Immigrant Communities

[Aanal]

“We built Southall because we didn’t know how to be British …. If you had any problems in this new country, your neighbors would rush to your side and bring you money, food, whatever you need. That’s the beauty of being surrounded by your community.”

How does this view of Southall as a safe haven conflict with the younger women’s view of it as a kind of prison?

How would you feel living in a place like Southall?

Are there similar immigrant communities where you live?

[Aanal]

So I grew up in Denver where there is not really a large Desi population.
In Denver I feel like so many of the Indians found each other and set up many ways to keep our culture in tact, but because we weren't around many to fully keep things in tact, along with us, our parents views also progressed. I feel like here we appreciate and hold on to as many parts of our culture as we can because there are few of us, but we still have very progressive conversations and relationships with our parents.

I've noticed a lot of Indians elsewhere in bigger immigrant oriented communities have also evolved like this, but I've also seen the opposite.

I think Southall can harvest both, but is more prone to keeping those conservative ideologies alive more than fusing the two together.