Empire's Child: My Writings 1967-2017

Ramnik Shah

Description

This is a unique and varied collection of writings, spread over a half century, on wide-ranging subjects under the banner of a child of the British Empire. On its metropolitan home front, the Empire is of course long gone, with little left by way of folk memory. While it does not figure in our national conversation much, its legacy still lives on in many forms. More to the point, its historical significance is now being increasingly invoked and revived by writers with an immigrant background. This selective compilation falls into that genre. It is not a fictional narrative of a singular journey from out there to here, as it were, but rather a kaleidoscopic overview of the postcolonial movement into Britain of the East African (EA) Asians from a variety of historical, legal and cultural perspectives. This is encompassed in a mix of articles, magazine columns and other material and in the numerous letters in The Times and other newspapers. All these deal with different aspects of the whole EA Asian and indeed global migration phenomenon. Buried in there are snippets of the author's own trajectory from birth in colonial Kenya to eventual settlement in the UK. The texts also delve into his broad hinterland through an eclectic array of book and film reviews, blogs, travelogues and academic papers. Empire's Child provides a fascinating glimpse into the making of Britain's multicultural society.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 30 septembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528964890
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Table of Contents
About the Author
About the Book
Dedication
Copyright © Ramnik Shah (2019)
Acknowledgement
Preface
Part One
The History
Introduction
1
The Nationality Factor in the Migration of Indians to East Africa and Beyond
The History: Migration
The Legalities: Being British
The Realities: Being Colonial
The Beginning of the End of the Empire
The Changes: A Fresh Outlook
Impact of Independence
The Choices: The Dilemmas
The Choices: Stay or Leave?
Uprooting and Reincarnation
References
2
J S Mangat’s A History of the Asians in East Africa ca. 1886 to 1945
Appendix
3
Mrs Naidu’s Eloquence
4
Review of James Franks’ Scram from Kenya
‘From Colony to Republic 1946-1963’
‘SCRAM FROM KENYA: From Colony to Republic 1946-1963’ – by JAMES FRANKS – (2004) (ISBN 0-9542587-4-6) (Publisher: Pomegranate Press, Lewes, Sussex)
5
The Exodus Revisited – Harvest of a Colonial Fruit
Preamble
‘Wind of Change’: Writing on the Wall
Citizen: To Be or Not To Be!
Transitions: Uhuru and After
Fruits of Independence
Changes: Gathering Storms
UK Slams the Door: ‘Diabolical Chicanery’
The Consequences
“Good Riddance”
The Fightback
The Ugandan Expulsion
The Exodus in Retrospect
Epilogue
6
They Came in Dhows and Left in Jets
The Convention
The Diaspora Defined
N/A Dynamics
The Diaspora Examined
Who Are We?
How Do We Relate to East Africa?
Departure, Distance, Detachment
Old and New: The Wider Diaspora
Summary and Conclusions
Past, Present and Future
Part Two
The Law
Introduction
1
A Wrong Righted: Full Status for Britain’s ‘Other’ Citizens
At a Glance
The History
The ‘Diabolical Chicanery’
The Aftermath
The Fightback
The Ugandan Expulsion
The Road to Recovery
4B Acquisition by Registration: Certain Persons Without Other Citizenship
2
Being British: Rites of Passage
Historical Baggage
A Leap into 21 st -Century Britain
Becoming British: Rituals and Realities
Point of Arrival: Start of New Journey
Part Three
The Culture
Introduction
Book and Film Reviews
a) Book Reviews
1
Sir Vidia’s Shadow by Paul Theroux – Oct 1999
Sir Vidia’s Shadow by Paul Theroux: A Friendship Across Five Continents, Published by Hamish Hamilton, London, 1998
Reviewer’s Postscript: 2012
2
The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif – April 2000
3
The Feast of the Nine Virgins by Jameela Siddqi – June 2002
4
A Passage to Africa by George Alagiah –
July 2002
‘A Passage to Africa’ by George Alagiah – (2001) – ISBN 0 3168 5554 5 – Publisher: Little, Brown & Co www.littlebrown.co.uk
5
The Other Barack by Sally H Jacobs – May 2012
6
The Lower River by Paul Theroux – Aug 2012
7
Last Train to Zona Verde by Paul Theroux – Oct 2013
Theoux’s Last African Hurrah!
