Contested Memories: the Shahid Minar and the struggle for diasporic space

Key information

Date
Time
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Venue
Russell Square: College Buildings
Room
Khalili Lecture Theatre

About this event

Professor Claire Alexander (Dept. of Sociology, University of Manchester)
Abstract

Drawing on new empirical research conducted in East London as part of a project on ‘the Bengal diaspora’, this lecture explores the struggle over Bangladeshi identity in Tower Hamlets as exemplified in the monument of the Shahid Minar and the related celebration of Ekushe (Martyr’s Memorial Day), which is usually held to mark the beginning of the Bangladesh national liberation struggle. Bringing together theories of diaspora consciousness and memorialisation, the paper explores the ways in which rituals and memory work both as a form of continuity with the homeland and as a method of claims-staking for minority groups in multicultural spaces.

Loading the player...

Contested Memories: the Shahid Minar and the struggle for diasporic space

Biographical Information

Claire Alexander is Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester. Her research interests are in the area of race, ethnicity, masculinity and youth identities. Her main publications include The Art of Being Black (OUP 1996) and The Asian Gang (Berg 2000). She is currently working on a monograph on ‘The Bengal Diaspora’ (Routledge, forthcoming 2013).  Claire is also a Trustee of The Runnymede Trust, Britain’s foremost race equality thinktank.

Organiser: Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies

Contact email: rg32@soas.ac.uk

Contact Tel: 0207 898 4434