We are thankful to Professor Gil Pasternak for introducing us to PhD student Aleks Todorov who has been brilliant writing and also working on the SEO for our archive which we are very excited about. A massive thanks to Aleks for his hard work. This I the third in the series of blogs he has written!
Causes of Punjabi migration to the United Kingdom and the West as a whole is still a debated topic amongst researchers. Some are caused by domestic issues – low income due to small land property, no opportunities outside of farming and a high demand for labour in post-war United Kingdom. It is also important to note that the concentration of migrants, especially from Punjab could be linked to old imperial connections with the United Kingdom. Very often Punjabis served in the British Indian Army. It is further important to note that some scholars argue that although the people in Punjab come from relative high poverty, poverty is not the main factor causing migration.
The Midlands was a preferred destination for Punjabis, due to it’s expanding economy and booming car industry after shortage of labour in the post war years. Once here family ties were important and the migrants didn’t always intend to settle permanently. Their aim was to earn money and return to India, therefore finding a job was of crucial importance. However, in most occasions that was not achieved.
As Steve Taylor explains Punjabi Sikh migration experiences for permanent settlers in the UK is complex. Although migrants are joined by family members, migrants still keep connections with India, for example the frequent sending of funds to aid less fortunate relatives. Furthermore, often purchasing property in the UK and maintaining one in Punjab would lead to frequent travel across the two countries. Therefore, one could consider ‘home’ as both lived and imagined. In a research Jat Sikhs expressed the importance of maintaining a connection with Punjab and their roots.
Many Punjabis in the 60s expressed a longing for a home, citing that the UK is a ‘prison of choice’, where nobody would form kinship with anyone due to the fact that everyone is always working. Therefore, on occasions there was a palpable attempt to reproduce Punjab in the homes of migrants here in the UK, and in a sense the building of a home outside of home is a continuous pursuit.
In the context of family photography, such images play key role in preserving memory in the form of oral history. Although photographs often could change meanings after a family member has died, through oral history they can remain a key anchor to ancestry and origin and could be seen as the metaphorical glue that binds the community or family unit together. Researchers affirm that photos are memory capsules, where they serve in building family myths and narrative transcending time and place. In viewing the photograph one can connect stories and lives across geographical places and generations. Women would play the key role as keepers of such memories and would be the main storytellers.
Overall, the sense of home and belonging is a complex one in the context of Punjabi immigrants in Britain. It is also important to note the duality of the notion of home – that it’s both lived and imagined.
Bibliography:
Taylor, Steven. “The Diasporic Pursuit of Home and Identity: Dynamic Punjabi Transnationalism”. The Sociological Review, 62 (2014). 276-294. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.12155
Mahal, Chandan. “Family History, Ancestral Place and Diaspora: material culture and community heritage for people of Punjabi descent in Lonon” (2022), PhD Theiss, Queen Mary University of London.
Rajan, S. Irudaya, Vekkal John Varghese, and Aswini Kumar Nanda, eds. Migration, mobility and multiple affiliations. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Chanda, Rupa, and Sriparna Ghosh. "The Punjabi diaspora in the UK: An overview of characteristics and contributions to India." IIM Bangalore Research Paper 380 (2012).