The Burden of Conviviality: British Bangladeshi Muslims Navigating Diversity in London, Luton and Birmingham

Abstract

This article considers the convivial turn in migration and diversity studies, and some of its silences. Conviviality has been conceptualised by some as the ability to be at ease in the presence of diversity. However, insufficient attention has been paid to considering who is affectively at ease with whose differences or, more particularly, what the work of conviviality requires of those marked as other vis-a-vis European white normativity. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with British Bangladeshi Muslims in London, Luton and Birmingham, we argue that a focus on ‘ease in the presence of diversity’ obscures the ‘burden of conviviality’ carried by some, but not others. We discuss three key types of burden that emerged from our data: the work of education and explanation, the work of understanding racism, and quite simply the work of ‘appearing unremarkable’.

Social cohesion and attitudinal changes toward migration: A longitudinal perspective amid the COVID-19 pandemic

“…However, in highly unequal segregated cities like Santiago, which has a greater concentration of migrants, income and educational levels go hand in hand, and thus we cannot know for certain if someone who has a higher educational level necessarily would be more convivial if they reside in multicultural neighborhoods, and where the presence of migrants is unavoidable. Furthermore, we need to acknowledge the fact that even achieving such ability to be convivial, from a nationally-based perspective implies that those who are “Othered” based on a mestizo normativity, in this case, are the ones who might carry the burden of conviviality (for instance, by suppressing their cultural norms, customs and habits) (see Redclift et al, 2022 ).…”

“…In that sense, it implies that people need to have the capacity to be at ease with the presence of diversity (Valluvan, 2016 ). However, Redclift et al ( 2022 , p. 14) argue that the people who actually do convivial work on a daily basis are those considered to be inferior within a white normativity. This is what the authors (2022, p. 2) call the “burden of conviviality”.…”

“…This is what the authors (2022, p. 2) call the “burden of conviviality”. This study in the UK shows that negatively racialized migrants navigate the fact of being “Othered” through different ways of putting at ease those who are not racialized as “different” so that surviving this unevenly distributed burden of conviviality meant “disappearing into normative whiteness” (Redclift et al, 2022 , p. 14). In that sense, a convivial culture does not mean tolerance or the end of racism in multicultural neighborhoods.…”

Convivial narratives as agency: Middle-class Muslims evading racialisation in Copenhagen

“…This is done not necessarily without a consciousness of these differences, but rather an indifference to the groupist assumptions of these differences (Valluvan, 2016). In a more recent article, Victoria Redclift, Fatima Rajina and Naaz Rashid (Redclift et al, 2022) focus on British Bangladeshi Muslims, and how they experience conviviality as a burden to educate, understand and 'put at ease' white normative sentiments in everyday life. This 'burden of conviviality', the authors argue, is a hidden labour that demonstrates the multilayered structures of racism, where the onus of making diversity easy or indifferent is put on racialised Others.…”

Attacking transnationalism and citizenship: British Bangladeshis, family migration, and the postcolonial state

“…Indeed, many participants felt a strong sense of the precarity of their formal citizenship as Muslims of dual heritage (Redclift and Rajina, 2021) in the context of the British state's growing powers around citizenship deprivation (Kapoor, 2018) which have been significantly expanded by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (Webber, 2022) and the increasing policing of Muslim citizens across Europe (Kundnani, 2015). The experiences of discrimination around the family migration rules that we've discussed should thus be understood as an instance of a more systemic degradation of citizenship amongst British Muslims, produced at the intersection of antimigrant and anti-Muslim discourses and policies (Redclift et al, 2022)…”