. At the end of the novel Meera, in a moment of Amritvela, finds peace and decides to return home and let herself truly settle in England, while keeping her heart closely tied and loyal to India. Throughout the novel, Meera recognizes that her inability to let go of her former homeland, which is India, as an idealized place, has created a homing desire as well as disabling her from fully settling in England, leaving her in a bitter struggle to resolve her identification as either British or Indian.

Amritvela was about Meera’s process of personal and spiritual change and growth, concerning who she is as an individual. This theme present in the novel is consistent with Stuart Hall’s (2003) theory of identity in that Hall explains that, “identity is a ‘production’ which is never complete, always in process” (p 222). It is also consistent with the definition given by Jana Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur (2003) who state that ethnicity is, “always in a state of flux; far from being static, unchanging and immutable”. As the novel is wrapping up, and in a conversation between Dr. Shankar and Meera, the doctor he explains, “The promise and idealism you remember- it’s all still there and can be found there are many India’s you know! And India exists in you too – trust that, and other things will become more clear” (Dhinga, p 153). What Dr. Shankar may have been trying to convey to Meera is that India may be different than how she remembers it, but it is important to remember that one can keep Indian in their heart even though they do not live there; furthermore, she can preserve the culture of India even while she is living in England. In the closing scene of the novel, as Meera is in the plane on her way back to England, Meera writes something in her journal that gives the reader the biggest hint of her newly found self-identification, “I am on my way home. From my home in the East, to my home in the West, safely through my space my home in the clouds. Yes, I have come and I am going home. For now I can sleep safely on the plane. For a plane is always safe: whichever way I am going, it always carries me home” (Dhingra, p 177). This quote, and final statement in the novel, powerfully illustrate Meera’s resolution (for now) about her former troubling question of belonging.


References

Dhingra, Leena. Amritvela (1999).

Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Theorizing Diaspora. Ed. Jana Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.

SHOE MUSEUM

When I first arrived at Northampton University and I took a stroll around campus I found the campus to be not much different than the campus of my home University, which is the University of the Fraser Valley. For all intensive purposes it was a pretty average school. I recognized the social sciences and humanity courses such as sociology and psychology and business. I also noticed that there was a good selection of science and math courses and as well as applied/professional courses such as tourism and early childhood eduction. What immediately struck me as odd was the program that was available which dedicated solely to the study of leather. I was left wondering, why on earth would a university this small have a program so specifically dedicated to the study of leather? An entire bachelors degree in science on the study of leather?


It was during a tour of Northampton town center, as we approached the Northampton Shoe Museum, that a member of staff from the University let me know that Northampton has had an interest in leather in for many decades. Therefore, the leather sciences program available at the university is evidence of, and a run-off- of Northampton's former legacy in dominating the leather tanning business within the UK as well as within the world.  Upon entering the shoe museum I was informed that one of the main attractions in Northampton is this wacky shoe museum. So what does Northampton's legacy as being a former leader in the production of leather have to do with this wacky shoe museum? The answer is leather.

So here is the story:

Historically as well as presently, many shoes are made of leather. Therefore, since Northampton was packed full of skilled workers who specialized in the tanning of leather, this meant that Northampton was the cite that many shoes were made! Northampton, not a large town neither presently, nor in the height of the leather shoe making era, housed eleven leather production factories. This meant that most of the residents worked in these factories producing none other than SHOES. Unfortunately as the leather production business evolved, new ways of tanning leather which was much more efficient and easier was developed in the United States and Germany. Also contributing to the decline of the booming leather and shoe industry in Northampton was, and continues to be, labor undercuts from factories in countries such as India. Although the leather tanning industry is not what it once was, the legacy of Northampton's great leather tanning skills lives on through the leather technology program at the University as well as the Northampton Shoe Museum!

History lovers note: Northampton Shoe Museum is a Must See... and not just for the shoes!!

Northampton Shoe Museum contains an intriguing collection of historic and present day shoes from all around the world. My favorite was the biggest shoe in the world which was created for an elephant! However this wacky museum carries a much larger significance for the people of Northampton than just housing outrageous shoes. The presence of Northampton shoe museum marks an important part of the diasporic history for both the U.K as a state, and more importantly Northampton as a town, by commemorating the large labor market which once flourished in Northampton surrounding the shoe and leather production business.