Meet the Citizen Researchers

Citizen Researchers are people interested in archive research and learning more about their heritage and locality. Each researcher has a strong connection to Tower Hamlets, Bangladeshi heritage and passion for wanting to remember the events of 1971.

In a series of workshops, Citizen Researchers watched presentations from archivists, curators and artists and looked at archive material from the Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives. Smaller group discussions focused on questions such as ‘How do we commemorate?’ and ‘How do we represent our identity?’. At the end of the final workshop each researcher chose a topic to focus on (for example queer histories, squatting, sarees) and was allocated a mentor; artist (Ruhul Abdin), digital producers (Rainbow Collective) or archivists (Halima Khanom and Sanjida Alam), to support their independent research journey.

Have a look below at some of the Citizen Researcher projects and hopefully learn something new or see something differently.

‘What The Papers Say’

During a time before the internet and social media, it was much more difficult for news in Bangladesh to be reported to the outside world. The international reporting of the Bangladesh Liberation War really helped galvanise support for Bangladesh and garner international pressure for her independence. This short film captures how the reporting of those events by British newspapers match up with the first-hand account(s) of those who lived through it.

‘My Curry Story’

You can't understand the Indian restaurant industry without understanding Bangladeshis in Britain. Over 80% of Indian restaurants in Britain are owned, managed and run by Bangladesh. My Dad had an Indian restaurant. He sold his restaurant to pay off his debts. He then worked as a chief in Ipswich until he retired. When my dad use to come home after being away for a week he would sometime cook Indian restaurant food for us. His cooking was very different compared to my mother's cooking. My older brother also worked in a restaurant. He worked as a waiter for over 10 years. Two of my brother-in-laws also worked in the restaurant trade. In one way or another the restaurant industry is in my blood - whether I like it or not.

‘Stripped of Citizenship: British Bengalis at 50, Still Second Class?’

After months of living in fear and being hounded by the Home Office, Afia Begum and her small child were captured, bundled into a van, and deported in May 1984. Afia had arrived in the UK perfectly legally, but after her husband had tragically died in a fire, Afia was deemed no longer a legal spouse, and stripped of her right to remain in the UK. The European court ruled that this was ‘callous and showing the racist and sexist nature of the United Kingdom immigration laws'. A handful of British MPs defended her in Parliament; little known Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn even accompanied Afia and her baby to Heathrow, to argue with the immigration police to let her stay.

This case sparked a community defence of Afia, led by the Bengalis in East London, captured in this clip. It also inspired the birth of a female-led social justice action group: The Sari Squad. With echoes of Grenfell, the Windrush scandal, and the stripping of citizenship of Shamima Begum, the response to Afia's case shows us the spirit of the East End Bengali community, and reminds us that we still have a long way to go in creating a fairer, more just society.

‘Keighley to Jaflong: A Family Album’

In this short film, Nishat reflects on the photographs in her family albums, comparing how her mother’s family was photographed in Keighley, West Yorkshire in the 1970s and 80s, with her father’s in Bangladesh. Nishat also looks at more recent family albums, charting similarities and differences in expressions and approaches to photography in her own generation.

‘Peter Bear visits Bangladesh’

This project is a discussion about my home-school project, Peter Bear. The film explores how this project helped young children in a Tower Hamlets Primary School connect with the idea of Bangladesh. This, in turn, encouraged me to celebrate our shared experiences of Bangladesh through the lens of Peter Bear.

You can read Sabiya’s blog post about what drew her to the project, and what her research means to her.

‘Photographs of London’s Bengali East End’

A critical look at the photographic representations of London’s Bengali East End, and how they shape a contemporary Bangladeshi identity.

As cliché as this might sound, I was inspired to take part in this project as I honestly felt very disconnected from my own history. Partition, independence and politics is not something that often comes up in my family and so much of the learning about this period of history is something I need to initiate myself. Having never been back to Bangladesh, but at the same time being so obviously Bangladeshi, it is difficult to know exactly who I am.

I cannot easily identify myself as one label or fit myself into a specific, short category, though I can rely on the fact that ‘British-Asian, Bangladeshi’ is always an option! I live in Tower Hamlets, a borough infamous for hosting the largest population of Bangladeshis in Britain. It makes sense to start off thinking about what led us here, then. The Bangladeshis here are still Bengali, how have their lives been lived?

Thinking about partition, I often wonder why there is a lack of Bangladeshi voices present. There are a lot of strong opinions on the Pakistani and Indian sides -- and even others who are looking in on the conflict often refer only to Pakistan and India, perhaps fleetingly outlining that Bangladesh too was formed as a result. But it always seemed to be a bit of an afterthought. Yet the Bengal region has always had such a huge place in history and it seemed so unfair and reductive that Bangladesh does not receive the attention it deserves, that its struggles and plight are not acknowledged or explored.

Through this project, I learnt to explore and question this narrative and by turning to the local history surrounding me, was able to find some of these voices which had thus far been hidden to me.

Funded by The National Heritage Lottery Fund and Art Fund