Multicultural Britain Research Articles

On the Politics of the Sikh Diaspora

Brian Axel and Tony Ballantyne lend articulate voices to concerns over identity within the Sikh diaspora in the politically opaque milieu of multicultural Britain and post-9/11 America. As the Sikh diaspora continues to beat a retreat into the realm of identity politics, both authors highlight the effects of performatively enunciated cultural claims while richly portraying multiple “webs,” or Sikh lifeworlds. Together, their emphasis on the affective or subjectivist aspects of the diaspora represents a break in Sikh studies, simultaneously problematizing the effects of empire in Punjab and the relationship of the diaspora to the “homeland” while also incorporating themes found in “new imperial history” and postcolonial theory: a distrust of abstract/universal categories and a concomitant emphasis on the effects of representations and the impossibility of grasping cultural “difference.”

A review of transcultural nursing

In this article, transcultural nursing is reviewed in the light of the literature mainly relevant to the British context. The key features of transcultural nursing are examined in the context of multicultural Britain as follows: definitions, racism, ethnocentrism, culture, diversity, transcultural health care practice and nurse education. Models of transcultural care practice and contemporary developments in cultural care are also explored. There is evidence from emerging literature that innovations are taking place in promoting transcultural care practice and education. However, the article concludes that much practice-based research is still needed to establish transcultural nursing in Britain.

Money over matter: heritage management in Wales

The heritage management policy in the UK is to delegate management and protection of scheduled ancient monuments to quasi-autonomous heritage agencies. These agencies are an improvement on what preceded them: the dry, conservative and underfunded Ministry of Works. However, by analysing the way in which Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments manages the castles in North Wales one can see that the current system has many inherent failings. Underfunding, a lack of commitment to education and preservation and the artificial division of responsibility along modern pseudo-national boundaries are evidence that the current policy has run its course and now needs to be re-thought. Furthermore, there must be more effort made to present a more inclusive heritage by accepting that the heritage sites in Wales exist within a multicultural Britain and a world of shared human experience. Emerging as a model for future heritage management is Denbigh Castle in North Wales. The site was abandoned in 1998 after Cadw decreed that it did not generate enough income. Subsequently rescued by the local council, it is now thriving. Denbigh stands as an example of how a heritage site can be integrated with the local community that has lived in its shadow for hundreds of years.

Psychiatry in Multicultural Britain Edited by Dinesh Bhugra and Ray Cochrane. London: Gaskell. 2001. 367 pp. £30.00 (pb). ISBN: 1-901242-45-5

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Perceptions of Schizophrenia in Multi-Cultural Britain

Objectives: The importance of perceptions of mental health problems from the perspectives of different ethnic populations is especially pertinent within a society such as Britain, which is culturally diverse, but employs a classification of psychopathology which is based upon western models. This study aimed to investigate differences in the lay perceptions of mental health problems, particularly schizophrenia, across different ethnic populations living in Britain. Further it aimed to look at the influence ethnic background had in relation to other variables such as age, gender, religion and contact with people with mental health problems. Design: 190 participants from five broad ethnic groups (Afro-Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Indian, Sub-Saharan African and White British) reported their perceptions of schizophrenia symptoms using the Perceptions of Mental Health Problems Questionnaire. Results: Differences were found across ethnic groups in participants' perceptions of schizophrenia symptoms. Differences were consistently shown across the specific symptoms of hallucinatory behaviour, suspiciousness, unusual thought content and alogia. In particular, in comparison with the white British group, Bangladeshi participants were less likely to view suspiciousness or hallucinatory behaviour as indicative of mental health problems, and the Afro-Caribbean participants were less likely to view unusual thought content as a symptom. As expected, differences in perceptions were also associated with religion, education, gender and contact with people with mental health problems. However, ethnicity was the best predictor of perceptions of schizophrenia symptoms. Conclusion: Ethnicity was found to be an important factor in influencing perceptions of schizophrenia. The specific differences found across ethnic groups are useful in beginning to understand more fully public perceptions of mental health problems in Britain today. The findings raise interesting discussion in relation to ethnic and cultural factors in planning services for people from ethnic minorities, and considering in more detail issues concerning diagnosis and engagement.

