Teaching and Learning > DISCOURSE
When the Twain Meet: Redefining 'British' Religions through Student Encounters with Religious Communities
Author: Catherine Robinson and Denise Cush
Journal Title: Discourse
ISSN: 2040-3674
ISSN-L: 1741-4164
Volume: 10
Number: 2
Start page: 15
End page: 30
Return to vol. 10 no. 2 index page
Religions of South Asian origin—by which we mean mostly the traditions of Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs, but also more rarely Jains (but not the traditions of Muslims and Christians on the grounds that Islam and Christianity, though South Asian religions, originated elsewhere)—may be encountered by undergraduate students within a variety of disciplines. Indeed, until the 1960s, it would be more likely for this to occur within 'departments of history, anthropoogy, classics … and the like' (Sharpe, 2005:31) rather than theology, and may still today be found in such departments, with the addition of 'area studies' such as 'South Asian Studies'. Our argument is that to study Sikhism, Hinduism or Buddhism need not mean a sole focus on South Asia (and, in the case of Buddhism, East Asia) or even assuming a South Asian model or standard. Students can come to appreciate these religions as global phenomena rather than as only or definitively South Asian and, in so doing, have the opportunity to reflect upon the changing nature and values of their own society. Accordingly, our contention is that these religions need to be considered in their British context as 'British religions.'
The teaching of Religions of South Asian Origins in British universities
The academic study of religion, and of religions of South Asian origin in particular, in our current understanding of the words 'study' and 'religion', may be said to have begun in the second half of the nineteenth century when projects such as Max Müller's
Sacred Books of the East
and T.W. Rhys David's Pali Text Society made the raw materials available. The University of Manchester made a pioneering move in 1904 by establishing a Department of Theology which included 'comparative religion' as a compulsory part of study. Rhys Davids was the first professor of comparative religion in this university (Sharpe, 1975:131-133). However, not until the 1960s was the study of religions able to establish itself as a discipline separate from both theology and the other subject areas within which the study of religions could be found. The (then) new University of Lancaster's department of religious studies, founded in 1967, was the first of several departments which either adopted non-confessional, multi-faith study of religions as their main task, or added an increasing variety of traditions and methods of study to existing Theology Departments.
There have been several suggestions as to why this occurred in the late 1960s, including increasing secularisation and disaffection from the traditional forms of Christianity, alongside immigration and increasing awareness of plurality (cf. Jackson, 2004: 1-5). There was also the general liberalisation of society reflected in gradually changing views of sexuality and the role of women, in addition to changes in liberal Protestant theology which had for some time been arguing that divine revelation might not be confined to Christianity but might be found in all the world's traditions (cf. Bates, 1994 and 1996). Eric Sharpe (2005:39) points out the importance of the Second Vatican Council (1962-5) within the Roman Catholic Church and its new openness to dialogue with other religious traditions. As someone who lived through it, the elder of the two authors would argue for the importance of the revolutionary youth culture of the late 1960s and 1970s.
Even those who were unable to follow the Beatles on the 'hippy trail' to India encountered the ideas and imagery of South Asian religions in particular, through music and popular culture. An obvious example is George Harrison's hit with 'My Sweet Lord', which brought the name of Krishna even to areas of Britain where it was unlikely that young people would meet Hindus. Hindu deities, Buddhist meditation, Sufi mystics and Sikh-derived new religious movements became part of youth culture from the late 1960s into the 1970s, or at least among the more 'alternative' sector (cf. Saunders, 1975). In schools and universities, students were asking their teachers why they were not studying these more appealing religions, a demand that was gradually met by the efforts of groups such as the SHAPWorking Party for World Religions in Education, established in 1969, a year that also saw the start of nonconfessional, multi-faith religious education in schools in Sweden. The point to note here is that the changes in the ways in which religions were studied, and which religions were studied, were not just imposed 'top-down' on the supply side by academics and educationalists, but actively sought from the 'bottom-up' demand side—by young people who wanted to explore a wider world of beliefs and lifestyles; especially those of South Asian origin.