8
Dancing with Destiny by Urmila Jhaveri – Apr 2014
9
Bead Bai by Sultan Somjee – Nov 2014
10
King of Kings by Asfa-Wossen Asserate Dec 2015
11
Shakespeare in Swahililand by Edward Wilson Lee – July 2016
12
The Sultan’s Spymaster by Judy Aldrick – Nov 2016
13
Home Between Crossings by Sultan Somjee Feb 2017
b) Film Reviews
1
Fire (Dir: Deepa Mehta – 1996) 1998
2
Hotel Rwanda (Dir: Terry George – 2004) 2005
3
Yatra (The Journey) (Dir: Goutam Ghosh – LFF 2006) 2006
4
Gandhi, My Father (Dir: Feroz Abbas Khan 2007) 2007
5
Firaaq (Dir: Nandita Das – 2008) 2008
6
Ramchand Pakistani (Dir: Mehreen Jabbar – 2008) 2008
7
Slumdog Millionaire (Dir: Danny Boyle – 2008) 2009
8
Frost/Nixon (The Movie) (Dir: Ron Howard – 2008) 2009 (and Appendix Revisiting ‘Frost/Nixon’ on stage)
Appendix
Revisiting ‘Frost/Nixon’ on Stage
(Posted on the A/O List on Wed 7 Feb, 2007)
9
Well Done Abba (Dir: Shyam Benegal – 2009) 2009
(Posted on my blog on Fri 23 Oct, 2009)
10
Girl in Yellow Boots (Dir: Anurag Kashyag – 2011) 2011
11
The Past (Dir: Asghar Farhadi – 2013) 2013
12
The Lunchbox (Dir: Ritesh Batra – 2013) 2014
c) Book Mentions
Extracted from Annual Lists for Each Year from 2004 to 2017
7. ‘Dark Star Safari – Overland from Cairo to Cape Town’ by Paul Theroux, Penguin pb 2002
16. ‘And End to Suffering – The Buddha in the World’ by Pankaj Mishra’s, (Picador 2004 – ISBN 0 330 39278 6)
15. ‘Two Lives’ by Vikram Seth, 2005, ISBN 0 316 72774 1 hb
16. ‘Shalimar the Clown’ by Salman Rushdie, (2005 QPD CN 140748)
1. ‘Arthur and George’ by Julian Barnes, 2006, ISBN 0-224-07703-1 h/b
5. ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’ by Azar Nafisi, ISBN 07336 1823 5 p/b – Hodder 2004
9. ‘From Heaven Lake – Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet’ by Vikram Seth – ISBN 1 85799 082 X
15. ‘An Equal Music’ by Vikram Seth, ISBN 075380 773 4
5. ‘Falling Angels’ by Tracy Chevalier, 2001 – ISBN 0 00 710826 5
15. ‘Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart’ – by Tim Butcher, 2007 – ISBN 9780099494287
1) ‘Dreams from my Father’ by Barack Obama, ISBN 978 1 84767 094 6 – UK p/b Canongate (2007) – 442 pages
17) ‘The Assassin’s Song’ by M G Vassanji, ISBN 978 1 84767 283 4 – Canongate p/b – 2007 – 314 pp
4) ‘A Place Within: Rediscovering India’ by M G Vassanji, ISBN 978-0-385-66179-9 – Anchor Can p/b 2009 @ MGV 2008 – 440 pp
20) ‘Seventy Two Virgins’ by Boris Johnson, ISBN 0 00 719805 1 – HarperC p/b 2005 @ BJ 2004 – 326 pp
4) ‘The Outcast’ by Sadie Jones, ISBN9780099513421 – Vintage p/b – © SJ 2007 – 441 pp
12) ‘River of Smoke’ by Amitav Ghosh, ISBN 978-07195-6698-5 (h/b) – John Murray – © AG 2011 – 522 pp
10) ‘The Man Within My Head’ by Pico Iyer, ISBN 978 1 4088 2875 5 – Bloomsbury h/b – © P I 2012 – 238 pp
12) ‘So Much for That’ by Lionel Shriver, ISBN 978-0-00-727108-5 – Harper p/b – 531pp – © LS 2010
14) ‘Macaulay: Britain’s Liberal Imperialist’ by Zareer Masani, ISBN 9781847922717 – 272 pp © ZM 2013 The Bodley Head h/b
17) ‘Gandhi before India’ by Ramachandra Guha, ISBN 978-1-846-14266-6 (h/b) @ R G 2013 – Allen Lane (Penguin Group) – 672 pp
11) ‘The Midwife’s Daughter’ by Patricia Ferguson, Penguin p/b – ISBN 978-0-241-96275-6 – © PF 2012 – 391 pp
12) ‘The Last Runaway’ by Tracy Chevalier, Harper p/b – ISBN 978-0-00-735035-3 – © TC 2013 (Map © John Gilkes) 386 pp
