British Asian narratives of urban space

Abstract

Ethnic segregation is at the centre of debates about ‘race’ and ‘difference’, integration and citizenship in multicultural Britain. This paper critically examines discourses of segregation and challenges interpretations based on cultural ‘otherness’, normative assumptions about patterns of social and spatial integration and the ‘whiteness’ of the city. Drawing on research in Leeds and Bradford, the paper presents insights into how British Asians perceive, and make sense of, the spaces in which they are living and through which they are being enjoined to disperse. Their narratives of the city reveal multiple readings of ethnic segregation, the multi‐ethnic inner city and the suburbs.