Moroccan Memories National Touring Exhibition

I know I’ve been out of the loop for a while, but things have begun to pick up with a project that I’ve been working on for the past year, Moroccan Memories in Britain.  I have previously mentioned this project before on the blog, but to refresh your memory, Moroccan Memories is an oral and visual history project, exploring three generations of British-Moroccans.

At the moment, Moroccan Memories is having a national touring exhibition, which started with a bang at the British Library, where some of the oral histories collected will be archived. The exhibition has travelled to Westminister Academy and will be at SOAS, University of London from Monday, 15th of December to Thursday the 18th of December 2008. This will be your last chance to see the exhibition of you are in London, as we will be travelling to St. Albans, Crawley, Trowbridge, Manchester and finishing on the 9th of February 2009 in Edinburgh.

If you are out and about and would like to hear amazing beats from the Harir Band and Gwana Blues, please come to a FREE concert on Monday the 15th of December 2008 at the Brunei Gallery at SOAS. The concert starts at 7:30-9:30pm.

For information regarding the Moroccan Memories in Britain National Touring Exhibition please visit out site at:

http://www.moroccanmemories.org.uk/national_touring_exhibition.html

Sanaz

Mapping Minority Groups in Britain

In order to illustrate the current diversity of different parts of Britain, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has commissioned a new interactive map. When you click through you will find 30 cities or areas of Britain, which appear as red circles – if you double click on a circle this takes you to a detailed neighbourhood map showing the most numerous minority groups by postcode, in that area. The white British population is excluded as otherwise it would dominate the maps, obscuring the minority group data. Click here for more about how information was gathered and to access the map.

The Battle of Plassey: Young People’s Project

The Battle that changed East End

Brick Lane Circle is delighted to announce that it has received a grant of £46,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to engage a group of young people (18-25) to explore East London’s historical links with Bengal through researching and writing about the area’s East India Company sites. 

The project idea emerged out of the series of events that Brick Lane Circle organized in  June 2007 to commemorate the 250 Years Anniversary of the Battle of Plassey (23 June 1757), when the British achieved victory in Bengal under Robert Clive.  It was also the beginning of the British Indian Empire, under the banner of the English East India Company.  The research findings will be put together in a publication, which will be launched during October 2008 Black History Month at a specially organized event at the Museum in Docklands.  An exhibition illustrating the work of the young people, historical paintings and photographs and important documents will accompany the publication.  The work of the young people will be made electronically available and an education pack will be developed.

The young people will undertake research on a number of East India Company sites in East London, an area dotted with important locations and buildings that have historical links with Bengal.  It is also the home of the largest concentration of Bangladeshi people in the UK.  The 250 Years anniversary events of the British conquest of Bengal (organized by Brick Lane Circle during June 2007) provided a focus for generating interest in learning about the shared heritage of East London.  The young researchers will be primarily recruited from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and given workshops, guided tours, mentoring support and assistance in writing their chapters.  These activities will help familiarise participants about important East India Company sites and their historical links with Bengal and provide guidance on the sources of information.

MRN sponsored walk for PICUM

MRN is organising a fun sponsored walk along the River Thames in London, in order to raise money for the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM). PICUM works to promote respect for, and raise awareness of the issues faced by, undocumented migrants across Europe.

The walk will take place on Saturday 5th July 2008 and will take us from Greenwich to the London Eye, along the River Thames. It promises to be an enjoyable and worthwhile event, so please come and join us, and bring friends and family!

More details can be found on the MRN website at http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/ , including a downloadable registration form. If you’d like to come along, please contact Cristina (c.andreatta@migrantsrights.org.uk) by the 20th June.

World Poverty Relief, Human Rights and Peace on the Internet

I am an activist from the USA and I created the largest and most comprehensive web portal for developing world poverty relief, human rights and peace on the Internet.  This site needs distribution to local NGOs in the developing world.  Please review my portal and share it appropriately.  Do not share it in conflict areas for the safety of aid workers.

www.geocities.com/sethleonard30000/poverty_relief

Seth Leonard

Stuff That **** Like

One of the most popular blogs on WordPress currently takes a satirical look inside white, liberal, Yuppie, and/or Hipster culture- Stuff White People Like. In less than three months since the blog was established, it has already garnished more than 12 million hits. The posts in Stuff White People Like are intended to point out how to deal with these “white” people in a humorous fashion. Again, remember that this blog satirizes affluent white culture, and most certainly not all whites would agree to each post. Most interesting segment of each post is to read the “comments” section- you’ll find that those who respond as being non-white exclaiming that they felt themselves to be part of “affluent white culture” because like their Yuppie/Hipster white counterparts, they shopped at American Apperal, ate organic fruit and veg, and love indie films. Some come on the site to test there “whiteness”- with Rudi who commented on the first post in Stuff White People Like, exclaiming:

Some of you haven’t understood the concept of “whiteness”. It’s about trends, activities and behavior that only white people enjoy (liking diversity as such) or can enjoy (feeling superior to other whites). Of course, most of the subjects are of the lame progressive kind which are whiter than white. If you are one of these progressive minded idiots, we are here to mock you! If you are white and don’t enjoy the trends, activities and behavior on this site, we don’t care!

Again, as I have mentioned, many white people disagree with the caricature of white people on the blog, and Suze, explains in the comment section of the first post that:

This blog is brilliant, though it should be called ‘Stuff White Liberal Americans like’. It all fits my flaming liberal sister in San Fransisco perfectly, but doesn’t fit us white people on the other end of the spectrum, commonly referred to as ‘white trash’ by said flaming liberals. To get you started, we like stuff like football, nascar, cowboy boots, trucks, guns, beer, our mommas and Jesus. Although we do like coffee too.

