Asian women in higher education: shared communities and shared belongings

1. Asian women in higher education: shared communities and shared belongings Dr Kalwant Bhopal K.Bhopal@soton.ac.uk CRONEM Jan 2009

2. Introduction • Asian – India, Pakistan or Bangladesh (parents and/or grandparents). • 1970s – Asian women’s experiences rendered invisible, women suffering at the hands of their culture (Khan, 1979; Wilson, 1976). • 1980s – experiences homogenised and essentialist (Wilson, 1984) with the exception of Brah and Minhas (1985). • 1990s – began to recognise differences within Asian groups (Bhachu, 1991). Black feminists (Brah, 1996; Mirza, 1997). • 2000s – women’s position within popular culture e.g. fashion, sexuality, academia (Bhatia. 2003; Puwar, 2004).

3. Asian women and education • Identity (Housee, 2004). • ‘Positioning’ of Asian lecturers (Rassool, 1999). • New identities (Shain, 2003).

4. Communities of belonging • Bauman (2001) ‘paradise lost’; Redfield (1971) ‘us’ and ‘them’; Reynolds (2000); Weeks (2000). • ‘Communities of practice’ (Lave and Wenger, 1991). • Wenger’s notion of ‘community’ (1998).

5. Methodology and research design • 20 case study interviews with Asian women studying at a ‘new’ university in the South East of England on a Social Sciences degree course. • All born in the UK, ancestors (parents and/or grandparents) originated from the Indian sub-continent, aged between 20-25. • Interviews semi-structured, tape-recorded, transcribed. • Analysed using methods of grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin (1990). • ‘Insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ in the research process (see also Bhopal, 2003).

6. Shared belongings • Education used as a means of self-empowerment. • Identifying with women who were familiar to them (language and dress). Anji a 23 year old Hindu woman said, ‘One of the things I like about being friends with other Asian women is that we can switch into our Punjabi or Hindi languages. Because you can say things that others don’t understand and that means they’re not part of our group’. • Support and friendship networks.

7. Changing identities • Identities changed in relation to time and space. • Women’s communities of practice helped shape the meanings that defined ‘community’ and forms of ‘belonging’. • ‘Shared histories of learning’ (Wenger, 1988: 86).

8. Marginalisation and difference • Belonging to a group women could identify with (feelings of being marginalised and outsiders). • Seeking friendships with women who were like them. • Regular meetings reinforced membership of a ‘community of practice’. • Identity is negotiated and marked out at the boundaries whether one belongs or whether one does not (Wenger, 1998).

9. Conclusions • Plurality of identities which change at different times and at different places. • Identities change and evolve over time and are characterised by a defining and re-defining of boundaries (see also Connolly, 2003). • Asian women define who they are through their participation in ‘communities of practice’ within higher education – through the familiar and the known. They define this belonging from where they have been (their history) and where they are going (their future).