Over the last four decades, the study of religions in Britain has not stood still. Among major influences have been feminism and other liberationist approaches, which have criticised the patriarchal and elitist forms of the study of religions, including claims to academic objectivity. Impacting particularly on the study of South Asian religions have been the critiques of 'orientalist' approaches and the greater awareness of the 'construction' of traditions by scholarship, so that the scholar finds it difficult to use the terms 'Hinduism', 'Buddhism' and 'Sikhism' without adding inverted commas. In addition, the study of newer religious movements, paganism and other forms of alternative spirituality have taken up part of the time that might previously have been spent on religions of South Asian origin, and have to some extent played the role in 'alternative' youth culture taken by religions of South Asian origin two generations earlier. However, the theosophical roots of 'New Age' and the embracing of Hinduism in particular by Pagan protagonists (cf. York, 2003) have ensured that the religions of South Asian origin have not lost their currency. And of course, the innovations in communications technology have made it much easier to access a wide variety of sources of information.
Moving to the present, we confined our research to; undergraduate courses in the discipline called Theology and Religious Studies in British universities; the analysis of the 2008 AUDTRS Handbook; personal contacts updating this information; and a search of university websites. These searches reveal 27 universities offering units in Hinduism, 26 universities offering units in Buddhism, 10 mentioning the study of Sikhism, and three offering studies of Jainism, from a total of 37 universities offering undergraduate degrees in Theology and/or Religious Studies. This may not be entirely accurate as not all universities list all optional modules, and there are vaguer mentions of 'Indian religions'. Nevertheless, it gives a general indication of the prevalence of the study of religions of South Asian origin. Of these, six universities offer the study of Sanskrit and three the study of Pali at undergraduate level, with a few further possibilities at postgraduate level. In addition, some less formal opportunities for language study are offered by tutors as individuals at other universities. The University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies offers a much wider range of South Asian languages.
However, it remains a minority of students who will be studying these traditions via texts in the original languages at undergraduate level. The majority will find themselves studying texts in translation, introductory survey textbooks and more specialised books and articles from scholars from a variety of disciplines, including history and anthropology as well as theology and religious studies, or engaging in first hand fieldwork themselves.
Living Religion Project at Bath Spa University
At Bath Spa University we do study texts in translation and other scholarly sources, but we place a particular emphasis upon an experiential approach whereby students encounter living religion in natural settings. Thanks to 'mini-project' funding from the HEA Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies, we have been engaged in a project to explore and enhance the use of fieldwork learning within our subject.
As well as the usual visits to places of worship, including Hindu temples, Sikh gurdwaras and Buddhist centres organised by tutors, all Study of Religions students undertake a compulsory one-week placement in a religious community as a part of a core module on studying religions in the contemporary world. Students act as ethnographers, studying people in their own communities on their own ground, participating in their daily lives as far as possible. Students must select a tradition that features neither in their current personal worldview nor their heritage tradition, in order to encounter something which is genuinely 'other', and also to experience being in a minority—sometimes of one—in a community whose beliefs, values and customs differ from their own. We value such fieldwork because first-hand interaction with adherents helps to remove stereotyped pictures of traditions and also because students have to interact with other human beings and reflect on their own responses to the situation they find themselves in. The students returning from such placements report both that the first hand encounters enable them to achieve understanding that other methods just don't reach, and that they have had a strong experience of 'otherness' while still in Britain. In the words of one recent student 'it was the strangest experience of my life but certainly one of the most interesting'.
Of the 23 communities which we have used recently, 14 are aligned or associated with religions of South Asian origin: 10 are Buddhist, three are Hindu or Hindu-related, and one is Sikh. The Buddhist placements are The Amida Trust (Pure Land and 'engaged' Buddhism), Amaravati and Hartridge monasteries (Theravada, Thai originated Forest Sangha tradition), Throssel Hole Priory (Soto Zen Serene Reflection Meditation tradition), Lam Rim and Jamyang (Gelugpa Tibetan Federation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) Samye Ling (Tibetan Karma Kagyu), and Amitabha, Dharmavajra and Manjusri (three centres in the Tibetan New Kadampa Tradition). The Hindu-related placements are Bhaktivedanta Manor (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Skandavale (The Community of the Many Names of God) and Shekinashram (Vaishnava Hindu). The Sikh Gurdwara is the Sri Guru Singh Sabha, a Khalsainspired community. In previous years we have also included placements with the Nichiren Buddhist Soka Gakkai and the Hindu-related Brahma Kumaris.
