Talk:British Asians/Archive 1

Latest comment: 7 months ago by G-13114 in topic Outdated census figures
Archive 1

Sources?

It would be nice to have sources for sweeping statements such as: British Pakistanis originate largely from one region, Azad Kashmir (roughly two thirds). Another 20%, approximately, have links with the Punjab region. zzuuzz (talk) 17:01, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Subheading - Influence, please provide a relevant source for the claim about representation of British Asians in the media, if there's a breakdown covering types of media/programming, that would be even better. --WillJ (talk) 23:36, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

deletion proposal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Categories_for_deletion#British_.22ethnic.22_categories_again

I disagree strongly with this effort that's being made to wipe out a valid category. If you have opinions on the matter, please make your voice heard. --Peripatetic 07:35, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't it be Asian British instead of British Asian?

As the adjective is normally the ethnicity/origin and the substantive the nationality. Like: Asian American and African American culture. Sijo Ripa 20:03, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

That's not how the term has been used though, the term desi is probably a far better term but British Asian is one that has come into common usuage, people talk about English Romani or Scottish Romani or Welsh Romani not Romani English, Romani Welsh or Romani Scottish; although the term Black British does get used to refer as an umbrella term to people of African ancestry in Britain - there are slight differences between American English and Oxford English (which is what is described as being Standard English).--Lord of the Isles 02:24, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
There has been a similar question about this at Talk:British Chinese, where I have argued in favour of keeping the current name on the grounds that it is the most common usage, and it's the term the group would use themselves. However British Asian is not as clear-cut. The term Desi would be inappropriate as not only is it not commonly used, but it can be offensive (and incorrect) if used by non-Asians. I would suggest that British Asian is traditionally a more common term than Asian British, however the UK census (hence most of the ethnic statistics industry) uses Asian British as the preferred term. -- zzuuzz (talk) 15:48, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Anna Leonowens

Deleted the convoluted paragraph about Anna Leonowens and her great-nephew Boris Karloff. Neither of these celebrities identified themselves as Asian, so they shouldn't be included as examples of British Asian celebrities.199.111.194.169 14:09, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

More Problems

In the History of South Asians in Great Britain section it says workers from Punjab region migrated to the UK. Partly true but not all Punjabis were workers previously. My Grandad was not a worker in Punjab & the demographics were different for each individual.

On the religion divide, it makes me laugh as an asian. We live in a white country that tolerates our beliefs/ cultures but we cannot tolerate each others? No wonder we are immigrants!

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.99.224.80 (talk) 18:33, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

That's not the definition of "immigrant" - but I understand where you are coming from in. LOTRrules (talk · contribs · email) 00:25, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

POPULATION

This article indicates the Asian population has doubled to close to 5 Million! Please show references to prove this!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.187.213.21 (talk) 21:54, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

On population, in the box at the top right-hand corner the figures simply do not add up - the total number of south asians is given as c.700K more than the total of the individual figures. If a figure included in the total has been omitted could someone rectify this? Otherwise the total ought to be changed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.1.107.2 (talk) 11:16, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Sure I'll check out the refs and add some to see if they do add up or don't. Anyway what's wrong with 5 million? LOTRrules (talk · contribs · email) 00:13, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Problems

I see no one has mentioned the problems in places like leeds etc. or the lack of integration in certain areas of the uk. 157.190.228.23 (talk) 14:18, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Oldham Riots

Does anybody else think it looks a bit ropey having links to pages on the Bradford and Oldham riots right at the top of the "see also" section? I don't wish to state that their inclusion is the work of racists, though I am quite heavily implying it. Anyhow, I will remove. Jamrifis (talk) 19:37, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Question on "legacy of British rule"

I don't think it is accurate to describe the British Asian population as "legacy of British rule." There was high immigration after the independence of India and Pakistan. And in general, immigration to UK was akin to USA or Canada wasn'it it, unlike the importing of indentured labor to South Africa, the West Indies, East Africa and Fiji, which can be attributed to colonial rule? Indians emigrated to the UK pre-1947 for mostly economic or educational reasons, like most other immigrants.Vishnava (talk) 19:01, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Mixed Race

Just want to know if somebody who was born British and had only ONE Indian parent would be classified as British Asian in this articles sense.--Judas james (talk) 02:51, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Interesting question, the simple answer would be yes as many people mentioned and pictured in this article and it's sub categories have only a single Asian parent, an example from this article being Mark Ramprakash. However, 'British Asian' is an ethnicity indicator in the UK and this would would mean that such people fall into the 'Mixed - white and Asian' category or the British_Mixed-Race category for racial classification. Khokhar (talk) 17:01, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

