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Identity Politics of South Asian Enclaves
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policies were “both to protect minorities from the hostility and
racism they faced and to stake a claim for fairness and social
justice” (Cantle, 2012: 88). However, as Cantle further points out,
even if it “established strong support for the concept of cultural
pluralism and the need to maintain the heritage of distinct
communities” (2012: 172), “this approach depended upon a
preoccupation with ‘race’ and mostly concerned the extent and
nature of accommodation of minorities [. . .] based on a static
conception of culture that is positioned on a linear ‘segregation to
assimilation’ pathway” (2012: 88).
Although it could be argued that ethnic identity politics and
race-based multiculturalism, as the policies of the post-war period,
were “right for that time” and appropriate to tackle racism and
discrimination (Cantle, 2012: 56), they have come under
increasing attacks from critics concerned with the rise of ethnic
separatism and a retreat from the shared values that define Britons
of all races and cultures. It is here that the notion of the “failure”
of multiculturalism becomes confusing and treacherous. Instead of
seeking a new model in which the diversity of identities could be
acknowledged, Britishness redefined, and government policies
differently operationalized, many people in Britain attribute the
“failure” entirely to immigrants, and thus reproduce racism. Over
the past decade, for example, there has been considerable debate
among politicians and scholars about whether or not
self-segregation or ghettos exist in the country. On the one hand,
the report by the Community Cohesion Review Team (2001)
accounts for the British government’s, and some people’s,
increasing worry in the new millennium about the formation of
ghettos in British cities, especially after the race riots in the north
and northwest of England, as seen, for example, in the cities of
Bradford, Oldham, and Burnley, where South Asian immigrants
have congregated. The report states: “[M]any communities operate
on the basis of a series of parallel lives. These lives often do not
seem to touch at any point, let alone overlap and promote any