我从伦敦的侨民社区中学到了什么

At this point, to call London a "diverse" city is basically a cliche. Yet somehow, paradoxically, 当我在这学期之前想象伦敦时, I pictured well-dressed white people marching through soggy streets with sullen expressions, briefcases, and umbrellas. 所以当我到达伦敦时, 我在牧羊人丛林的公寓里, 被戴头巾的妇女包围, 家常的印度和加勒比外卖店, 以及非洲的美发沙龙和商店, I was immediately excited to learn more about London's various migrant cultures.

For my project as a CEA CAPA Diversity Advocates Scholar, I chose to interview everyday people of color from the streets of London in order to better grasp the impact that British colonization - particularly of South Asia, Africa, 以及加勒比海地区——仍在继续. 灵感来自流行的摄影博客《宝博体育》, I posted excerpts from these conversations on the Instagram account @_brownlondon_，从而给我收集的故事一个平台. As an African proverb goes, "Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter."

There is a reason why these stories are overlooked in our history textbooks. 以及我是否听到了我期望听到的, 通过倾听和参与这些对话, I have learned more about London's cultural and historical landscapes than I ever could have done in a classroom.

From Brick Lane to Southall and from Brixton to Harlesden, 移民的经历是多种多样的, 即使是来自同一个国家的人. Some immigrated to receive a better education and achieve more social mobility than they could in their home country, and others are multiple generations removed from immigration, while others still have fled war-torn states and persecution. Some are blunt and open about their experiences with racism and discrimination, 还有一些人绕开了这个话题, either for fear of punishment for speaking out or genuine lack of such experiences. 有些人一连讲了几个小时, 讲述他们的整个人生故事, 有些人对我的反应很粗鲁, 一个字来回答. I spoke to artists, businesspeople, students, food vendors, and street performers. 我采访了青少年和祖父母. 但不管他们是否意识到, 和我交谈过的每个人都代表着一种特殊的, 所谓的“移民经历”的独特方面."

这是我注意到的最显著的共性之一, 尤其是移民一代, was a longing for the collectivistic spirit of their homelands. In London, 很多人说, you could live in the same house on the same street for 10 years and never meet your neighbors. Some even expressed pity for the generation of kids born in London to immigrants, 谁会永远不知道这样的世界, 在哪里他们可以更自由地玩游戏, where it is literally the responsibility of a whole village to raise the child. Though such admissions can be taken simply as nostalgia for these immigrants' childhoods, it is also important to consider the toll that such a drastic lifestyle change - especially later in life - can take on a person's mental health.

The other big trend that I noticed in my conversations was the importance of food to culture. Whether it was the Afghan woman who studied medicine and now sells Afghan food at Portobello Road on the weekends or the Grenadian businessman who eagerly recommended that I try One Stop Caribbean Takeaway in Harlesden, 我很清楚, in an increasingly xenophobic world where cultural identities must often be contained within the home, food is a sacred expression of culture and an escape to home. 这就是我成长的经历, as well - I would go to school and eat sandwiches that my mother had attempted to make the "American" way, 回家吃酸奶米饭和酸橙泡菜. But because I had nobody to share this experience with in my childhood, 直到现在我才意识到这是多么的例行公事, mundane practices can be so profoundly grounding and connecting. The Goan woman whom I spoke to in Oxford said it best: "If you know how to cook, 你永远不会迷路."

I was not able to record or post every single one of the conversations I had because many people did not feel comfortable attaching their face to their story and putting it online. But even with these individuals, I often had long and meaningful conversations. In most cases, whether people were comfortable with having their story told to strangers on social media or just wanted to talk to an eager young Indian-American student, the biggest lesson I've learned from this project is that everyone has a story to tell, 每个人都想被倾听.