5 - Culture clashes

Summary

In 1978 Amrit Wilson published Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain. Wilson's book remains a key document in detailing Asian women's lives in Britain, particularly for the period from the end of the Second World War to the 1970s. It highlights the diverse migratory paths that brought Asian women from diverse Asian communities to Britain, thus indicating the inadequacy of the term ‘Asian’ to do justice to peoples with very different religious, linguistic, socio-cultural, and economic histories, homogenizing them as it does under the banner ‘Asian’. Wilson interviewed a range of Asian women of diverse ages, backgrounds, and migratory histories, including women who were born in Britain. She argues that, their diverse backgrounds notwithstanding, Asian women in Britain share three things: their oppression as women, their experiences of racism within Britain, and their exploitation as a class of workers (168).

Family and community

One of the key experiences articulated by the women Wilson interviewed was the culture clashes they experienced in coming to Britain and living in Britain. These culture clashes were in part a function of the radically different socio-cultural norms governing British society compared to their various own ones. Chief among these differences was the importance placed on collectivism, the family, and community among many Asian cultures compared to the emphasis on individualism and self-determination in British culture.