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Decolonizing Animation
  • ISSN: 2042-7875
  • E-ISSN: 2042-7883

Abstract

The British Bangladeshi diaspora is located at a complex intersection in postcolonial Britain. It not only embodies the unfolding legacy of the erstwhile colonial empire but is also a critical site of contemporary debates around race, religion and nation. However, the links between Britain’s colonial histories and its dominant politics of racialization and marginalization of Muslims in the present remain unexamined. Using an innovative interdisciplinary approach that combines key concepts from memory studies, diaspora studies and participatory animation methodologies, the article locates how ‘hidden’ histories of colonialism, South Asian partition, migration and settlement, are implicated in the community’s negotiations of the meanings of being British, Bangladeshi and Muslim. Mapping key shifts in the temporal and spatial locations of three generations of British Bangladeshis, the article analyses how multidirectional anti-colonial and anti-racist memories are gradually forgotten as young British Bangladeshis increasingly mobilize a pan-Islamic identity framework to resist racialization and alienation. More importantly, the article showcases a case study that locates how collaborative animation filmmaking into these collective intergenerational pasts helps the younger generations of British Bangladeshis take on these critical but fading memories of the community, enabling them to articulate their own experiences of religious marginalization in process.

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/content/journals/10.1386/ap3_00046_1
2024-09-04
2026-04-12

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