Making Britain: South Asian Visions of Home and Abroad, 1870–1950
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Welcome

Led by the Open University, in collaboration with the University of Oxford and King’s College London, Making Britain is a collaborative, inter-disciplinary research project which examines the formative contributions South Asians made to Britain’s literary, political and cultural life in the period 1870–1950. Funded by the AHRC and supported by a number of distinguished partners and academic advisors, the project examines how South Asians positioned themselves within British society and culture, and explores the significance of their impact on British life. It traces some of the key historical links and cultural exchanges between South Asians and Britons, whilst also exploring the tensions that arose from such encounters.

Through extensive new archival research, the project seeks to uncover the rich cultural output of this early diasporic community and heighten public awareness of the depth of South Asian contribution to contemporary British life. As well as producing published outputs, and hosting seminars and a public exhibition, the project is creating an annotated database of material written by and relating to South Asians in Britain, which will soon be linked through this website.

For further information about our project, please see the About page.

On 13-14 September, we will hold our major international conference 'Bharat Britain' at the British Library. To find out more and reserve a place, click here.

Photograph of 'Voice' monthly radio programme team in 1942

‘Voice’, the monthly radio magazine programme in the Eastern Service of the BBC, 1942: (left to right, sitting) Venu Chitale, J. M. Tambimuttu, T. S. Eliot, Una Marson, Mulk Raj Anand, Christopher Pemberton, Narayana Menon; (standing) George Orwell, Nancy Barratt, William Empson. Reproduced with kind permission of the BBC.

 
Making Britain: South Asian Visions of Home and Abroad, 1870–1950 is supported by
The Arts & Humanities Research Council