With the exception of the Sikh gurdwara, it is interesting to note that most of these communities could be viewed as 'New Religious Movements', or at least movements consciously relating the tradition to a Western context, though in most cases also accepted as authentic by most of their co-religionists with ethnic roots in the Asian countries of origin.
Religions of South Asian Origin in diaspora
Religions of South Asian origin or the adherents of such religions are often described as being in diaspora when in Britain. Yet this concept, its meaning and implications, merits more critical scrutiny than it is generally accorded. At its most basic, diaspora is defined as dispersion, deriving from the Greek 'dia' (through) and 'speirein' (to sow or scatter) and originating in Deuteronomy 28.25 of the Septuagint (Oxford English Dictionary, 2010). Diaspora was used to denote the experience of Jews living outside Israel in the post-exilic period while awaiting God's gathering of the Chosen People and 'his' returning of them to the Promised Land (Bauman, 2000: 317). Diaspora was also used by Christians, whereby it denoted the presence of Christians throughout the world and their proclamation of the Good News to all nations (Bauman, 2000: 319). Subsequently, the meaning of diaspora has continued to change and be applied to an ever-growing variety of phenomena (Tölölyan, 1996: 8).
However, there are perhaps certain general implications of disapora that should be dealt with at the outset. Despite some neutral and even favourable aspects, the implications of diaspora are frequently negative with connotations of loss, misery and oppression. If these connotations do reflect the tragic sense of diaspora as exile, especially forced exile, they do not represent the full spectrum of diaspora or, indeed, the many possible responses to the attendant risks and opportunities, among which are positive responses such as enterprise and creativity that, in turn, facilitate integration and innovation. Among the other implications of diaspora, at least where non-Western religions are practised in Western settings, is that adaptations to the West are not merely forms of Westernisation but at the same time forms of modernisation. This assumption is reminiscent of Orientalist stereotypes of Western progress and Eastern tradition, ignoring both the combination of continuity and change that characterises acculturation and the multiple trajectories of modernity in a global context in a simplistic equation of the Western and the modern. On this line of interpretation, it is important to approach diaspora without prejudging it as problematic, either because it is informed by adversity or it concedes an age-old heritage.
Notably the role of religion in diaspora has tended to receive rather short shrift (Vertovec, 2000b: 7-8). One reason for this may be that the role of religion in diaspora is a point of contention. In order to consider this, the foregoing account begins with Robin Cohen's views on diaspora, specifically the first edition of his magisterial work, Global Diasporas: An Introduction. In this book, he works with a set of characteristics of diaspora that includes the following: dispersion from the homeland, forced or voluntary; a common awareness of and allegiance to the homeland, often combined with a drive for repatriation; a shared ethnic identity and a feeling of unity with others of the same ethnicity; and tensions with host societies though also the potential for flourishing (Cohen, 1997: 26). Admittedly, this style of definition has been attacked by social constructionists as narrow and inflexible in the attempt to reinterpret and reevaluate the classic reference points of ethnicity and homeland (Cohen, 2008: 8-11). Yet we can set aside to what extent these allegations of essentialism are warranted, because there are areas of agreement insofar as certain features are still foundational to most discourses on diaspora and because there must be some limit to the protean possibilities of the concept (Brubaker, 2005: 3, 5-7), such a model can serve as a springboard for further investigation of religions of South Asian origin. In addition, that Cohen remains hugely influential in the field, acting as editor for the prestigious Global Diasporas series, and that his prominence has been reflected in the Religious Studies literature, make his views especially relevant to this investigation.
Clearly, Cohen's understanding of diaspora privileges ethnicity and, its corollary, a homeland. This explains why, in the first edition of Global Diasporas, he was reticent about religion since most religions are multiethnic in composition and lack the longing for a homeland: In general, I would argue that religions can provide additional cement to bind a diasporic consciousness, but they do not constitute diasporas in and of themselves…. On the other hand … spiritual affinity may generate a bond analogous to that of a diaspora. (Cohen, 1997: 189)
The second edition seems to have taken on board some of the criticisms generated by the first edition in this as in other respects. Notwithstanding, Cohen remains reluctant to analyse the relationship between religion and diaspora given the comparative paucity of research on this subject and the close connection between religion and ethnicity (Cohen, 2008: 153).