An idea of community and its discontents: towards a more reflexive sense of belonging in multicultural Britain

The paper poses the question: what are the epistemological consequences of an unreflexive use of the concept of community as the privileged container of cultural difference? The argument is made that contemporary notions of ethnic minority communities as deployed in official and demotic discourse have a complex history which may usefully be traced through classical sociological and anthropological thinking on the idea of community as connoting the premodern and non-Western. This is supplemented by a discussion of the contribution of ideas from these disciplines to contemporary imaginings of ethnic difference in 'multicultural' Britain.

Down's syndrome: experiences of mothers from different cultures.

The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences of mothers from different cultural backgrounds who have a child with Down's syndrome. Today, in multicultural Britain, cultural awareness and understanding are necessary if relevant care is to be offered. People from different cultures have different health beliefs, understanding and expectations. In order to try to understand these differences, a small selected sample of mothers from three different cultures who had given birth to a child diagnosed with Down's syndrome were interviewed in their own homes. When their responses were analysed they demonstrated their comparative isolation and the influence of cultural beliefs, and also that despite much research and study there is still a lack of respect and value in the way they had been treated. The author of this article addresses the requirement of more sensitivity and empathy to parents' needs.

The changing nature of organ procurement policies and the implications for the UK.

The shift away from socialized forms of welfare over the past twenty years has changed the symbolic basis on which bodily parts are exchanged. Titmuss viewed the newly-formed National Health Service in the United Kingdom as a vehicle for institutionalizing altruistic practices, notably the voluntary "gift" of blood to strangers represented by the transfusion service. More recent advances in medical technology have made new forms of bodily tissue donation possible, including the transplantation of whole organs. Yet the excess of demand over supply is forcing a change from the principle of voluntarism on which "opting-in" procurement arrangements have hitherto rested to one of presumed consent and the system of "opting-out" adopted in other countries. The implications of this transition within the context of late twentieth century multi-cultural Britain are examined.

‘A‐Part of the community'? The politics of representation and a Muslim school's application for state funding1

This paper examines the case of an independent Muslim girls’ school which applied for funding from the state in May 1994. Established in 1984, Feversham College struggles to survive on the limited finance forthcoming from parents’ fees and the support of Muslim benefactors. The failure of even a single Muslim school in Britain to win state funding has in recent years become a symbol of many Muslims’ concerns about how equally they participate in the idea of the nation. Those against such Muslim schools argue that they exist only to keep children, and especially girls, ‘separate'from their peers in multicultural Britain. However, these arguments are not routinely applied to the many Christian schools that receive funding from the state. In Ais paper I examine the way in which governors’ representations of their school set out to contest constructions of Islam and Muslim schools as necessarily ‘separatist’ and fundamentalist’. They welcomed a wide range of visitors to the school and promoted it as a transformative space within ‘the Muslim community’ that had been opened up for girls who might otherwise have been denied an education. Thus the governors argued that Feversham College was ‘a part of, and not ‘apart from’, the local community in Bradford. Finally, I show that while the school's application was supported by the local state it was ultimately rejected by a central government intent on the erosion of local democracy in Britain.

“The Methods of Barbarism” and the “Rights of Small Nations”: War Propaganda and British Pluralism

The “methods of barbarism” and the “rights of small nations” are perhaps the most recognizable of British slogans arising out of the wars of the early twentieth century. They are instantly associated with the Boer War and the First World War respectively, but seldom are they associated with each other. However, the Pro-Boer rhetoric of “the methods of barbarism” and the First World War propaganda of “the rights of small nations” are intimately linked through their roots in the pluralist Liberal vision of Britishness.These slogans and the propaganda campaigns that they epitomized must be understood within the context of a multicultural Britain and opposing notions of British national identity. Defining “barbarism” as the oppression of small nations through the brutal use of force, the Pro-Boers associated the term with the Anglocentric vision of the British nation reflected in the “New Imperialism” of the Conservatives. Through their belief in Anglo-Saxon racial superiority, the Conservative imperialists maintained that small nations like those of the Irish, the Welsh, and the Boers would either be assimilated or swept aside by the historical progress of an expanding Anglo-Saxon nation state. In contrast to this notion of Conservative “barbarism,” the Pro-Boer Liberals drew on the Gladstonian heritage of their party in defining the United Kingdom as a multinational state at the center of a multinational empire. They eschewed the use of force in the maintenance of empire and argued that the bonds of imperialism must be based upon mutual goodwill, voluntarism, and the recognition of the principle of nationality.When the First World War broke out in 1914, propagandists drew upon these contrasting constructions of Liberal cultural pluralism and Conservative cultural uniformity. In terms similar to those employed by the Pro-Boers, British propagandists depicted the First World War as a struggle against German “barbarism” and as a fight to vindicate the “rights of small nations.” Solidly based upon the Liberal construction of the multicultural and multinational nature of Britishness, Britain's role as the champion of the principle of nationality was proclaimed with an eye not only to the international context of Europe but to the domestic context of the British state and empire as well.

