A TV programme is to focus on three young Scots of Indian and Pakistani descent.
Through the eyes of Junaid Ashraf, Sunnah Ahmed and Sinita Potiwal, Young, Asian and Scots probes into how their identity has been shaped by the influences of their heritage.
They find out about the struggles that the first immigrants had, when they stepped on Scottish soil, and question the cultural impact across the generations. For this new generation of young Asian Scots, these stories will be a revelation and they also begin to understand their own parents’ experiences.
Sannah is 26 – a Muslim who proudly wears a headscarf and dresses modestly, while also enjoying boxing as exercise. She considers herself a Glaswegian and is staunchly Scottish, yet she knows little about her Pakistani roots. Her job is to train and retain volunteers in the charity sector.
Sannah said: ‘I feel like my culture is so mixed between being Scottish and Pakistani or Scottish and Asian that there’s no one thing I do where I think that’s because I’m Pakistani that I do this or that it is because I am Scottish I do that…“They have merged into one culture.”
Junaid is 22 and from Cumbernauld. He’s also one of the youngest elected officials in Scotland and the son of Pakistani immigrants. He’s one of only 30 Ethnic Minority councillors in Scotland. He says: “When people ask me where I’m from, I say Cumbernauld – why do I have to be from anywhere else?”
Sinita is 29 and from Edinburgh. She manages Punjabi Junction, a Social Enterprise Community Café in Leith which was set up as part of the Sikh Sanjog charity. In order to get her marketing degree, Sinita felt she had to step away from the Sikh community. She says: “People were asking, why is she not married yet, why is she not having babies yet?”
The trio, who are all entrepreneurial and ambitious, begin their quest together, reflecting at the close of the programme on what they have learned and what exactly is an Asian Scot in 2019.
Young Asian and Scots is a Caledonia TV production for BBC Scotland and will be shown Tuesday 17 December, on BBC Scotland, from 10-11pm.
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