From textile mills to taxi ranks - Virinder S. Kalra

Contemporary academic studies on economic activity and South Asians in Britain have concentrated on self-employment and entrepreneurial business success and it might be possible to forget that many South Asians came to Britain to work in the now declining manufacturing industries. 'From textile mills to taxi ranks' is not only a metonym for the movement to a service sector economy, but literally presents a shift in place of work for many (Azad) Kashmiris/Pakistanis men. Dr Kalra explores the way in which the issues of employment, work, income generation and economic status affect and are affected by, a section of the Mirpuri/Pakistani 'community' based in Oldham. The men discussed have strong emotional, spiritual and material ties to the geographical district of Mirpur, and stories of workers and industry, home and abroad, dreams and realities merge and entwine in the practices of everyday life. From Textile Mills to Taxi Ranks presents both an in-depth study of a specific, racialized group in the North West of England and a history of the demise of the textile industry and structural changes in the economy of the region and of Britain as a whole. -