In this special blog post, we hear from Bristol student Nazma Ali on her recent Widening Participation Internship. This internship focussed on the histories of British South Asians from the 1830s to the present, working with Professor Sumita Mukherjee and Dr Aleena Din as part of the Remaking Britain project.
Hi Nazma! Can you tell us a bit more about the internship?
During my recent internship, I contributed to the development of a digital resource titled ‘Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1830s to the Present.’ Throughout this six-week internship, I worked alongside Professor Sumita Mukerjee and Dr Aleena Din from the University of Bristol’s Department of History. This resource serves both academic researchers and general audiences interested in the experiences and contributions of British South Asians. This group has been less focused on by researchers and I was excited to see a whole internship project based on just South Asian history!
During this project, I had the opportunity of working in the British Library Archives and the Feminist Archive South collection, based in the university’s special collections. I handled diverse materials ranging from nineteenth century manuscripts to pamphlets on youth resistance movements of the 1970s. What I particularly enjoyed was writing entries. I synthesized large amounts of primary and secondary research to produce short essays for the website. I explored the self-organization of South Asians against the National Front and specialized in the resistance of Bangladeshi communities against fascist intimidation in London’s East End.
I would say the work of Bangladeshi women in this movement interested me the most. Anowara Jahan was a committee member of the Commission for Racial Equality, a board member of East London’s Bengali Teachers and worked extremely hard to mobilize Bengali women in local communities. She defied patriarchy control which restricted women to the domestic sphere whilst defying Britain’s racist laws that repressed Asian women. I believe highlighting the works of such individuals is central to the study of history. As someone of Bangladeshi heritage, bringing light to the contributions of my community was my motivation.
I have used resources similar to ‘Remaking Britain’ during my history degree, so it was interesting to see how such websites are produced. I also had the independence to decide what topics I wanted to focus on which was refreshing. I am grateful that this internship provided insight into academic research. I better understood the several opportunities that come with being a researcher. I think this internship project would be an amazing experience for anyone interested in race and gender history.
Finally, I built meaningful relationships with my supervisors. They continuously helped me with my entries. They organized weekly meetings so I could stay up to date and they allowed me to explore my interest in the history of British Bangladeshis. I thoroughly enjoyed this internship, and I am excited to see what impact this resource has!
What drew you to this topic?
Whilst I’ve learnt a lot in my first year of doing History, I noticed that my area of interest was not as well represented in the curriculum. South Asian women’s rights and resistance are my two main interests which I was excited to know this project covered.
About the Author
Nazma Ali has just finished her first year as a Bristol History student, and completed this internship over the summer. Through working on this project, she hopes to bring more light to the resilience of British South Asians.