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Plural Britain

• Applied Anthropology: a viable career path in contempoarary Britain? - by Roger Ballard
  Presented at the 10th Annual Conference of the Eurpoean Assocation of Social Anthropologists, this paper befins by noting that ethnic colonies constructed by long distace migrants 'from below' have become a salient feature of every European contemporary jurisdiction, and are widely are regarded as presenting unacceptable threats to their socio-cultural integrity.
  It then goes on to ask whether anthropological insights can at least in principle be expected help to oil the wheels of these contradictions, and if so whether the discipline as it currently organized is capable of producing anthropologists with a capability to fulfil this increasingly challenging role.

• Living with difference: a forgotten art in urgent need of revival? - by Roger Ballard
  Written in the context of post 7/7 developments, this paper explores Britain's long-standing condition of ethnic plurality. In doing so it seeks to show that whilst at one level current patterns of polarisation have numerous historical precedents, our current confusion about best to go about living with difference is largely a product of our modern commitment to a unitarian - rather than a pluralistic - vision of the good life. If so, it follows that a rethink of modernistic premises, together with a less hubristic interpretation of pre-modern wisdom is now an urgent priority.

• Minority professionals’ experience of marginalisation and exclusion: the rules of ethnic engagement - by Roger Ballard and Tahirah Parveen
  Based on empirical grounded ethnographic observations, this paper sets out to highlight the rules of engagement which currently govern interactions across he minority/majority boundaries in middle-class professional contexts, and shows how commitment to currently conventional understandings of 'anti-racism' amongst white professional can nevertheless be wholly comparable with the systematic marginalisation and exclusion of their minority colleagues, most especially when those colleagues fail to conform to the unspoken rules of engagement.

• Desh Pardesh: the growth of the South Asian Presence in Britain - by Roger Ballard
  An overview of the growth, development and increasingly varied startles of adaptation currently being deployed by all the many communities which have now begun to crystallize as South Asian settlers have made themselves at home in the UK.

• The South Asian presence in Britain and its Transnational connections - by Roger Ballard
  An outline of the way in which transnational kinship networks facilitated the the process of South Asian migration to Britain and the subsequent construction of plethora of ethnic colonies in the heart of most of Britain's cities, together with an exploration of the way in which the distinctive dynamics of locally-specific networks continue to have far reaching consequences for developments in Britain, in South Asia, as well as in more global arenas.

• Popular Islam and its reconstruction in Britain - by Roger Ballard
  The core of this paper is an empirical account of the way in which Islam - as popularly understood - pervades the lives, thoughts, and experiences of the rural population of Pakistani Punjab. It then goes on to suggest that these understandings - which often differ sharply from those currently regarded as 'orthodox' - are nevertheless directly inspired by a creative admixture between spiritual traditions which are indigenous to South Asia and the teachings of Muin-ud-Din Ibn 'Arabi. Last but not least it considers the additional transformations which are currently being precipitated as this tradition re-establishes itself in the UK.

• Race, Culture and Ethnicity - by Roger Ballard
  Prepared for a textbook in sociology, this paper offers a clear set of definitions for the these three crucial but much contended concepts, and having done so explores how they can be used to make sense of the dynamics of pluralism in contemporary Britain.

• New Clothes for the Emperor? The conceptual nakedness of Britain's race relations industry - by Roger Ballard
  A polemical exploration of the alarming consequences of the reluctance of sociologists and social policy makers to treat issues of ethnicity, as opposed to 'race', with due care and attention.

• Polyethnic Britain: a comparative and historical perspective - by Roger Ballard

• Britain's Visible Minorities: A demographic overview - by Roger Ballard

• The Socio-economic and Educational Achievements of Britain's Ethnic Minorities - by Roger Ballard
  These three papers were commissioned by the Runnymede Trust sponsored Commission for the Future of Multi-ethnic Britain, and present an overview of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the major components of Britain's visible minority populations.

• Negotiating Race and Ethnicity: exploring the implications of the 1991 Census - by Roger Ballard

• Asking Ethnic Questions: some hows, whys and wherefores - by Roger Ballard
  These two papers explore the way in which the concepts of 'Ethnic group' and 'Race' were operationalised in the 1991 Census of the UK, and explores the far-reaching impact which these conceptualization have had on the character of published Census data.