The Southall Story: a cultural history of Britain's 'Little India' since 1979

This project is a collaboration between the Department of Drama at the University of Exeter, the Department of Dance Studies at Roehampton University, and the founding members of 'The Southall Story' organisation. It aims to research, document and disseminate the cultural history of Southall since 1979. This date is significant, as it was in this year that the range of communities within Southall came together to resist racism and violence which were threatening the town. The resultant uprisings led to the death of school-teacher Blair Peach, and in response to these events, a range of social, political and cultural organisations and festivals were created to unite the communities together in resistance and celebration. The Southall Monitoring Group, the Southall Black Sisters, and the Southall Youth Movement were founded, and alongside this, new forms of performing arts were created out of the coming together of artists from different communities and backgrounds, leading to innovative forms of performance and artistic expression. This connection between the arts and the social-political contexts is of great importance in the subsequent cultural history of the town, and its contribution to the wider cultural life of Britain, and beyond. Southall has often been seen as a model of a diaspora community, and has been of immense importance in the study of migration within Britain. This project aims to contribute a unique perspective on the town by looking across the art forms, to examine the ways in which they influence each other, which is a key factor of Asian performance aesthetics. Additionally, the performance forms will be studied in relation to their emergence from political and social events. Through a mixture of interviews and gathering of material, a vital oral and cultural history of the town will be created, which will be of benefit both to the local communities, and to the study of diasporas and migration within academia. The mixture of academics and practitioners on the research team will ensure a wide range of research and forms of outputs, which will have an extensive audience due to the forms of dissemination including a public symposium and exhibition, alongside a co-authored book, three conference papers, a website and a digital archive, leading to a documentation of the history which will be available for public access.

Who Will Benefit From the Research?
1) The local communities within Southall.
2) Local public and charitable organisations within Southall, such as the Southall Black Sisters, the Dominion Centre, and the Southall public library.
3) Local creative and performing artists and arts organisations within Southall.
4) Local private businesses in Southall.
5) Public organisations, specifically the Royal Geographical Society (RGS).
6) Public visitors to London, and those interested in the cultural history and diversity of London.
7) Policy-makers, such as Parminder Vir, a Director at the Department of Culture, Media and Sports.

How Will They Benefit?
The list below relates to the groups identified in the list above:
1) The local communities will benefit by considering their past history and taking pride in their cultural heritage, and reflecting on the link between their culture and personal and communal identity. The digital archive will create an oral history which will document the memories of the community, ensuring this history is passed on to subsequent generations. Members of the community will participate in the three RGS facilitated workshops to examine their communities' histories in the RGS Collections.
2) Local charitable organisations such as the Southall Black Sisters will benefit from the greater public awareness of the importance of their work, as well as the documentation of their history. The library will benefit through holding the digital archives, thereby increasing user numbers, likewise for the Dominion Centre through the exhibition.
3) There is great benefit to local artists and arts organisations through the documentation and wider public awareness of their work. This could lead to greater employment opportunities, as well as ensuring their work is preserved through the archives.
4) Local private businesses will benefit through increased visitor numbers to Southall as a result of the project, and publicity of their importance to the history of the community, eg TKC restaurant.
5) The RGS has offered to host the symposium in 2012. This will assist the RGS in considering how they represent local communities, and encourage visitors to these public spaces to see the communities differently. It will also attract a greater number of visitors from diasporic communities to the RGS. The Society has also offered to facilitate 3 workshops with the research team and members of the Southall communities to explore relevant parts of their Collections. This will be of benefit to their education and outreach activities, and gain greater exposure of their Collections in the project outputs.
6) The public events will enable a greater level of understanding of the cultural impact of the communities within Southall on the life of London, and the UK as a whole, thereby adding to the cultural and social development of visitors to London.
7) The research will be of use to policy-makers concerned with the contribution of diaspora communities to the cultural and political life of Britain.

What Will Be Done To Ensure That They Benefit?
The research outputs are focused towards the listed beneficiaries:
1) A copy of the digital archive will be given to the Southall Library to ensure wide public access.
2) The exhibition will attract visitors to Southall.
2) The project website will be linked to the existing 'Southall Story' website to create a larger public audience.
3) The symposium will take place in central London, attracting a wide public audience.
4) Local media stations like Sunrise Radio, and community centres, will publicise the project and encourage locals to contact project members to share their memories.
5) The RGS workshops will be publicised to a wide range of the community through contacts established by the RGS on prior projects.
6) The project reviews with members of the community will ensur