Chapter 3 - An Overview of the Interviews

Summary

This chapter gives an overview of the interviews by looking at the profiles of the interviewees. In keeping with the objective of imparting the cultural diversity of South Asian populations, the authors sought diversity in the recruitment of South Asian psychiatrists for interview. This was reflected in their identity profiles with respect to age, gender, background, places of settlement, and other factors. The questions covered different areas of their lives and were clustered around the notion of the experiences of living with two cultures, identified as British and the particular South Asian culture of their background, be it Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani, and so on. Implicit in this understanding was the recognition of the fluidity of cultures and also of cultural identity. Of particular interest was how cultural differences showed up in the workplace with regards to training or working life. The interviews, which averaged one and a half hours each, were conducted between November 2021 to March 2022, via Zoom or telephone, and were subsequently transcribed and edited. The interviews formed the basis of thematic findings.