Renanaming

I'm going to rename the article. and then add a redirect stating "Asian British and British Asian redirects here..."--23prootie (talk) 01:59, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

Why did you rename this article? "British Asian" is a commonly used term in the UK and people don't say "South Asians in the United Kingdom." It should be changed back. AyanP (talk) 02:57, 16 October 2009 (UTC)Ayan

"most of whom settled down and took local white British wives"

Shouldn't this be white people and United Kingdom? The article White British is about a census group, which did not exist when this was taking place. Also, 14/88.--Lightsin (talk) 19:29, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Lakshmi Mittal

Lakshmi Mittal is in the main picture on this page and on the page for British Indian, surely hes one or the other? And if not, shouldn't there be some changes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.105.238.247 (talk) 17:13, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved. We have a rough and policy-based consensus. Andrewa (talk) 22:41, 7 January 2014 (UTC)


British AsianSouth Asians in the United Kingdom – Less ambiguity/confusion. And the East Asian page is called East Asians in the United Kingdom Atotalstranger (talk) 14:39, 29 December 2013 (UTC)

  • Oppose. In the UK, "Asian" almost invariably means "South Asian" and the latter term is rarely used. -- Necrothesp (talk) 20:53, 30 December 2013 (UTC)
  • Strong support. The current title suggests many possibilities--Brits in Hong Kong? Koreans in Manchester? Mixed-race children of a Scotsman and a lady from Singapore in New Zealand? "British Asian" could be just about anything. The proposed title is excellent and specific. Red Slash 21:48, 31 December 2013 (UTC)
    • You're ignoring the fact that we use common name on Wikipedia. In Britain, "British Asian" is the common name, usually the only name, used for British people of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan descent, and nobody else. If one says "Asian" in Britain, when referring to a person or a culture, that is what is invariably meant and understood. The common name used for East Asian people in Britain is "oriental" (no, it isn't considered to be in any way derogatory in the UK - it's the common term used by the government, police and everybody else). Have we renamed African American? -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:17, 1 January 2014 (UTC)
      • African Americans are people of African descent in America. British Asians are people of specifically South Asian descent living in the United Kingdom. I don't get your comparison. It would seem to me that a British Asian would be a person of British descent living in Asia. Red Slash 09:28, 3 January 2014 (UTC)
        • My point is that "African American" is the common term used in America to refer to an American person of African descent and "British Asian" is the common term used in Britain to refer to a British person of "South Asian" descent. You appear to accept one without demur but not the other. To me, as a Briton, "South Asian" is an Americanism. We do not generally refer to people from East Asia as "Asians". We know what we're talking about when we refer to "Asians", just as Americans do when they refer to "African Americans" (we would just say "black"). If I didn't know what an "African American" was, I would assume it was a person from Africa living in America or a person from America living in Africa, not a black person born in America (for a start, not all Africans are black by a long way, but you wouldn't use "African American" to refer to a person of North African Arab origin or white South African origin, so the term is just as inaccurate as you might imagine "British Asian" to be). But we keep the African American article at this title because it is the common term in the country in which it is used. Do you see what I mean? This is therefore a case of both WP:COMMONNAME and WP:ENGVAR. -- Necrothesp (talk) 18:36, 3 January 2014 (UTC)
        • An American-born person of Egyptian ancestry would absolutely be called African-American. And although it's complicated and some people disagree, I think it's logical to say a white South African is not of African descent, just as if a British couple goes to Sri Lanka and has a kid and then that kid moves to Ireland, that kid is not of Sri Lankan descent. And an Asian is someone from Asia. Just because there are very few people of Asian descent who are not from South Asia in Britain doesn't change the fact that Asian means "from Asia", not a specific part of Asia. As I see it, common name doesn't beat precision in this case. WP:PRECISE wins for me. Red Slash 05:21, 4 January 2014 (UTC)
          • No, they're Egyptian American! We even have an article about them. Show me where they're called African American. I didn't say white South Africans are of "African descent". I said they are Africans. Big difference. Are you saying white South Africans aren't Africans? I think that if I claimed that black and Asian British people weren't Europeans I might be courting controversy! Although they clearly aren't of "European descent". It's rather tantamount to claiming that white (and black and indeed anything other than Native American) Americans aren't actually Americans! -- Necrothesp (talk) 09:27, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
  • Support - Per WP:COMMONNAMES, a title should not be "inaccurate", regardless of sources. The proposed name reflects the content about population of South Asian immigrations and their descendants in Britain. I must disagree with you, Necrothesp. We cannot ignore the don't-use-inaccurate-name rule just because "reliable" sources use the current title. George Ho (talk) 10:13, 2 January 2014 (UTC)
    • The name is only inaccurate according to a US "logic" that the host country comes after the migrant's origin. This practice does not necessarily apply in other countries, though.  AjaxSmack  22:02, 3 January 2014 (UTC)
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Images in info box

