Divided Diasporas? Everyday Nationalism, Ethnic Identities and Boundaries Among Britain's Bengalis

Abstract

This thesis explores the everyday constructions and articulations of Bengali identity among British Bengalis of common Bengali ethnicity and distinct Indian and Bangladeshi national identities. It draws upon narrative and semi-structured interviews with 48 Indian and Bangladeshi Bengalis in Britain, and engages with literature on everyday nationalism, diaspora and boundaries. Recognising ground-level heterogeneities, pluralities and social fragmentations – what I term internal diversities and divisions – the thesis adopts the understanding of identities in process or continually (re)negotiated. Through this, the thesis traces how participants reproduce
or reject nationalisms, and strategically redo their Bengali identities according to structures such as nation, religion, gender and class.

The thesis contributes to studies of Bengali diaspora through everyday nationalism and boundaries literature. First, it highlights that, whilst Indian and Bangladeshi nationalisms and national identities remain relevant, Bengali ethnicity and culture emerge as significant modes of everyday identification for British Bengalis (e.g., through language, food and dress). Second, British politics and migration produce other salient identities, boundaries and asymmetries (e.g., class, racism, Islamophobia) that British Bengalis navigate alongside the long-distance influences of Indian and Bangladeshi national politics. Third, it demonstrates that the interplay of
Indian, Bangladeshi and British politics and internal hierarchies of power and privilege (e.g., class, religion, gender) complicate notions of a shared ‘Bengali’ identity among and between Indian and Bangladeshi Bengalis. By framing British Bengalis as an expansive diaspora traversing Indian and Bangladeshi borders, this thesis pushes for critical approaches that examine
diasporas who, while minoritised overseas, may reproduce majoritarian politics and power from ‘back home’. Through this, the thesis maps both continuity and change among diasporas, highlighting how Here and There, Then and Now, and Home and Away (desh-bidesh) intersect across space and time.

Date of Award	17 Mar 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Andrew K J Wyatt (Supervisor) & Nazia Hussein (Supervisor)