3) ‘Long Walk To Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela’, ISBN 0 316 90965 3 – © NM 1994 – 617 pp + Index
15) ‘Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads’ by Paul Theroux, (With photographs by Steve McCurry) – ISBN 978-0-241-14672-9 (H/B) Hamish Hamilton – © PT 2015 (photos: SM 2015) – 441 pp
6) ‘Go Set a Watchman’ by Harper Lee, ISBN 9781785150289 (Heinemann h/b) – © HL 2015 – 278 pp
12) ‘Charles Dickens: A life’ by Claire Tomalin, ISBN: 9780670917679 – © C T 2011 – Viking h/b – 527 pp
1) ‘The Underground Railroad’ by Colson Whitehead, ISBN 078-0-7088-9839-0 – h/b Fleet 2016 UK – © CW 2016 – 306 pp
2) ‘Kind of Blue: A Political Memoir’ by Ken Clarke, ISBN 978-1-5098-3719-9 – Macmillan h/b – © KC 2016 – 498 pp
Part Four
AwaaZ Columns
Introduction
Index
1
Barack Obama: An Accidental Mwananchi! (Vol 7, Issue 1, 2010)
2
My Last Murder Case, Revisited (Vol 7, Issue 2, 2010)
3
The Imperial Capital 1910 to 2010 (Vol 7, Issue 3, 2010)
4
Europe’s Migrant Crisis: History’s Revenge (Vol 12, Issue 3, 2015)
5
London Calling – Brexit Blues (Vol 13, Issue 2, 2016)
6
Geo-Politics at Play (Vol 14, Issue 2, 2017)
Part Five
Letters
Introduction
Part Five (a) and (b)
Part Five (c) and (d)
Part Five (e)
General
a) Selected Letters in the Times Reproduced
1
Consular Protection – 23.12.1980
2
Human Realities Behind Nationality Bill 02.02.1981
3
Ethnic Schools – 09.02.1982
4
Apartheid Struggle – 22.08.1985
5
Empire Museum – 14.01.1995
6
Use of English by Indian Writers – 23.06.1997
Source Citation:
7
Clinton in China – 03.07.1998
Source Citation:
8
Freedom from Forced Marriage – 31.05.1999
9
Acceptance of Arranged Marriages –11.02.2002
10
Anthony Eden as Example for Blair – 03.03.2004
Source Citation:
11
Lessons for Europe from America’s ‘Model’ Constitution – 06.06.2005
Source Citation:
12
Gunboat Diplomacy in Iran – 03.04.2007
a) List of Other Letters Published in the Times 1981–2006
Title and Date
a) Selected Letters in Kenyan Newspapers Reproduced
1
This ‘Diabolical Piece of Chicanery’ E.A. Standard…26.02.1968
2
‘Cool Reception’ for British Asians E. A. Standard…25.03.1969
3
Passport Officials ‘Callous’ Sunday Nation…20.04.1969
4
Law Recognises Nationality Rights E. A. Standard…12.03.1970
5
Diplomatic Kidnapping E. A. Standard…11.05.1970
a) List of Other Letters in the Kenyan Papers 1965-67
a) Selected Letters in Other British Newspapers Reproduced
1
Blair’s Suez The Observer… 07.03.2004
2
Pavements Hard on the Eyes Epsom Guardian… 24.03.2005
3
A Done Deal Done Badly
The Observer…26.02.2006
4
Clashing with Judges
The Law Gazette …22.06.2006
5
D-Day at the Races?
The Independent…03.06.2009
6
Open Door to Justice
The Law Gazette …23.11.2006
7
Ignorant About Ismaili Community Epsom Guardian…17.10.2013
Part Six
Migration Studies
Introduction
1
“Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History” by Rozina Visram
London: Pluto Press 2002 ISBN 7543 1373 6 Pb, X15.99, US$22, 50.
2
‘Indiaspora’: Book Review Special
3
“Modern Migrations: Gujarati Indian Networks in New York and London” by Maritsa V. Poros
4
“The Second Homeland: Polish Refugees in India” by Anuraja Bhattacharjee
5
“Life Interrupted: Trafficking into Forced Labor in the United States” by Denise Brennan
6
“The Law that Changed the Face of America: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965” by Margaret S