Connecting diverse communities into the creative economy? A case study of female Muslim migrants in Balsall Heath

Dr Saskia WarrenUniversity of Birmingham

Old Print Works, Balsall Heath, October 2014

Balsall Heath: 'Go on, you Muslim, die‘(Daily Mail)

Balsall Heath: ‘From red lights to green shoots?’ (BBCNews.co.uk)

60% of the population recorded themselves as Asian and 10% as Arab, with 71% stating their religion as Muslim (Census 2011).

Birmingham City CouncilPriority Neighbourhood

•Identified as falling in the worst 5% nationally for multiple deprivations (25 identified in Birmingham below the level of districts)•Indicators include: education, unemployment, health, crime, housing

• Only area in the UK to pilot Neighbourhood Budgeting and Neighbourhood Planning

Creativity at the local level

What is meaningful and has value for you?

Methods: engaging the ‘hard-to-reach’

Inside the ‘blandspace’? Participatory cultural mapping in the classroom

‘Prayers and read Quran’

‘Bazaar in mosque’

‘I go with my daughter to the park’

‘I went to my sister’s [home] to have dinner’

‘I visited the library. I read some books, use the computer and sometimes they sell toys for children’

‘I bought the black henna from the Arabic shop’

Participatory cultural mapping: findings

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Mosque Park Shopping Library Home-place Gym Walking School Art Centre

Walking interviews

Case oneRoute: Women’s only gym – past pharmacy – local corner shop

Aaleyah (Sudan)

She asks me to accompany her to the women’s only gym... Afterwards we go to a local shop where she carefully checks the ingredients written in Arabic on packaged foods. She goes to the park in the summer. The last time she went to the cinema was 25 years ago; as it “does not ‘respect’ her beliefs”. She uses Skype to take part in Koranic classes with people around the world and has a teacher in Saudi Arabia.

Haifa (Libya)At the weekend she cooks and cleans. She sometimes goes to the supermarket, or her husband does. Occasionally she buys ingredients to make a cake. She does not watch films or go to art exhibitions or festivals because they do not “agree with her beliefs”. Sometimes she visits her friend’s home in Balsall Heath. She talks to friends and family in Libya using social media networking Viber and Whatsapp.

Case TwoRoute: Past home - Daughter’s school – clothes shop - Cannon Hill Park – Aldi – College

Thana (Yemen)

She never goes out in the evening because she is too scared. She has lived on the same road with her extended family for 17 years (her husband lives in Saudi Arabia). We enter a local clothes shop but the dresses are too expensive for her – she gets clothes bought and sent from Yemen. Her aunt takes photographs on Whatsapp . She goes to the park and visits the supermarket often with her family. At school she read Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Life is mostly spent going to college to improve her English, caring for her father, looking after her daughter, cooking and cleaning.

Case Study ThreeRoute: Playground – Calthorpe Park – Community Centre – Daughter’s school – Home – Garden – Library – College

Haifa (Yemen; husband Anglo-Bangladeshi)

She goes to the nearby playground twice a week with her children, where she spends time with other mothers from the area. She makes her own clothes. She is proud of growing her own vegetables and fruit: tomatoes, green beans, coriander, spinach (UK),and green marrow plants (Yemen).

Her husband says laughing: ‘She likes her independence, I like my peace.’

In the evening she sometimes watches Star TV (a Turkish nationwide TV channel). For a special occasion, she once visited Star City, a complex where she went bowling and ate food with the family.

Case Study ThreeRoute: Playground – Calthorpe Park – Community Centre – Daughter’s school – Home

– Garden – Library – College

Haifa listens to music with her daughter, and sometimes alone:

“I listen ‘but I do not go from Allah. They think if I listen, I’ll start acting differently... Become western culture. But I pray, I know Allah, I read the Koran – why is it haram? We are not all the same... No person can say this is haram, because everyone is different.”

Case study FourRoute: Cannon Hill Park – Midlands Art Centre – Exhibition – College

Madeeha and Maimoona (Twins; British Pakistani) Have lived in Balsall Heath all of their lives and never want to leave. They love Bollywood. They go to the

local park 3 or 4 times a week. Madeeha has been to the local arts centre in the park – she introduces her sister to an immersive exhibition. They are more animated when talking about weddings. They talk over each other, enthusiastically telling me about dancing, singing, buying new colourful clothes, and wedding parties of over 800 guests. I’m invited to their cousin’s wedding in the coming autumn. The social highlight of the year is the Birmingham Eid Mela festival, celebrating the end of Ramadan, which is held in the park we are walking in.

We head back to the college. They say to their teacher: “We went into an exhibition, it was really good. It’s quite scary... there was a dead man inside!” The teacher takes a leaflet and says she will go with colleagues.

Inserting migrant experiences into the creative economy?

College – creativity in the classroom

Mosque - learn Koran better; safe space to go and food on Friday

Home - reading; music (for some); dancing (for some); cooking; TV (Eastenders; Asian programmes); arts and crafts with children; growing plants

Hybrid sacred and secular public nodes for cultural and creative engagement:Parks – walking; cricket; picnics; playground; fair; Eid MelaBig event culture - Summer weddings (dancing and music); Eid Mela

Thank you

Dr Saskia WarrenUniversity of Birmingham

Email: S.Warren@Bham.ac.ukTwitter: @ SaskiaWarren1

http://www.culturalintermediation.org.uk/

@CultIntermed