Citizenship and Identity

2.4. Second Generation South Asians in Britain

At least since the 70s, not only the migrants themselves but also their children have been in the focus of research in Britain. This interest was initially triggered by concern for the culture conflict which the second generation was supposed to be exposed to. Accordingly, research has since been occupied with either proving or disproving this hypothesis, concentrating on social and cultural factors of identity formation (see in particular Watson 1977). Only recently has there been an extension of the field of research also towards legal and institutional aspects, thus the question of citizenship is hardly ever mentioned in the early texts. It is thus not necessary, in view of the topic of this dissertation, to provide a comprehensive analysis of all the literature on second generation South Asians, it is sufficient to present some core texts and their ideas.

An early study dealing with the national identity of second generation South Asians is Thompson (1974), which asks whether his respondents in Coventry were Punjabis or English. He distinguishes between the majority of the young men, who stay within the Punjabi traditions and solely want to liberalise them somewhat and the minority, who become individual rebels, anglicise and vanish from the community. It is argued that the latter have generally experienced some break down in their socialisation, while the former exhibit

"... a very positive and legitimate aspiration to retain their heritage and identity as Punjabis, something which is in no way prejudicial or damaging to English society." (Thompson 1974, 248)

Thompson seems to be guided in his analysis by the wish to go against the assimilationist pressures put on the second generation by people like Enoch Powell. He thus emphasises the retention of culture more than the creation of an own way of living, which is acknowledged only in passing. Interesting for the analysis of the topic of this dissertation is that basically all of Thompson's respondents were born in India and would thus not only know that country themselves but also had Indian citizenship at the time of his fieldwork. A similar conjecture must be true for Taylor (1976), whose respondents were also primarily born in South Asia. Asked why they would like to stay in England or return to South Asia, a high proportion said either that they preferred England or felt that they belonged to their country of origin. Furthermore, many were thinking about leaving Britain because of fear of racism (Taylor 1976, 194-196). Taylor (1976, 203-206) concludes from this a feeling of not belonging which has its origin largely in the 'othering' by whites on the basis of skin colour. A strong identification with the country of origin and a sense of belonging there rather than to England seems to be a reaction to this exclusion, as it makes it possible to be not as much hurt by the hostility met in their country of residence (Taylor 1976, 207 and 210). South Asianness is not rejected, the respondents perceive themselves as Asian rather than English (Taylor 1976, 211-212), assimilation is restricted to economic and civic matters, to a small degree also to cultural and structural aspects, and does not enter the spheres of marriage, identity, attitude and behaviour (Taylor 1976, 225). This shows that while establishing themselves firmly in England, these second generation South Asians preserve distinctive features of their parents' cultures. Based on a much smaller sample, Brah (1978) reaches similar conclusions, arguing that the pride in their ethnicity shown by second generation South Asians in Southall and the preserving of their Indianness in Britain is a reaction to the dilemma of being, on the one hand, critical of the parents' culture and, on the other hand, experiencing the devaluation of the own traditions by the white environment.

The studies in the 90s explicitly emphasise a now well-recognised phenomenon which was there already 'between the lines' in the early works, i.e. that the home of the second generation South Asians is Britain, but that they will not fully assimilate, instead shaping their life on their own terms participating in both worlds and thus creating a distinctive ethnicity. Ballard (1994b, 31-33) speaks in this context of 'skilled cultural navigation', acknowledging that due to the pressures put on the second generation both by the parents and the environment, this can also result in rebellion against what is supposed to be the 'done thing'.

Gardner and Shukur (1994) describe, like many others, how the external categorisation via skin colour results in a feeling of otherness and is crucial for the self-definition as Bengali. The romantic image of the country of origin, which is consequently created, is however destroyed once the young South Asian visits it and experiences the own otherness in the mythical 'home'. Thus the second generation members realise that their home is in the UK, and the Bengali-ness in Britain rather than the link to Bangladesh is emphasised - ethnicity accordingly becomes context-dependent. According to Vertovec (1994) second generation Indo-Caribbeans even more lack a link to a geographical home outside Britain and more than other groups define themselves on the basis of their otherness in their country of residence rather than with reference to some mythical other home.

Jacobson (1997) supplies besides her empirical work about the feeling of Britishness among second generation Pakistanis also a theoretical framework, in which she analyses her fieldwork material. She establishes three boundaries of Britishness - the civic (formal, official, citizenship), the racial (ancestry, blood) and the cultural (values, attitudes, lifestyle), and describes how these three interact to establish feelings of belonging and otherness. All her respondents have the British citizenship, thus fall within the civic boundary. This, however, does seem to have only limited impact on the feeling of Britishness, it is seen by most as purely functional and as a source of security of residence in Britain. The value of the official civic belonging is questioned by most of the respondents as they constantly experience that they are racially excluded, a fact which they find unfair and which is deeply felt by them shaping their identity as an other. The racial seems in fact to be the most exclusionary boundary, as the cultural is seen by some respondents also as inclusive given that they share similar lifestyles and attitudes with white British persons. Concluding, Jacobson (1997, 196) asks for a redefinition of what British means, arguing that a constitutional reform could lead to a more meaningful citizenship (see also Spencer 1995).

Studies about other groups of second generation migrants emphasise the importance of racial criteria in the process of othering. Ullah (1985), while arguing that the second generation Irish experience the same problems as other second generation members, also acknowledges their option to fully assimilate with the English and thus virtually disappear. Song (1997) in contrast to this argues that all attempts of assimilation by second generation Chinese seem to promise little success as the different looks make an opting out of one's ethnicity basically impossible.

The dominance of racial exclusion in the identity formation of second generation South Asians in Britain does, however, not imply that the civic exclusion, where it is experienced, is of no importance. Interviews I conducted with two sisters with Indian parents, where the younger one was born in Britain and accordingly British citizen by birth while the older, being born in India, was naturalised only as an adult, showed that citizenship can have a major impact on identity also in Britain. While for the younger sister citizenship was not much of a topic, although still a sign of belonging to the country, the older one had always suffered from only having the Indian passport. Not only was travelling more difficult, she also felt that having a different citizenship made a difference to other people; only after naturalisation did she feel the right to say that she was British, something she had always envied her younger sister for. For her the change of nationality was of major importance, even though in general Cross (1997, i), probably quite rightly, argues that the acquisition of British citizenship by members of ethnic minorities has had only minimal effects on their position in British society.

Content

Chapter 1 is the introduction.
Chapter 2 develops the British context, briefly describing the post-war migration history of South Asians to the Isles, the British citizenship law (as well as in a brief excursion the Indian rules) and then analysing the relevant literature on second generation South Asians in Britain.
Chapter 3 sets the scene for Germany, providing also a brief post-war migration history of South Asians, an overview of the citizenship law and rules on naturalisation, a description of the legal impact of being a foreigner in Germany and finally a brief look into the general literature on second generation migrants in Germany.
Chapter 4 is dedicated to the detailed analysis of second generation South Asians in Germany. It bases on the extensive fieldwork conducted in the preparation of this dissertation. After describing how the material was acquired through interviews, the material will be presented and analysed by distinguishing in a first step between second generation members with two and those with only one South Asian parent. In a second step the general features discovered by the fieldwork will be discussed.
Chapter 5 establishes the general conclusions to the topic by comparing the British and German situations. The discussion will centre on the interaction of external and internal definition in the formation of identity and belonging, and the role citizenship plays in this. Furthermore, it will be analysed how a foreign citizenship influences the relationship of second generation South Asians towards the state in which they live. From this questions for future research will develop.