So what, in practice, does celebrating cultural diversity mean? Brian Burns takes you on a quick tour of some of the themes and activities being explored in ORIGINATION's growing club.
Can I help you?
Yes, I'm interested in, er…
Celebrating your cultural diversity?
Sounds about right. Then again, sounds a bit grand. Sounds a bit, you know - 13-part series, university professor wandering around exotic locations, hamming it up to the camera, that sort of thing.
Not at all. Everyone here's doing it.
Fair enough. Where do I start?
Start with yourself. Tell your own story - like Liaquat's Journey. He was born in Pakistan and ended up here without any say in the matter. Or you could record your family's history. For pointers Commonwealth Cocktail and Here I Stand.
Sounds promising…
Maybe you're more community minded. Try Connecting Histories - it aims to help you and your community record and tell the stories that make your history. Black History Archives is dedicated to Wolverhampton's African and African-Caribbean significant achievers, while Bradstan celebrates the Pakistani community in Bradford, a city lucky enough to have two sites intent on dispelling the myths and telling the truth about its culture and communities - Global Bradford and A Bradford Legacy.
Could give it a go…
Or perhaps you'd like to do more than record your community's history. Perhaps you'd like to build it, strengthen it, help it achieve integration, help young people to contribute, champion shared values around diversity, identity and social cohesion?
Did you just think that up?
No, I've taken extensive notes. Anyway, Global Citizen focuses on young people, and Together for Integration highlights the recent achievements of the Albanian community in Birmingham. Ebony and Ivory speaks to the West Indian community in Rugby and invites other communities to collaborate on cultural projects. Also in Rugby, the Gujarati Cultural Association provides Gujarati language classes and promotes awareness of Indian and other cultures.
All sounds very admirable…
It is all very admirable. But maybe you'd prefer something a little lighter, like music. Every culture dances to its own tunes and who doesn't love a good tune? Drum and Dance celebrates traditional African and Caribbean music, while Fineapple just walks up to you after you've fallen out of an aeroplane, landed headfirst on a concrete slab and starts playing some fun-lovin', horn-splattered rock music - and much more. And, yes, I am quoting. But remember, music isn't just the soundtrack to your shapely dance floor moves…
It isn't?
Oh no. Ancestral Sounds, for example, uses Mongolian overtoning, Tibetan singing bowls, bells and throat singing, Native American chanting and drumming, and the didgeridoo to bring about transformation of mind, body and spirit. If the transformative power of the arts has grabbed your attention, how about music, drama, dance and performance as ways of promoting cultural heritage, personal growth and community development. Worthwhile sites include: Living Rhythms, Calder Valley Community Samba, X-Plosion, Daholl Arts, Music for Hope, Birmingham School of Pan, Simply Bhangra and Artoria. Moving away from the arts, can I ask - are you a scientist by any chance?
No.
Pity. The sciences are curiously under-represented. So if you feel like paying homage to your culture's scientific achievements, please go right ahead. Another subject that gets less attention than you might have imagined is dual heritage. That said, Mixed up does look at issues of identity as experienced by people of mixed race while celebrating the growing fusion of races and cultures in Great Britain today. My Gener-Asian, meanwhile, explores the 'confused identity' of a Sikh Punjabi born in Dudley. Now then, it would help enormously to keep this dialogue chugging along if you were a woman.
In that case, yes, I'm a woman.
Much obliged. I can now happily steer you in the direction of Teamwork, a site for women of different ethnic backgrounds living in the West Midlands (the majority of them refugees). Its purpose is to combine skills, resources and energy to help these women achieve a better way of life. There's also Ulfah Arts, which aims to provide access to the arts for people - mainly women - who are normally excluded for religious or cultural reasons. Finally, don't forget to pay a visit to Bradford & District Women's Forum, which supports and empowers women to achieve their maximum potential.
Sounds like plenty to be getting on with…
Glad to hear it, because I've got to go. Before I do, though, I'll very quickly mention that there are some good sites looking at life from the immigrant student's perspective - I see UK, Locombianos, Massawa and Kardeslik, to name just a few. Oh and please don't think you're limited to any of these themes or activities. There's cuisine, sport, games, fashion, national dress, architecture, landscape, natural wonders, literature and much more. Feel free to use your imagination - culture is a very large umbrella.
Thanks for that.
Right, I'll leave you to it.