I reverted the latest change of two images in the info box. Over recent days I see most if not all the images have been swapped around or changed without explanation in the edit summary. So it would be helpful if there could be an explanation here why all these images have being changed. Like all edits unless minor there should be an explanation and if queried at least concensus.Tmol42 (talk) 20:05, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, Tmol42. People would be wise to follow your suggestion. As I've pointed out recently at Talk:British Bangladeshi, it's a shame that some editors won't put as much effort into improving these articles as they will into edit warring over the selection of images for inclusion in the infobox! Cordless Larry (talk) 20:14, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

Notification of article title related discussion at Talk:Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom

There is currently a thread started at: Talk:Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom#Pluralisation of ethnic group titles perhaps as "British people of <x origin> descent" as per Categories.

Contributions welcome. GregKaye 09:54, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

Info Box and languages

Under languages, Bengali,Hindi and Urdu are listed.Are there significant number of British asians who call these language their mother-tongue or ancestral language ? Thanks.Jonathansammy (talk) 15:51, 15 September 2017 (UTC)

Muslim wealth/prison population statistics

I have removed material from the article which compared the average wealth of Muslims with other religious groups, and also material on the proportion of the prison population who are Muslims. Not all Muslims in the UK are Asian, and it was not clear why figures were being given for Muslims but not other groups. If anyone thinks that the article should report data on the prison population, the source makes it clear that the proportion of British Asians in the prison population is roughly the same as their share in the adult population. Cordless Larry (talk) 06:58, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

I think poverty is potentially relevant but would need balancing over all groups. I'm also wary of one time Its removing material which might in any way be considered pro-Muslim which is why I reverted its removal -----Snowded TALK 08:58, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
There is data on wealth by ethnic group in the source that was being used for the Muslim wealth figure, but it's quite old. There is also income data by ethnic group here. Cordless Larry (talk) 09:03, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

Image of Mahatma Gandhi

What relevance does an image of Mahatma Gandhi has on a page on British asians? Yes, he studied in Britain but so did everybody else who attained fame and influence during the British raj. Thanks.Jonathansammy (talk) 13:24, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Given the section it's in, perhaps we could replace the image with one of a group of early Asian migrants to Britain, if we can find one? Cordless Larry (talk) 20:57, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
We can also substitute the picture with that of a British asian MP from that era such as Dadabhai Naoroji, Mancherjee Bhownagree or Shapurji Saklatvala.Thanks.Jonathansammy (talk) 21:47, 21 September 2018 (UTC)

Dodgy Demographic figures?

The section at the top right of the page giving the numbers of British Asians in the UK seems a bit suspect. The numbers it quotes are extremely high. Just as an example, I know that according to the March 2011 census there were about 450,000 people of Bangladeshi descent recorded as living in the UK at that time. Yet the box in THIS article gives a figure of nearly 1.4 million British Bangladeshis as of 2018. That's one hell of an increase in just seven years! When I follow the reference link for the statistics for this article (a) all it does is take me to the 2011 census figures. Not these supposed statistics for "2018". So where have these latest, very high numbers come from?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.109.33.240 (talk) 14:15, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

They were added with these edits. I'll revert to the 2011 figures now. Cordless Larry (talk) 15:33, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

Removal of secondary content

Hello, I have removed any mention of East Asia, West Asia and Southeast Asia from the lede and the opening paragraph of the "Terminology" section. Self identification among some individuals on non-South Asian Asian heritage doesn't automatically change the definition that is used in the UK. In the UK, "Asian" means South Asians only. This article also specifically speaks about South Asians in the UK because they have historically been the largest Asian group in the UK and thus the definition of "Asian" in a colloquial sense in the UK reflects that. This article needs to reflect this fact and should not be watered down. When someone says "Asian" in the UK they think of South Asians (e.g. Indians, Bangladeshis) and the cultures associated with these groups. Inclusivity became very big in the 2010s so there are some British East Asian, Southeast Asian and West Asian people who self identifiy as "British Asian" or have been included under the British Asian umbrella. However, just because some Asian people of non-South Asian origin self identify as "British Asian" does not mean the entire definition of this article must be changed. It is best to keep the self identification and inclusivity content to the sub-section it currently is located in. (2001:8003:4E6B:7F00:950F:DF2F:6FE7:6E53 (talk) 03:29, 17 February 2020 (UTC))

