Work

A Politics of One’s Own: Leisure, Belonging and Momentary Self-Exclusion among British Bangladeshi Women in East London

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This article investigates how leisure activities inform identification processes among British Bangladeshi Muslim women in Tower Hamlets, London. Focusing on women-only events organised in community centres that cater to British Bangladeshi women, we explore the significance of these spaces in the negotiation and maintenance of identity and community. Based on a two-year ethnography conducted as part of the research project Migrant Memory and Postcolonial Imagination , we argue that women-only leisure activities are part of a strategy of momentary self-exclusion, which is central to the articulation of a politics of location for participating women. The focus on leisure contributes to the literature on diaspora studies by providing a more holistic understanding of questions of belonging.

Source: Sociology

DOI: 10.1177/00380385251325480

Authors: Julia Giese, Clelia Clini

Institutions: University of Derby, London Metropolitan University

Language: English

Topic: Diaspora, migration, transnational identity

Subfield: Demography

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funder: Leverhulme Trust