Shifting markers of identity in East London's diasporic religious spaces. Issue 2 (26th January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ahmed, Nazneen; Garnett, Jane; Gidley, Ben; Harris, Alana; Keith, Michael
• Is Part Of: Ethnic and racial studies. Volume 39:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 223
• Page End: 242
• Publication Date: 2016-01-26
• Subjects: Diaspora -- East London -- faith spaces; Race -- Periodicals; Race relations -- Periodicals; Ethnic groups -- Periodicals; 305.805
• DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2016.1105993
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0141-9870

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article discusses the historical and geographical contexts of diasporic religious buildings in East London, revealing – contrary both to conventional narratives of immigrant integration, mobility, and succession and to identitarian understandings of belonging – that in such spaces and in the concrete devotional practices enacted in them, markers and boundaries of identity (ritual, spatial, and political) are contested, renegotiated, erased, and rewritten. It draws on a series of case-studies: Fieldgate Street Synagogue in its interrelationship with the East London Mosque; St Antony's Catholic Church in Forest Gate where Hindus and Christians worship together; and the intertwined histories of Methodism and Anglicanism in Bow Road. Exploration of the intersections between ethnicity, religiosity, and class illuminates the ambiguity and instability of identity-formation and expression within East London's diasporic faith spaces.