In complete contrast to Cohen, John Hinnells concentrates on religion and, when reviewing the first edition of Global Diasporas, criticises the failure to treat the theme of religion. Substantiating his assertion that religion requires serious and sustained attention, he comments on its importance for diasporic groups evident in their greater observancy post-migration, the centrality of religion to group identity particularly in subsequent generations and the variety of religious reactions to diverse diasporic experiences (Hinnells, 1997: 157). Consistent with this, his approach utilizes what he calls 'diaspora religion':
'[D]iaspora religion' indicates a religion practised by a minority group, conscious of living in a culturally and religiously different, possibly hostile, environment, away from the old country of the religion. (Hinnells, 1997: 686)
In the course of his argument, Hinnells describes Christianity as a 'diaspora religion' in certain respects even if the feeling for a Holy Land is extremely attenuated (Hinnells, 1997: 686). Yet Britain can be regarded, albeit with reservations, as a Christian country, just as Pakistan and Bangladesh are Muslim countries, and, consequently, neither Christianity in Britain nor Islam in Pakistan and Bangladesh are in diaspora (Hinnells, 1997: 686). It is his stress on minority status that enables him to differentiate between South Asian and Western Muslims, the latter living in an ethnic diaspora, despite the fact that Islam's orientation to Mecca might suggest that South Asian Islam is also diasporic (Hinnells, 1997: 686). Whether this position is theoretically consistent and coherent in its introduction of the minority criterion is questionable (Vertovec, 2000b: 11). More generally, this concept of 'diaspora religion' as the religion of a minority community resident in a setting other than the religion's place of origin, does not adequately examine the issue of religion and ethnicity nor fully acknowledge the significance of a homeland, both of which are basic to the debate both in Religious Studies and beyond.
Steven Vertovec agrees with Cohen that adherents of some religions form diasporas on the grounds that membership of these religions is ethnically demarcated and the members have a powerful sense of a homeland (Vertovec, 2000a: 2). Consistent with his view that ethnicity and with it a homeland is the determining factor, he is critical of the extension of diaspora to encompass adherents of other religions: It broadens the term far too much to talk—as many scholars do— about the 'Muslim diaspora', 'Catholic diaspora', 'Methodist diaspora' and so forth. These are of course world traditions that span many ethnic groups and nationalities that have been spread by many other means than migration and displacement. (Vertovec, 2000b: 11)
The distinction drawn here is between proselytising religions to which Vertovec regards the concept of diaspora as inapplicable and non-proselytising religions to which the concept is applicable (Vertovec, 2000a: 2). Drawing upon the work of various Religious Studies scholars, Séan McLoughlin develops Vertovec's thesis in terms of 'ethnic' and 'universal' religions, proposing that diaspora be reserved for 'ethnic' religions:
'Ethnic' religions may properly represent 'diasporas'. However, for other, more 'universal' and missionary religions, less obviously tied to particular peoples or places, for example Christianity [and] Islam…, the relationship with ethnicity can be very different. (McLoughlin, 2005: 541)
If this distinction between 'ethnic' and 'universal' religions is accepted, where the former can be labelled diasporic and the latter can not, even though under certain conditions 'ethnic' religions can be universalised and 'universal' religions can be ethnicised (McLoughlin, 2005: 541), then where does this leave religions of South Asian origin and their adherents in Britain?
