Hindus say it's time to ditch the Asian tag
By Ruth Gledhill , Religion Correspondent
They feel neglected and marginalised and yearn to be understood as a community
HINDUS living in Britain do not want to be described as “Asian”, according to a big study of the community.
Instead, they want to be known as British Indian, Hindu — or even Desi, a Hindi word growing in popularity with the young that means being rooted in one’s home country. At the time of the 2001 Census the Hindu population in Britain had reached nearly 550,000.
The report, Connecting British Hindus, to be published in the Commons today, was funded by the Government and carried out by the Runnymede Trust and the Hindu Forum.
It found concern about a “general assumption” that any brown-skinned Asian person was Muslim and shows that Hindus feel neglected, marginalised and misunderstood.
One example is their funeral traditions. One Hindu says in the report: “Our rituals take two hours and crematoria do not have the time, facilities or space for these rituals. We are trying to build a crematorium, but the planning permission needs to be given.”
Another example was the large number of hospitals that will provide halal but not vegetarian Hindu food.
Lord Parekh, who is a Hindu, writes in the report that the community is politically “invisible” because it makes “few noises when confronted with injustices”. He says that British Hindus, drawn mainly from Asia and East Africa, have quietly concentrated on building their careers, holding families together and nurturing their children’s education.
In three generations, he says, they have risen to senior positions in most of the professions and have a larger middle class than any other ethnic minority except the Jewish community. Yet only two MPs are Hindu.
Although relations with other communities are described as excellent, “those with Muslims leave much to be desired”, the Labour peer says.
The researchers interviewed more than 120 people in focus groups, carried out an online survey of nearly 700 and conducted telephone interviews.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2264215.html
My comment
Such research has shown that members of the Hindu community feel injustices regarding their representation and even though the matter may seem small (ditching the Asian tag); it's what creates their sense of identity. In many respects "Life isn't all ha ha hee hee" has overcome the 'Asian tag' but perhaps only to the 'Asian' community itself since the BBC reviews are evident of the fact that people are more than happy to cateogrise all brown skinned people into 'Asian' rather than make the effort to differentiate and thus allow various religions to have their own seperate identity. Interesting.
By Ruth Gledhill , Religion Correspondent
They feel neglected and marginalised and yearn to be understood as a community
HINDUS living in Britain do not want to be described as “Asian”, according to a big study of the community.
Instead, they want to be known as British Indian, Hindu — or even Desi, a Hindi word growing in popularity with the young that means being rooted in one’s home country. At the time of the 2001 Census the Hindu population in Britain had reached nearly 550,000.
The report, Connecting British Hindus, to be published in the Commons today, was funded by the Government and carried out by the Runnymede Trust and the Hindu Forum.
It found concern about a “general assumption” that any brown-skinned Asian person was Muslim and shows that Hindus feel neglected, marginalised and misunderstood.
One example is their funeral traditions. One Hindu says in the report: “Our rituals take two hours and crematoria do not have the time, facilities or space for these rituals. We are trying to build a crematorium, but the planning permission needs to be given.”
Another example was the large number of hospitals that will provide halal but not vegetarian Hindu food.
Lord Parekh, who is a Hindu, writes in the report that the community is politically “invisible” because it makes “few noises when confronted with injustices”. He says that British Hindus, drawn mainly from Asia and East Africa, have quietly concentrated on building their careers, holding families together and nurturing their children’s education.
In three generations, he says, they have risen to senior positions in most of the professions and have a larger middle class than any other ethnic minority except the Jewish community. Yet only two MPs are Hindu.
Although relations with other communities are described as excellent, “those with Muslims leave much to be desired”, the Labour peer says.
The researchers interviewed more than 120 people in focus groups, carried out an online survey of nearly 700 and conducted telephone interviews.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2264215.html
My comment
Such research has shown that members of the Hindu community feel injustices regarding their representation and even though the matter may seem small (ditching the Asian tag); it's what creates their sense of identity. In many respects "Life isn't all ha ha hee hee" has overcome the 'Asian tag' but perhaps only to the 'Asian' community itself since the BBC reviews are evident of the fact that people are more than happy to cateogrise all brown skinned people into 'Asian' rather than make the effort to differentiate and thus allow various religions to have their own seperate identity. Interesting.
posted by Pip at 5:13 AM
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