The Indian Workers’ Association Coventry 1938–1990

Political and social action

Bibliographic Data

ID12985809
AuthorsTalvinder Gill (University of Warwick, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume4
Issue4
Pages554-573
Publication date2013-09-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSouth Asian History and Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1947-2498 • E-ISSN: 1947-2501
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19472498.2013.824683
OpenAlexW2079178317
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

This article focuses on the Indian Workers’ Association (IWA), its political ideology and how it affected the culture and identity of Indian migrants and the wider British society in light of contemporary debates surrounding ‘multiculturalism’. This includes an investigation of wider Punjabi political consciousness pre-1947. The IWA’s contribution to a specific British Indian identity and their constructive social engagement can be linked to struggles and movements that began outside of its diaspora origins. I will illustrate how their campaigns and political convictions indelibly changed the face of modern Britain. The Coventry IWA, alongside its sister branches, was at the forefront of anti-racist campaigns in the late twentieth century and were active creators of their social environments through political action. They challenged existing power relations by seeking public acknowledgement, resources and representation as opposed to mere tolerance of ethnic difference. Moreover, in line with their radical left politics, the IWAs viewed their race and status as immigrants as inextricably linked to their position at the lowest rung of the working class. Hence, their fight for acceptance as an ethnic minority was also a class struggle that concerned all sections of the society. Consequently, I seek to find a history of the IWA that reconnects class to a social history of modern Britain

Aesthetics · Diaspora · Identity (music · Ideology · Media studies · Multiculturalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · Gender Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · South Asian Studies and Diaspora

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