COLLECTIVE IDENTITY AND GENDER

When we attempt to define British Asian collective identity, we always conclude that it is not a homogenous identity but a complex identity, that there are a whole range of hybrid identities, depending on ethnicity, community, region, religion, language and cultural practices.
Equally,a first generation immigrant's sense of personal identity may owe more to the diaspora while the second and third generation may identify themselves as belonging as much to their adopted country as to their parents' ethnicity. We see the culture clash between generations with collective identity as disputed territory (East Is East, Anita And Me, Bend It Like Beckham).

Additionally, the definition of collective identity is problematized by the issue of gender. Media representations of men's and women's experiences will be different because of their gender.

Today we look at Bhaji on the Beach (Gurinder Chadha,1992) with its representations of the experience of British Asian women.