Addressing Racism in Psychiatry: Is the Therapeutic Community Model Applicable?

Several reports have documented the failure of statutory psychiatric services in Britain to provide for the needs of clients from minority ethnic groups. Black clients are particularly underrepresented in Psychotherapy for reasons which are complex and varied, but include the institutionalised racism which pervades British society. We argue that the Therapeutic Community (TC) model of treatment (or aspects of it deployed in other mental health situations) provides a potential for a less racist service. Using the Henderson Hospital TC as a case in point, we argue that the TC is an approach which can meet the needs of black peoples. However, it is acknowledged that despite the ideological suitability of the TC model for black clients, in practice the Henderson Hospital is not fulfilling its role in providing therapy to this group. We discuss possible explanations and suggest the practical changes necessary, so that Henderson Hospital can meet the needs of clients in a multi-cultural Britain.

British Universities and Teacher Education: A Century of Change

Victorians beginnings, John B.Thomas day training college to Department of Education, John B.Thomas the area training organizations, John D. Turner the universities and the BEd degree, Alec Ross the James report and recent history, Peter Gosden the Scottish universities and educational studies, Peter Gosden teacher education in Northern Ireland, R.E. Bell the study of education as a university subject, Brian Simon teacher education in multicultural Britain, Maurice Craft the university Professor of education, Peter Gordon schools of education - their work and their future, Tony Edwards. Appendix: Professors of education in the United Kingdom.

Medical teaching of the cultural aspects of ethnic minorities: does it exist?

The development of published material relating to the practice of medicine in multiracial and multicultural Britain is briefly reviewed. The utilization of such information in English medical schools is found to be absent or at a low level of priority. A more detailed study of one region demonstrates that junior hospital doctors believe from experience that they have a need for training in 'multicultural' medicine to serve their current patient load. Objective tests demonstrate the poor levels of knowledge and the role of practical experience. Responses from a survey of administrators and clinical tutors suggest interest or willingness to develop training in this field but a lack of coordination or resources. The paper demonstrates clearly that medical education has failed to keep pace with developments in the social and ethnic composition of the potential client population. Doctors who are practising in multiracial areas support this argument for changes in the undergraduate curriculum and extension of provision in postgraduate education. These improvements should not be confined to specific medical schools because of the career mobility of doctors, and by analogy could be extended to other medical professionals. Recommendations are made as a basis for a long-term strategy to ensure that medical education plays its part in combating racism in society.

Book Review: The Constitution of Society, Michel Foucalt, Michel Foucault, Making Sense of Marx, Re-Working the Work Ethic, Working Women in Recession: Employment, Redundancy and Unemployment, Shop Floor Bargaining and the State, Technologies of Freedom, Capitalism, Class Confliet and the New Middle Class, Architects and Firms: A Sociological Perspective on Architectural Practice, The Politics of Socialism. An Essay in Political

Book Review: The Constitution of Society, Michel Foucalt, Michel Foucault, Making Sense of Marx, Re-Working the Work Ethic, Working Women in Recession: Employment, Redundancy and Unemployment, Shop Floor Bargaining and the State, Technologies of Freedom, Capitalism, Class Confliet and the New Middle Class, Architects and Firms: A Sociological Perspective on Architectural Practice, The Politics of Socialism. An Essay in Political

Home and School in Multicultural Britain. By Sally Tomlinson. Pp. 144. (Batsford Academic and Educational, 1984.) £6.95.

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The Teaching of English in Multi-cultural Britain — a reply to the NATE discussion document

The Teaching of English in Multi-cultural Britain — a reply to the NATE discussion document