I liken Stuff White People Like as a  humorous anthropological examination of white Yuppie/Hipster culture. Therefore, while the title might imply that the majority of whites engage in certain actions, truthfully, the blog is analyzing a certain subgroup within white culture.

It seems that the operators of Stuff Asian People Like have taken the cue from Stuff White People Like, with the same witty comments about Asian culture from China, Vietnam, Korea, etc. The inspiration for this blog is to “blog about the good and not so good things [of] Asian people.” Stuff Asian People Like is already a month old and although it hasn’t generated as much publicity as Stuff White People Like, it nevertheless has provided interesting and hilarious commentary from rice to arriving late.

What are your views regarding these two blogs?

Sanaz

Moroccan Memories and Other Interesting Tidbits

For the past two weeks, I have been working on a MRCF project called Moroccan Memories in Britain, An Oran and Visual History

Moroccan Memories was set up by Dr. Myriam Cherti as a way to bridge the historical gap between past and post 1960 Moroccan migration to the UK. As a fieldworker, my job will be to capture three generations worth or oral and visual histories, targeting the areas of Trowbridge, Crawley, and St. Albans.  What is brilliant about this project is how it incorporates intergenerational ties among those in the Moroccan community. As is mentioned in the Moroccan Memories pamphlet, by examining the “intergenerational ties amongst members of the Moroccan community [can create] platforms for discussion and dialogue between the three generations, is an additional desired project output.” The oral testimonies gathered will be kept in archive at the British Library Sound Archives, HISTORYtalk in North Kensington, Mass-Observational Archive at the University of Sussex, and the Living Memory Association in Edinburgh. This will ensure that future generations of British-Moroccans and the wider public will have access to the rich history within this diaspora

I am really excited by what this project is promoting and looking forward to my first interview experience. I have to complete eight interviews before April, so if you are British Moroccan and live in the three listed areas, please feel free to get in touch with me or Dr. Cherti (see contact info below) if you would like to share your story.

Dr. Myriam Cherti

Project Co-ordinator

Tel: 020 8962 3045

E-mail: myriam.cherti@mrcf.org.uk

Through the  MRCF, I have also come across another interesting group called Persian Adult-Day Care. It was set up by Roohy Shahin as a way for her mother to socialize with other older adults within the Persian community in London. Roohy does address an important but often neglected theme in diaspora studies– how to care for the needs of elder relatives, many of which may have not entirely assimilated or only have come recently to the host country to settle with their children.  Persian Adult-Day Care meets every Thursday from 11am-4pm, and provides elder Iranians (between the ages of 65-80?) a chance to meet others in their peer group. The psychological impact is priceless because it allows elder Iranians not to feel so marginalized, alone and neglected. It gives them an outlet to feel part of a community, a home.

I’m going to comment more about these two projects in the coming months. I’ve already been asked by Roohy’s mom to be a regular volunteer for Persian Adult-Day Care.

Sanaz

Kosovoroma – New Website

A team of volunteers runs a new website http://kosovoroma.wordpress.com/ which is aimed to inform about the situation of Roma in Kosovo and Kosovo Roma in Diaspora.

Before the war, Kosovo was the home to 120,000 to 150,000 Roma. Kosovo Roma became the biggest “collateral damage” of the nationalist conflict between Kosovo Serbs and Albanians. Today, the community is disseminated and decimated between the few thousands who have remained in Kosovo and the majority which lives in diaspora, mostly in the region, but also in Western Europe and other countries.

By creating this website, the team wants to inform about a community which has largely fallen into oblivion and which is left behind when issues such as the Kosovo status are discussed. The website, which is updated daily, contains many information on the situation in Kosovo itself and on asylum issues. It also acts as a platform re-establishing contacts between community members and seeking a ground for common action.

Free poetry writing workshops for refugees and exiles

Exiled Writers Ink invites you to participate in:

4 FREE POETRY WRITING WORKSHOPS FOR REFUGEES AND EXILES

Tuesdays 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th October, 11.00 am to 1.00 pm

Where do you come from, what is your identity?

If you are interested in writing poems about your life experiences and what it is like to be exiled in a new country, do come along and be encouraged to find a way into writing. All welcome. Poetry Writing Workshops with poet and workshop facilitator Lynette Craig who holds an MPhil in Writing; she mentors exiled writers and leads workshops for both beginners and more experienced writers. Her own writing reflects her interest in the dispossessed, the persecution and exile.  

Finsbury Library

245 St.John Street

ISLINGTON
London
EC1V 4NB

Close to corner of St John Street and Skinner Street

Tube: Angel, Northern Line

Buses: 153

Wheelchair access. Disabled toilet.

PLEASE LET US KNOW YOU ARE COMING: jennifer@exiledwriters.fsnet.co.uk

Exiled Writers Ink thanks Islington Libraries for providing the workshop venue.

Free IT Courses for Refugees and Asylum Seekers – Update

Community Media Design have a few places left on their course ‘Introduction to Using Computers’.

This is a FREE COURSE specially designed for Refugees and Asylum Seekers. Suitable for absolute beginners to intermediate users the course covers Word Processing, File Management, Spreadsheets, Computer Management, Emails, Using the Internet, and Computer Security.  

13 weeks, 2 flexible afternoon workshops a week. This is the final round  for this course with few places left so you are urged to contact us asap. 

Enrolment & Registration: 10 – 25 Sept 2007.
Community Media Design, 220 Farmers Road, Camberwell, SE5 0TW. Tel. 020 7193 2239.