Motherland: narratives of British Indian women

This keynote discusses outputs from a Heritage Lottery funded project documenting the early migration experiences of first-generation British Indian women. These women remain almost invisible in academic and cultural discourse, occupying a silent space in extant studies of heritage, culture and migration. Their voices, presence and pioneering contribution to the extraordinary educational success of subsequent generations of British Asians are unrecognised and unattributed. This project presents the narrative stories of Sikh, Hindu and Muslim women from North India and reveals their struggle to build a cohesive community for their children and an aspirational educational culture for their families, against a backdrop of discrimination and prejudice. Their resilience and determination to succeed in keeping their religious, cultural and social customs alive whilst integrating into the multicultural, muti-ethnic neighbourhoods in which they settled in Britain is captured in narrative stories and artwork. These educational resources can be used to promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policies and practice. They deepen our knowledge and understanding of the gendered life and migration experiences of women from a minority ethnic group and challenge stereotypes of elderly Indian women. The project was undertaken in collaboration with an educational charity that promotes inclusion and provides creative learning for disengaged young people.