Asian Indians in Great Britain

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Cultural Studies - European Studies, grade: 1.3, University of Potsdam, course: The Commonwealth of Nations, language: English, abstract: In this essay, I will raise the question if the story of immigration of Asian Indians to

Great Britain can be considered a ¿genuine success story¿. At first glance, no one

would seriously doubt that. Asian Indians are the largest ethnic group in Britain and

known as an ¿upwardly mobile people¿. They are successful entrepreneurs, restaurant

owners and academics; as well as the inventors of the popular ¿British¿ national dish

chicken tikka masala, which has recently ¿surpassed fish and chips in terms of

popularity¿ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/british_Asian). They are also important

influencers of Britain`s pop culture, especially through literature and successful films

such as Bend it like Beckham, East is East or the TV show The Kumars at No.42

(ibid). The Anglo-Indian influence on British popular culture (ibid).

The biggest influence that British Indians have on British popular culture can be seen

by the large number of Indian restaurants, most of which are actually run by owners

of Bangladeshi origin. Chicken tikka masala has surpassed fish and chips in terms of

popularity and become Britain`s most popular national dish, even though it is a British

Asian invention which was not known in India until it was introduced after many

British tourists had requested it. Although Asian Indians are a vital part of the British

culture, they still have to face many obstacles; racism and unemployment as well as

intergenerational conflict are amongst these problems.

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