I’m sure that Britain is not the only part of the world in which there is controversy about the integration of minorities of one kind or another with the majority population. The so-called “migration crisis” in Europe over the past few years underlines how general an issue this is. The problem, in as much as there is a problem, has often been phrased in terms of the perceived need to ensure that the minority group is absorbed into the majority, losing its distinctive identity in the process. More recently, of course, there has been a counter-movement that stresses the positive side of “diversity”, the entitlement of different groups to preserve their own identity, and indeed the positive desirability of variety within cultures. Last night at the performance by the Dada Masilo dance group, at the Alhambra theatre in Bradford, I was given reason to reflect on these issues from a new perspective …. at least, it was new to me.
Dance has a large and regular following in Bradford, and the Alhambra is a member of the “dance consortium’ that promotes dance nationally. It is possible to assume that any performance by a major company will be pretty well sold out here, and this was certainly the case last night. As we passed through the foyer on thew way to our seats I noticed a group of young Asian women, all of whom were in traditional dress. Ever since the early ‘sixties Bradford has had a significant minority population from the Indian sub-continent, and they are very visible in the city …. the majority from Pakistani backgrounds, and hence generally Muslim by religion. As the collapsing textile industry in the city has seen the steady removal of mill chimneys from the skyline, so we have witnessed a growth in the number of minarets, marking the mosques.
Recently, in this country, there has been an active controversy about the integration of minority groups of this kind, reaching controversial proportions recently with the ill-considered and bigoted remarks about the dress of Muslim women by our wretched new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. In his eyes, dress is a key indicator of the failure of minority groups to integrate. Last night I was led to wonder how relevant dress is to this process.
The performance of Giselle by the Dada Masilo company was noteworthy in several respects, one of which was the almost complete nudity of the leading dancer at one point. I would have expected that this might have led to the performance being shunned by our local Muslim community, but evidently not so. The continuing use of traditional Muslim dress might be construed as a “failure” of integration at one level; but I wonder how partial this is in its significance. There is, it seems, “integration” and there is “integration”, along quite different dimensions, and one cannot move unthinkingly from one to the other.