Articles aren't based on colloquial usage of terms, and this is a well-defined group used by the UK Census to refer to more than just South Asians. The colloquial usage is already reflected in the article; there's no need to remove information on usage that is not the traditional colloquial one. — MarkH21talk 05:35, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
@MarkH21: There was a discussion above a few years ago that supports the IP's comment. There needs to be a proper discussion to support your edits just like there was one in 2013-14. There is already a page about East Asians in order to reflect the way the term is used in the UK. "Asian" means South Asian (specifically Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi) in colloquial UK English. (Sapah3 (talk) 15:23, 27 April 2020 (UTC))
There’s a discussion immediately below in the next section. Keep in mind as well that the IP’s edits were the bold ones removing existing content; I didn’t add it in. — MarkH21talk 16:14, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

More general usage according to censuses

Perhaps this is a recurring question, but if the UK censuses since 2001 included East Asians under "Asian or Asian British" (2001) and "Asian/Asian British", then shouldn't this article scope be accordingly broadened to include the more general usage? This conflicts with the first sentence of the lead, which says British Asians are persons of South Asian descent who reside in the United Kingdom. It seems that while the specificity in the second sentence should remain in the article, the first sentence's absolute wording is incorrect on the government scale. — MarkH21talk 05:26, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

It seems that this was the case before the IP edits mentioned in the above talk section. Since that was a bold edit, I'm restoring the lead sentence that mentioned the subtleties. — MarkH21talk 05:28, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
That might be the case for the census, but these groups are still considered distinct in most people's minds, as fas as I observe. I'm going to revert your bold edits and would suggest that you start a merge discussion if you want to combine the topics. Cordless Larry (talk) 06:24, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
I'll also note that the section you created called "Development and self-identity in the 2010s" was based on original research. If you want to add material to the article about that aspect of the topic, it needs to be based on reliable secondary sources, not on a collection of examples of how newspapers and other media sources describe particular individuals. Cordless Larry (talk) 06:31, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
@Cordless Larry: I didn't create that section, I reverted the IP's edits removing that section (although most of it does not seem to be OR, only making carefully quoted statements directly in the cited references). In fact, most of what you reverted was previously in the article and not my WP:BOLD edits.
My only additions were to move the statistics from Southeast Asians in the United Kingdom and East Asians in the United Kingdom over, and highlight the census facts (already in the body) in the lead. See the old revision before I edited this article here. — MarkH21talk 06:37, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
My mistake - apologies. Can I suggest that we restore the lede and terminology section to how they were in this revision? Cordless Larry (talk) 06:43, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
Isn't that the same one that I just linked? I think it's reasonable to mention the Census designations as I had added to the lead. Other than that, it's basically the same as the last version before your revert (diff). — MarkH21talk 06:45, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
Yes, it's the same revision. I just wanted to be clear what text I was proposing to restore. About the statistics you moved over, the problem is that whereas the statistics in the article are based on ethnic group data from the census, the ones from the other articles are mostly based on country of birth (so they're not comparable) and are from a mix of different sources (not just the census). Cordless Larry (talk) 06:49, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
Ah I see, thanks for point that out. If you have no issue with the other intermediate changes (mentioning the census designation in the lead, changing the {{about}} tag to include the article Southeast Asians in the United Kingdom, the IP's removal of district names, etc.) then we could just undo your last revert and remove the infobox statistics that I had migrated over. — MarkH21talk 06:52, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
Yes, I'm happy with that. We'll need to address the problems with the "Development and self-identity in the 2010s" section at some point too, though. Cordless Larry (talk) 06:57, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
Okay great! I agree, that section is a bit too much like a bare "the media mentioned this person was British Asian and they're not of South Asian descent" list. — MarkH21talk 07:02, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
@MarkH21: I respectfully disagree with your edits. I am in support of the "Development and self-identity in the 2010s" in the "Terminology" section but East Asians (and West Asians for that matter) are considered distinct groups in the UK. West Asians aren't even classified as "Asian" in the UK census so even if we were going to follow the UK census definition, West Asians shouldn't be included only South and East Asians would be included. Self identification doesn't automatically change the way a term is used and discussions on self identification should not be included in the lede. I think the lede needs to specifically talk about British people of South Asian origin and maybe one sentence about the official UK census definition that includes Chinese/East Asians that comes after it. Inclusion of West Asians, however, doesn't make sense. Colloquially and officially speaking, West Asians are seen as different in the UK. Discussions on how some West Asians see themselves should be left for the "Development and self-identity in the 2010s" section because it provides undue weight to people's ideas of the term when the term is used primarily very differently in the UK. "Asian" means South Asian in the UK and that needs to be pointed out. (Sapah3 (talk) 15:30, 27 April 2020 (UTC))
@Cordless Larry: There needs to be more discussion on this. I understand Mark's views but I believe the lede needs to specifically talk about British people of South Asian origin and maybe one sentence about the official UK census definition that includes Chinese/East Asians that comes after it. Inclusion of West Asians in the lede doesn't make any sense because they are not classified as "Asian" per the UK census and are not viewed as "Asian" colloquially either. I believe the article needs to reflect the UK usage of the term. (Sapah3 (talk) 15:39, 27 April 2020 (UTC))