There are innumerable instances of references to Sikhism/Sikhs, Hinduism/Hindus and Buddhism/Buddhists in diaspora. Even so, the relevance of diaspora still needs to be established with respect to each religion/religious group. Continuing to use the criteria of ethnicity and homeland established above, the case for Sikhism is probably clearest as Cohen compares Sikhs to Jews in their being both an ethnic and religious group wedded to the idea of a homeland (Cohen, 2008: 112, 116). Thus Darshan Singh Tatla's account of the Sikh diaspora discusses the prototypical example of Judaism linking ethnicity and homeland, and demonstrates that Sikhs have a common ethnic identity and an attachment to the Punjab as their homeland expressed in a nationalist movement (Tatla, 1999: 2, 8). It is by analogy with Judaism and Sikhism that Vertovec argues for the existence of a Hindu diaspora, asserting that Hinduism does not try to make converts, but does evince a deep attachment to India as sacred, thereby satisfying the criteria of ethnicity and homeland (Vertovec, 2000a: 2-4). Buddhism is rather different as McLoughlin's bracketing of Buddhism with Christianity and Islam as 'universal' religions indicates (McLoughlin, 2005: 541). After all, Buddhism has expanded through conversion and has not sacralised a specific locality so that Buddhists may be Chinese, Tibetan, Newar, Sinhalese, etc., and do not look to a homeland. If diaspora is of dubious relevance to Buddhism, at least in these terms, the next question that arises is whether it is helpful in understanding Sikhism or Hinduism either. At this point, it is possible to venture an analysis that may be of broader application to other defintions of diaspora.
A spotlight on such religions in diaspora is intended to challenge hegemonic views of religions associated with the old country and perhaps old times, countering suggestions that religions in diaspora lack authenticity as deviations from South Asian norms, and frequently also from supposed classical forms of centuries past. Such a spotlight also encourages a recognition of the distinctive aspects of specific settings, including Britain, and attendant processes of adaptation and appropriation, thereby underlining the heterogeneity and eclecticism of these religions. Nevertheless, there is a danger that the concept of diaspora reinscribes difference where British and other non-South Asian forms of these religions are treated as distinct from, instead of integral to, their principal manifestations. Another danger is that the concept reinscribes difference from British society in which diasporic status stresses these religions' South Asian origins at the cost of distancing them from their current location. In any event, these religions have a longer history in Britain than is often supposed and therefore stronger claims to Britishness than is often allowed. Certainly, the diverse and dynamic nature of these religions in contemporary Britain includes the ability to make Western converts, thus compromising the part played by ethnicity and hence a homeland, and the rise of new movements, often attractive to if not aimed at Western converts, illustrates how religions of South Asian origin develop outside their original location.
Religions of South Asian Origin in Britain
The Sikh presence in Britain has been traced to the mid-nineteenth century with the arrival of the deposed Maharajah Duleep Singh (Singh & Tatla, 2006: 44). The first gurdwara is dated to 1911 in Putney (Knott, 1997: 758). Encounters with Hinduism occurred as early as the first half of the nineteenth century when Ram Mohan Roy visited Britain to be succeeded by members of the Ramakrishna Mission and the Gaudiya Vaishnava Math during the 1930s (Knott, 1997: 758). However, what is believed to be the first temple was not established until 1967 in Coventry even if many other places of worship have been established in the following decades (Vertovec, 2000a: 97). One of the first Westerners to be ordained as a Buddhist monk was Allan Bennett ordained in Burma in 1902, and the first Buddhist Society in Britain was formed in 1907 to welcome his return in 1908 (Oliver,1979: 43- 45). The Sri Lankan Anagarika Dharmapala, following an earlier visit in the late 1890s as a guest of Edwin Arnold (Oliver, 1979: 65), came to Britain in 1925 and established a small group of Sinhalese monks as the London Buddhist Vihara in 1928. Surely, then, with this century of history, it is not unreasonable to treat Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism as British religions?
