Migration, identity and women’s experiences of diaspora

The paper documents the early migration experiences of first-generation British Indian women. The term ‘British Indian women’ is not found in mainstream labels of minority groups with Indian heritage but was explicitly chosen to express the identity, migration and diaspora experience of the participants. 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. The artwork has been produced by freelance artists commissioned for the research.

The presentation outlines the narrative methodology used to construct these women’s stories, including the use of bilingual and bicultural insights in data analysis and interpretation. This approach to narrative methodology has been developed through my previous research with British Sikhs (Dhillon and Thomas 2018; 2019; Dhillon 2023; Dhillon 2025 (in press). The findings of this research project will focus on examples of data gathered from British Sikh women around the themes of migration and identity, work and aspirational capital and separation and loss. The data includes some Panjabi boliyan (folk songs) with transcriptions and explanations in relation to the themes discussed by the women in their narratives.

The narrative stories and original artwork challenge and deepen our knowledge and understanding of the gendered life and migration experiences of women and present an alternative interpretation of elderly British Indian women.

References
Dhillon, J.K (2025) Narrative fieldwork with Sikh diaspora. In Savin-Baden, M., & Major, C. (2nd Ed). Qualitative research: The essential guide to theory and practice. London: Routledge.
Dhillon, J.K. (2023) Diaspora. In: Narrative Inquiry of Displacement: Stories of Challenge, Change and Resilience. London :Routledge.
Dhillon, J. K. and Thomas, N. (2019) Ethics of Engagement and Insider-Outsider Perspectives: Issues and Dilemmas in Cross-Cultural Interpretation. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 42 (4). pp. 442-453.
Dhillon, J. K., & Thomas, N. (2018). British Sikh entrepreneurs: social mobility and transformations over generations. Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory, 14 (1)14 (1). pp. 1-25.