@Sapah3: The lead is primarily about South Asians already, and the usage of the term for non-South Asians isn’t down to self-identification. Identification by the UK Census and RSes like The Guardian and BBC is sufficient to include the broader usage in the article and brief mentions in the lead, as is done now. As for West Asia, the Census groups Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Any other Asian background all under Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British (or its various forms). That clearly includes all of Asia.

If you add the ping after you already posted your comment, nobody gets a ping. You have to add it in a new line with a new signature. — MarkH21talk 16:09, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

@MarkH21: I typed out a reply to you but I noticed the update on the article page so there's no need for me to post it. I think the changes you made to the lede after I posted my comment are good. (Sapah3 (talk) 06:33, 28 April 2020 (UTC))

Suggestion: Migration from Nepal

Just a suggestion for the page editors - the last significant Asian migration to GB is (now) the post-1997 ethnic Nepalese mostly comprised of serving and ex-Gurkha soldiers and their families. There was a 10-fold increase between 2001 and 2011 census. Many opt for British citizenship when eligible, and are notable because Nepal was never part of the British Empire, unlike most countries in south Asia. The area of Hampshire surrounding Aldershot and Farnham has seen the percentage of population of ethnic Nepalese rise to around 10% and there are also significant communities of Nepali origin around Woolwich, Greenwich, Wiltshire and Kent, mostly tied to the presence of British Army bases where serving or ex-Gurkhas reside.

Sources:

http://www.cnsuk.org.uk/details/a-glimpse-of-the-nepali-population-in-the-uk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha_Justice_Campaign

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_in_the_United_Kingdom — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.229.250.167 (talk) 19:16, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

social issues

Social issues section is a bit lightweight. Needs to include issues such as street grooming etc


https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/17353046.councillor-call-work-identify-disproportionately-high-number-grooming-suspects-pakistani-community/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MqrO6p2Woc

https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/05/20/its-time-to-tell-the-truth-about-grooming-gangs/

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/revealed-disproportionately-high-numbers-pakistani-8439716

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/international/uk-court-jails-20-men-mostly-pakistanis-for-sexual-abuse-of-teenage-girls. ROC7 (talk) 10:34, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

Honour violence/killings

It's on the increase, so perhaps it should be mentioned in the social/political issues section?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/31/honour-based-offences-soared-by-81-in-last-five-years

https://www.itv.com/news/2019-07-14/honour-killings-day-of-memory-shafilea-ahmed-qandeel-baloch


Also, links to terrorism ?

https://www.efsas.org/publications/articles-by-efsas/london-bridge-attack-2019-three-out-of-four-terror-plots-in-the-uk-have-roots-in-pakistan/

https://www.dw.com/en/banishing-the-extremist-image-a-crucial-task-for-british-pakistanis/a-39129778ROC7 (talk) 19:53, 28 March 2022 (UTC)

Out of the four claimed references, not a single one even includes the term "Asian" so I'm not sure why you're trying to associate the actions of subsets of Britsh Asians with the wider group. FDW777 (talk) 22:50, 28 March 2022 (UTC)

Shouldn't categories "Music" and "Performing arts" be merged? All the people in performing arts are musicians.

All the people in performing arts are musicians. I was confused when Nitin Sawhney wasn't mentioned under "music". Brehonhelen (talk) 09:38, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

Outdated census figures

Why does this article use figures from the 2011 census when figures from the more recent census are now available? G-13114 (talk) 15:46, 11 December 2023 (UTC)