Missing from the ‘minority mainstream’: Pahari-speaking diaspora in Britain

Abstract

Pahari speakers form one of the largest ethnic non-European diasporas in Britain. Despite their size and over 60 years of settlement on British shores, the diaspora is shrouded by confusion regarding official and unofficial categorisations, remaining largely misunderstood as a collective with a shared ethnolinguistic memory. This has had implications for the recognition of Pahari within mainstream minority language provision. The first half of the article explores why Pahari has remained largely absent within discourse on minority languages in Britain. The second half of the article documents attempts from within the diaspora to address this gap through promoting and representing Pahari within a British context.