Negotiating Boundaries in the City

From the 1950s, South Asians migrated in increasing numbers to start a new life in Britain. This was followed by the arrival of East African Asian exiles from the late 1960s. This book explores the impact of this migration on both the local white population and the migrants themselves by using in-depth life-story interviews and existing oral history archives.Taking Leicester as a main case study - identified as a European model of multicultural success - this book offers historically grounded analysis of the human experiences of migration. The author shows how migration created challenges for both existing inhabitants and newcomers, for both male and female migrants, and explores how they perceived and negotiated boundaries within the local contexts of their everyday lives. She uncovers the personal and collective narratives of individuals who might not otherwise appear in the historical records, highlights the importance of analysing subjective, everyday experiences and provides rich data lacking in existing theoretical accounts.This book seeks to provide a radically different story about multicultural Britain and reveals the nuances of modern urban experience which are lost in prevailing discourses of multiculturalism.