Before proceeding, it is necessary to note that the terms Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism are used here as convenient shorthand for what are understood to be complex and contested realities and not reified entities with impermeable boundaries that can be defined easily in terms of essences and distinguished unambiguously one from another. Besides, just as the notion of religion has been problematised, in part because of its place in the Western history of ideas, so too the notion of Britishness has been disputed, especially in the light of plurality. Indeed, Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists should be seen as active contributors to shaping British religion while practising their traditions and negotiating their relationships with their fellow citizens. The profile of Sikhism in contemporary Britain features a small but significant proportion of white Sikhs at just over two per cent of the Sikh population (Singh & Tatla, 2006: 66). In all likelihood these gora (white) Sikhs will be associated with the Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere founded by a Punjabi Sikh called Harbhajan Singh Puri, better known as Yogi Bhajan, in the United States of America (Takhar, 2003: 158-160). In many respects they are consistent with the Khalsainspired orthodoxy that dominates much of modern Sikhism and are resistant to any suggestion that they are very different from other Sikhs. Members of the Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere present a Khalsa appearance and follow Sikh spiritual and ethical principles (Takhar, 2003: 158, 161-162). However, they hail Yogi Bhajan through whom the Sikh way of life was made accessible to Westerners (Takhar, 2003: 162). Of course, as of yet, members of the Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere constitute a tiny minority of Sikhs alongside a wealth of other groups and movements such as the Namdhari and Nanaksar as well as what might be termed more mainstream worshipping communities. Their importance lies in challenging dominant notions of Sikh identity and its tie with a Punjabi background. Similarly, Hinduism in contemporary Britain has western members, contentiously in Transcendental Meditation, formed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, given its disavowal of its religious roots in favour of an appeal to science (Barrett, 2001: 276) and prominently in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness which was established by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in New York in 1966 and in London in 1968 (Cole, 2007: 29-30). Both Transcendental Meditation and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness have roots in the counterculture of the 1960s, and indeed the interest shown by the Beatles, initially proving attractive to young people fascinated by Eastern mysticism. Since then they have developed in different directions with Transcendental Meditation approximating more closely to a 'New Age' paradigm and clientèle (Barrett, 2001: 278-280) whereas the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has gained much support from the wider Hindu community and has positioned itself as Hinduism per se (Cole, 2007: 48). Again, if in the minority, they have broadened Hinduism's ethnic composition in contrast to a dominant Gujarati profile with, for example, Gujaratibased Swaminarayan and Jalaram Bapa traditions.
Western Buddhists have tended to dominate many of the Buddhist groups in Britain. Robert Bluck (2006:3) identifies the seven largest groups as follows: the Forest Sangha (a Thai Theravada tradition specifically directed towards Westerners); the Serene Reflection Meditation Tradition (a form of Soto Zen started by an American female roshi); Soka Gakkai (a Nichiren Buddhist lay movement originating in Japan but with many British converts); The New Kadampa Tradition (a development of Tibetan Buddhism formed in 1991 by a Tibetan teacher but aimed at a Western following), the Karma Kagyu tradition based at Samye Ling, again with many Western monks, nuns and lay followers although the founders, including the current Abbot, are Tibetan; the Samatha Trust, a Western Theravada lay movement; and finally the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (now renamed the Triratna Buddhist Community to emphasise its worldwide presence), established in 1967 to present Buddhism in a form which made sense in Western culture. Recently, Phra Nicholas Thanissaro, researching Buddhist families of Thai, Nepali and Bengali origins, has argued that since the 1990s there has been 'a significant influx of migrant Buddhists to Britain so that the migrant Buddhist community have now replaced "convert" Buddhists as the majority' (Thanissaro, 2011: 62). Clearly, then, albeit to a greater or lesser extent, each of these religions in Britain is multiethnic in membership, querying the applicability of the concept of diaspora as commonly defined. They are also thriving, and forming new groups and movements, underlining the creative potential inherent in the practice of these religions in the West.
Conclusion
Our argument is that to study Sikhism, Hinduism or Buddhism need not mean a sole focus on South Asia (and, in the case of Buddhism, East Asia) or even assuming a South Asian model or standard (cf. Vertovec, 2000b: 1-2). Further, enriching as it is to travel to the South and East Asian countries where these religions are majority traditions, students unable to do this can have first hand experience of religions of South Asian origin on their own doorstep, in forms that are both authentic and innovative, but perhaps also demystified in their combination of the familiar with the unfamiliar. Moreover, to study Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism in the West is to study both these religions and the West (cf. Hinnells, 1997: 682). This is because students can come to appreciate these religions as global phenomena rather than as only or definitively South Asian and, in so doing, have the opportunity to reflect upon the changing nature and values of their own society. Accordingly, our contention is that these religions need to be considered in their British context as British religions with over a hundred years of history behind them and, consequently, that British students need to study them as part of their own heritage rather than as fascinating but remote from their experience in both time and space.
In conclusion, we regard first-hand encounters with religions of South Asian origin in a British context as extremely valuable for students. This is not merely a concession to practicality. On the contrary, it raises questions about the relationship of religion, culture and ethnicity and how far the concept of diaspora assists our understanding of the processes involved. Thus 'the Twain'—East and West—do meet, and they meet in Britain everyday.
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